62 The SaintsInfirmitiec. Reaf. i. therefore deferre now no longer, but come in unto Chrift whiles he offers himfelfe in a loving and tender manner : And fo much for the of- fice of Chrif };which is to teach, and his manner ofteaching, with much meekneffe and gentle - neffe. Now followes the third thing to be confide - red,. and that is the perfons that Chrift bath to deale with,fuch as are very meake ; compared here to a bruited Reed, and fmoaking Flaxe. A Reed is of it felfe very weake, and fhaken with e- very wind,and not onely fo,but broken with the leaft force. So a Chrifrian may be fiibje& to much unevenneffe and inconfiancy in his wayes, { haken with every temptation ; but when this {hall be a broken reed , this is a further degree of weaknef e : and lb for fmoaking flaxe, it muft be an exceeding little fparke which will not caufe flaxe to fmoake, and yet with fuch weake ones hath Chrift to deale : He will not breake the bruifedReede , nor quench the fmoaking flaxe. Now from the perfons that Chrift teacheth, that is,weake ones,obferve this poynt That there may be exceeding great weaknefl'e in true Chriflians ; we fee in the Text they are compared to the weakeft things, a bruifed Reed, and fmoaking Flaxe : the firft reafon of it is this. Becaufe it pleafeth Chrift in working grace, to doe it by degrees ; he might have perfected the worke of grace altogether,as he did in the work of
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