40 The MORTIFIC AT ION felves for mercy, but yet will keep theSweet morfel of their finunder their tongue; let them, I fay, never think to bave true and folid peace. For inftaéce, thou find- eit thy heart running out after the world, and it difturbs thee in thy communion with God ; the Spirit (peaks exprefiy to thee, He that loveth the inorld, the love of the father ít not in himt. Thisputs thee on dealing with God in Chrilt for the healing of thy foul, the quieting of thy confcience but yet oithala thorough dete- Itation ofthe evil itfelf abides not upon thee; Yea, perhaps that is liked well e- nough, but only in refpea of the confequences of: it ; perhaps thou mayelt be fared, yet as through fire, and Godwill have fome work with thee before he lath done, but thou wilt have little peace in this life, thouwilt be fick and fainting all thy days, /fa. lvii. 17. (z.) Whenmen meafure out peace to themfelves upon the conclufions that their convidtions and rational principles will carry them out unto ; this is a falfe peace, and will not abide. I (hall a little explain what I mean hereby. A man bath got a wound by fin, he bath a conviaion of forne fin upon his confcience, he hath not walked uprightly as becometh the gofpel ; all is not well and right betweenGod and his foul : he confiders now what is to be done, light he bath, and knows what path he molt take, and how his foul bath been formerly healed. Confidering.that the promifes of God are the outward means ofapplication for thehealing of his fores, and quieting of his heart, he goes to them; fearches them out, finds out fome one, or more of them, whore literal exprelfions are directly fuited to his condition , fays he to himfel , God fpeaks in this promife, here I will take my felfa plailter, as long and broad as ivy wound, and fo brings the word of the promife to his condition, and fets him down in peace. This is another appearanceupon the mount, the Lord is near, brit the Lord is not in it. It bath not been the workof the Spirit, who a. lone can convinceus of finand righteoufsnefs and judgment *; but the mereadings of the intelligent rational foul. As there are three forts oflives,' we fay, the vege- tative, the fenfitive, and the rational or intelligent : Come things have only the ve- getative, Tome the fenfitive alfo,'and that includes the former ; fome have the ratio- nal, which takes in and fuppofes both the other. Now he that hath the rational, doth not only ad fuitably to that principle, but alfo to bah theothers he grows and is fenfible. It is fo with men in the things of God ; fome are mere natural and ra- tional men ; fome have a fuperadded conviction with illumination ; and fome are truly regenerate. Now he that bath the latter bath alfo the former; and there- fore he ads fometimes upon the principles of the rational, fometimes upon the prin. ciples of the enlightened man. His true fpiritual life is not the principle ofall his motions ; he ads not always in the ftrength thereof, neither are all his fruits from that root. In this cafe that I fpeak of, heads merely upon the principleofcon- viEtinoand illumination, whereby' his firlt naturals are heightened ; but the Spirit breaths not at all upon all thefe waters. Take an initance : fuppofe the wound and difquiet of the foul to be upon the accountof relapfes, which whatever the evil or folly be, though for the matter of it never fo fmall, yet there are no wounds deep- er than chufe that are given the foul on that account, nor difquietments greater. In the perturbation of his mind, he finds out that promife, Ifa. lv. vii. The.Lord mill have mercy, and our God mill abundantly Pardon; he will multiply or add to. par- don ; he will do it again and again ; or that in Hof. xiv. 4. Iwill heal their backfliding, I mil love them freely. This the man confiders,- and thereupon concludes peace to himfelf ; whether the Spirit of God make the application or no, whether that gives life and power to the letter or no, that he regards not. He doth not hearken hides God the and Lord fphe oorcreature ftealing peace, nd running gawayhwith it, k big face, the fees the p that [imewin come, when he will deal with him again, and call to a new reckoning *o ; when he (hall fee that. it is in vain to go one Peep, . God doth not take him by the hand. I fee here indeed fundry other queftions upon this arifing and interpohng them. felves ; I cannot apply myfelf to them all : one I Ihall a little (peak to. Spirit leads It may be Paid then, teeing that this Teems to be the path that the holy when wergoaloneloútfely s, and when and the quieting alto doth accomPaY ash ?ll we know of our hearts, how us in, + i yob. ii. -..3. * yah. :al. O. **Hof. ai.3, n) If
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