r Opened and Applied. 83 i Now a carnal hear t gives over b~fo =e he fees or p<ife!Ierh or enjoy- \ eth th ~ Lo rd, or found the fweemefs of a holy life in walkrng vvith God. _ I Hence, I I . He !oaths and is weary of all his profeffion and truth he knows, .and the God he talks of. j 2.Hence they break out eo fome lulls or others ; wh~ch becaufe.ifnot fa~isfied 1 here, they mult fatisfie rhemfelves fome other way, etcher m vam concetts or i opinions, or Jufls of the world. . . . . I 3· Hence , defperate doubts, I~ the Lord mme ? , whereas 1f 1t wer~ orhe~- 1 wi fe, then as it is with a man, ask htm, how do y~u know you eat and dnnk ? 1t i fatisfies me, faithhe,itputsHrength, Ilhould dte daiiyelfe. . SECT. IV. OF Examination, Inllru&ion, and Exhortation to all rhofe who have rell: Uj"e I. content with that meafure of the Spirit which will never lafl, to begin again , lnd lay abetter foundation, lefi it befall you as it did thefe Virgins, ons the !inner in Prov.5.u,u,q.)'OH mourn when ysu,not your ~ejh, bur fonluconf umed ; Oh how hllve I defpi[ed £nf1-rNCfion ! Jell wrath break out which cannot be quenched, for dealing flighrly with God and your own fouls; how many Chriltians rake that for grace, which when ir comes to tryal 1vill b~ found too light, and know it not, and regard it nor, till the hAnd-witing of God u 'upon 1heir crmfc iences! . If therefore you have nor found the fatisfying fweecnefs of the Spirit of Gods grace, that water which quencheth all your inordinate thirfi, that bread which feeds you to life, be fure your oyl will b! fpem, and your light will go out b!fore you dye. · · SECT. ) Q!!elt. H OwJho .. fd I know thAt farufying ftnetne[J! . . .. • ' iAnfw. Ah methinks you lhould fay,Oh that I did ki?OW it! yet wary I woul·d be of giving any juft occaiion to break off what the Lord in his grace bath wrought; yet you may know fomething of it byJhis. , I. When the Spirit of Gods grace difpenfed in his Ordinances dotb glut you and flay you, and make you worfe ; here is not the grace of Chrifl; which doth fatisfit: you; if the more knowledge you have of ihe truth, the lefs glory you fee in the truth, and the lefs you'love the truth ; if the mo re comfort y0u1lave £6und by it, the lefs you n;:wv deiire after it; i£ the more abilities you havt;Jeceived by it, the more proud you grow, and high-minded; if having come for to feek the Ordinances of God, the lefs l;OOd you find oy them, the·mqre weary ' you growof them, and the more you de(pife them; it is c~J;tain, •the fatisfying 1 grace of Chr!~ is not here, when r_he bread ro feed, is poifon wfiay ; fs not this the condm~>n of _many? , what Is the caufe they are.,growmg worfe, thac rbe.yare wo rfe 111 thetr latter end and middle of rheu Cot~lhan profe!lion, than the begining, becaufe they are grown full by Gods'Ordinances, and fo. \yqr!l:; what is theciufe in places of perfecution the Lords Ordinanceswere pre~j~us, not when they come to them ? Gods Ordinances plenty makes them to under~ lvnlue them through their fin; that look u.ir i swith men in confumpcions, ivhofe life is going out, they think they can eat, yec when _it is befote them, . · ~ L I I 2 , loath
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