600 / 652
UM,
RESIST
NOT
T1
E
SPIRIT.
Secondly,
Let
not
our
souls
be
secure when
we
have
been
guilty
of
sin,
though God
does
not reprove
us in his
providence
;
and the reason
is
evident, for
if God should
continually reprove and correct
in
this world,
and
sin
and
duty
were punished and
rewarded
in an
exact proportion,
it
would make some think
there
was
no
state
of retribu-
tion
hereafter.
God
therefore
sometimes
suffers
sinners
to go on
in
a
series
of prosperity without
any severe
stroke.
Nor,
Thirdly, Let
any
of
us
under
sorrows neglect the
voice
of our
friends, the word
or providence
of
God, un-
der
a
pretence
that
we
cannot
be
convinced
till
the
Spi-
rit
of God
convinces
us.
For
remember;
that
it
is
God
himself that
uses
these methods
;
God
speaks
by
his
eter-
nal
life
oftentimes before
his
Spirit.
In
the
death
of
a
relation
God
certainly speaks somewhat
to
us,
and it
is
hard
if
we
learn nothing
when
one
that
is
near
and
dear
to
us
is
called
away.
The
Spirit
of
God
in
his
opera-
tions may
be
resisted for
a season
by us
;
have
a
care
therefore of
this,
for the Spirit oft speaks
so
secretly to
the
mind and conscience, and
by
such
rational
and hu-
man methods
of
conviction
as
though
he
had
no imme-
diate interposing operations
on
the soul.
The
voice
of a
friend
or
foe may
be
his
convincing
voice.
Remember
too the
Spirit of God frequently
speaks
in
and
by
his
pro
-
vidences,
and accordingly
they may
be
sent
of
God to
teach
us such a lesson, to
instruct
us
for our improve-
ment
in
righteousness
;
and
if
we will
not
hear,
the
Spirit
comes
and
makes
us
hear
those very
providences;
he
opens the
ear
to
hear instruction
:
we
Ought
not
there-
fore
to
lay still and
unconcerned, but
to
be up and
doing,
searching our
own
hearts, and
hearkening
or
attending
to the
voice
of
providences lest
we
resist the
call
of God
in them
;
that
so sin
being removed, God
may
return,
with more comfort to our
souls,
and
we
may
walk
in
such
paths
of
holiness
here, being
led
into
them by
afflictive
providences,
that
so
the end
of
them may
be
the
salvation
of
our
souls.