The Vexation of the Spirit. I con fill; he will have a chafleSpoufe,, he will have all our delires and actions fubjeet unto him; lithe Heart can not count him altogether lovely, and all things else but dung in comparifon of him , he will refute the match , and with-hold his confent. Let us fee in.fome few particulars what impotency un- to any. good the Creatures bring upon the hearts of men. To pray requires an hungry fpirit, an heart convinced of its own cmptincffe, a delire ofintimate communion with God; but now the Creature drawes the heart and all the delires thereof to it fclfe, as an ill fplcene doth the nou- rifhment in the body. Lull makes men pray amiffe ; fix - eth the delires only on its own provifions, makes a man unwilling to be carried any way towards heaven but his own. The young man prayed unto Chrifi to fhew him the way to eternall life; but when Chrifl told him that his riches, Lis covetoufncffe, hisbofome -lui flood between him and falvation, his prayer was- turned into forrow, re- pentance and apoflafie. c í'feditarti®n requires a fequeflration of the thoughts, a minds unmixt with other cares, a fincere and. uncor- rupted rcllifh of the Word ; now when the heart is pre - poffefll with lull, and taken up with other trcafure, it is as itnpoffible to be weaned from it, as for an hungry Eagle ( a Creature ofthefharpel fight to fix upon, and of the fharpefl appetite to delire its object) to forbears the body on which it would prey; as unable to conceive aright of the pretioufneffc and power ofthe Word, as a feaverifh palate, to tafle the pre per.fwectnefie attic meat it eats.. Ist Hearing the Word, the heart can never accept Cods Commands, till it be firfl empty; a man cannot re- ceive the richefl gift.that.is, with an hand that was full before. Now thornes, which are. the cares of the World, filling the earth, muff needs choake. the feedeof the Word. The Pharifees and Lawyers reje6fed the .coun- s fell Ephef.s. 27. Pia1.45 .1 0. Matth. .o. 37. Cant.S. ro.16; Püì1.3 S. tames 4.3. t.íarke 2T.y Mattla.6.2r. Match. 241 z& Luke -y. sg 7
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