ten Virgins Opened and Applied. love again , I gave icthereftlle w (bee, yea and h;~ve given my felf to thee for ever : Halt thou thu; forgo. ten me, when asl rake ht~le wrong~ from thee m:>re heavily than great o~es fro:n orhers? Oh that thts mtghr ~ake yo~ go our ar:d mourn bitterly: fo if ever you have rafled that love as Peter dtd, Chrtfls looks wtll ~~~ . . . Hence fee the: reafon why fomeGod lyPeopledye fo uncomfortably, andWith Ufe z; fuch diflrelkof fpirit; why they have nor lived in an expectation of Chrifr, and hence they cry out of themfelves, not knowing whither they gb, infomuch as fome have nor been comforted by atl fvrmer experiences, and by all prefenr confolarions of Miniflers : Oh no, 'ris now roo !are ro fpeak, they rhank rhem for their love, but God bath otherwife thought of them; yet if any hope be given them •as ever pickt out frqm fome word, and they cry, Oh 1 thirH for alitrle mer:cy, and then dye • and 1yhat is the reafon of it ? what need If peak? Them£elves will tell you, and have dqne ir, Oh I have lived rhus and rhus before you , bur my heart in fecret hlth gone after the world, &c. I have neglected the Lord fecretly , I h.tve feLdo:n thought of, or prepared for Death, and I had thought to have be~n better, but the Lord hath met with me: I know violence ofDifeafe may do it fomerime, but I fteak how 'tis many rimes; whereas orherwife an open entrance lhould be made, z l'er. 1. 8.9,IO,I x. And as ir_hath been with fome, fo take warni~g !eH it be fo wi th you ; you may be faved ahve, yet to futfer wrack on the /boar 1s unco!nfortable, nd kn01v it if. your confcience be awal;e, it cannot but be fa. Therefore do nor conclude they were damned without <;:hriH, but rhe.y were ndt made ready for ChriH ; and it may be_your t!me 1raws-nigh; and what have you ro fay? now a world for half an hour wl!l adymg diHrelfedman fay. ." Is of a Four-fold exhortation, to all.rhofe efpecially tliatrhe Lord· harh efpou- u[e 3· fed tO himfelf. . CHAP. VIII. @.A .Fourfold Exhortation to 13elie"Pers. SECT. I. TO quicken up all thofe doubting, drooping, yet linc,ere hems, that much ExhQrt. i, queHion the love vf Chrifi to them, Now to ufe all diligence to make their Calling , and Election, and the love ofChrifi fure to them , nor bur that it's fureon Chriftspart, but make it fure on your pm too; elfe how can you be in a readinelfe to meet the LordJefus; while the flrong mart keeps the Palace , the Goods be in peace; but when CbriH bath once driven Satan out of his ' Thr?ne,then nothing fomerimes butwar,buc doubts and fears; Satan told God w his face, Job ferved him for nought , much more will.he accufe the Soul it felf: and fomeDivines think the very nrfl ingredient ofSatans poyfon, and the firfi affault on Chrifi himfelf, Mat. 4· was by feekingto make him doubt of his Sonlbip, If thou be!he So~·f God, &c. And his wiles are here very great, that hence very few hvmg chnfitans have any fetled comfortable evidence of Gods eternal love to them in hi~ Son: andhell(:e many fad events follow. How can any ble!fe the Lord ~orrh,lt !ov~ w~ich he knows not of? many times 'tis with a mans doubts droopmg from his mmd, as 'ds with his continual droppino on his Ltmgs, tbere is a_da!lyconfumingofwhatoncewas; thatmanya chriftia~ doubts away his life his hearr, his flrength, and when all is wafled , glad now to return to ~hat wher~ G 3 he
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