z40 \ The Secret Sonthfayer, or Mat. 20. 2 Cor. 5. 14 Job1.9. Mat. so. 6 Luk. 15. 13. not chofen him for thy God ; doe but examine thy thoughts and thy ends in all thofe things, and thou (halt find fatis- faUion to thy felfe, fecuring thy felf, getting happinefs and reft for thy felfe, was the chiefeftmoving caufe ; Andbeing fo, (as I am Pure it is, till man fee himfelf empty, naked, and amiferable Prodigal,) what's all thy wring, doing, fa- crificing, wajhing, breaking bread, Forms, Modes? what's all thy higheft rules and ftri&nefl'e and walking up to the rule (as thou called it) but working for thyfelfe, and working for apenny, and meer mercinary :irking byforce, thou doeff nothingby the conflraint of love ; tis not for the excellencie ofholíneffe and love to the Lord him(elf; but fo thy own head may be covered, and thou mayeft be cloathed, and that thou mayeft have Cities to dwell in and live happily. Saith Satan, dotb job ferve God for naught ? thou haft peace and riches, and fatisfa&ion to thyfelfe, and therefore thou fer- veft him ; ifthou haft not thypennie, thouwilt rather Band idle in the market ; thy working is to be freed from miferie and to get that (which thou called HEAVEN.) TheCe arc thy Horfes to carry theefromwrath and to the place of refl; where thoumay eft with the Prodigal, live upon thy own , and fpend lavi't.ly , and indeed it tends to no o- ther, but to run thy felfe out of all, and to bring thee to mifery. Beloved, from hence, let everie one, every particularform, every feveral divifion and diftin&ion of ¡Yorfhippers examin themfelves fromwhat principle they a& and work ; if it benot to carry them into afar countrie, that they may not fee their miferie, nor remember Hell, nor the wrath ofGod; and,their frms have been their Horfes and Chariots which have faved and delivered them, quieted their confciences, (hut themouth of Hell,. kept off the gnawing worm : And when they have got int2 this Chariot ofReligion, and there Forms ofWorfhip, then they think themfelvesfafe and well horfl: Howmany thoufands ofpeople are nowgot into thefe ways, and.joyned themfelves to thefe rich Cttizens, and never yet were emptied, made miferable, and nothing, never loll their own lives,,never took up the GroßofChrifl, nor forfobk them. felves?.
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