`I he vexation of the Spirit. pretious, fpirituall and everlafling confequence, how ma- ny of there golden o pportunites bath thy too much ,abT Turd love and attendance on the world ftolne from tfiee ? and furely to a foule illightncd there mu {.t needs be mat- ters of much vexation. Thirdly, if a man confider, the srfe he bath made of them : How they have flolne away his heart fromtrufling in God to rely on them; how they have diverted his thoughts from the,life.to come, and be- witched him to dote on prefent contcntments ; to love life, to feare death , to difpenfe with much untuff liberty, to gather ruft and fccuritie in Gods worfhip ? How much excelle and intemperance they have provoked, `how little of them have becne fpent on Gods glory and Church, how (mall a portion wee have repaid him in his Minifters or in his Members ? how few naked backes they have clothed ? how few empty bellies they have filled ? how few languifhing bowels they haverefrcfhed ? how few' good workes and fervices they have rewarded. Thefe are eonfidcrations which unto fenfible confciences muff fometime or other beget much vexation. Fourth- ly, if a man confider his owns former experiences, or the examplesofothers that bring the vanity of thcfc earthly things into minde. How Tome of his choyfeil pleafures have now out-lived him and are expir'd , how the Lord bath fnatched from his dearer} embracements thofe Idols which were fet up againft his glory ; how many of his hopes have fail'd of his expe62ations and prefump- tions proved abhortive how much moray at one time a Sicknefle, at another a Suite, at a third a Thiefe, at a fourth a fhipwrack or mifcariage,at a fifth,yea at a twen- tieth time a lun hath confumed and eaten out ? How ma- ny examples there arc in the world of withered and bla- fledetates, oftheCurfcofGod not onely like a moth in- fenfiblyconfuming, but like a Lyon fuddenly tearing:.a- funder great poffeffions. The `aft degree of vex1tion from the Creature, is from the 75 }
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