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Show Souls ftek.. of Love , not o conaenm themfelvet. 'tis very probable their Souls are more righteous t~an thine who ccnfuref\ them. Bnr there are fome who under this love-ficknefs, need nv Jtber to condemn them; they arc ready enough to condemrt thcmfdves. To them let me turn my felf, Exborting, them not prcfellt ly ta condemn themfi'lves. This love-lic knefs is an old difeafe, the Spoufe in my Text, in the name and perfon of all the belie ve r ~ in-the world , h<re thus complains, I am jiclv f lave, and fa fick fhc is, that fhe calls out for Cordials.----Stay me with f/.tJ!_O IIr, altd camfi•rl me roith apples. But th at I· may fpeak in a little order 1 Confide r; -firll, That as the body that natu rally lives, may be {ic~ af di[fa[es, and is [ubj, a to tbem, Co the livi11g, tbe truly JPiril1<aUy-living .Soul maybeficlzof lave. Scarce ever was\herea Child ot God in the world tlur had nor fome fits of this ficknefs ; David had it a long time, 0 when wilt thou came unto me (faith he ) ) whm wilt 'that! C>mfort me l whm {hall I came and appear bef Gre thee l why do{! thou hide thy faoe l why ba(! t hou forfa~en m~ l My foul , langeth; yea, evenfamteth fvr ' thee: ~Ylth many 9ther fuch expreffions; what are they but fi gns of a Soul lick of love) I)Othing hinders but that a child of God may be lick for Spirit\;Jallove, as well as the carnal heart for carnal love, the covetous heart for worldly love, &c. Secondly confider, That Min tbe N•turalBody there areflme dr(lempers, which though at piefent are traublefom, yet are really matterr afjoy , confid ering them as Signs. The Woman that breeds ·Children is often fick, fadly lick;· but it is matter of rejoycing to her, as it lignifies that God hath ble1fed her with a fruitlul womb. This love-ficknefs is fuch a kind of dillemper; indeed the Soul at prefent is 1\raitned and wanteth, and is pained, or is over· filled and cannot bear it, which caufeth a dlllurba1'!ce: but oh! what an admirable lign is this, that Chrifi is formed in this Soul! that it is_born again, not of flel\1 and blood, but of the holy and bldfcd Spirit of God; never yet was a carnal unregenerate heart lick for love to Chrill, or with the love ofChrill: 0 blefs God for this good fici<nels, which Chrifi will in his due time cme! Thirdly confider , That if thy jick._neji for lave , be that thou can I\ not find Chrifts love tothu ; or that thou c4njl not drfcern thy own love ta Chrift; It is a licknefs of thy own caufing, viz. through thy own rnijlak$I and mifapprtben(la•nt. Thou fa yell thou cant\ not lind that Chri.fi !o11rth thee with a fpecial diilinguilhing lov~ll; can jc4. of Love., nQ.~ 'to : cDtt.d~ll!".(hemfolvet. can'll thou find that thy · Soul lo,ves·((:hrifi 1 If fo, how comes that? ,.,ho bath givl-n ID l;iP' firft .'' a11!1, it JhaV b~ requited .. ~ what Soul in the world ever /avedChrift, before Chpl( lqv.ed It; and that with a fp".ial dif\ing~ ifhing lqve ) Doell thou fay., Ah! but 1 can nor find ~h~t my. foul lovn Ch.,(l. Wby arF thou then trou-bkcJ., becaufe thy Soul app,rehendeth; ,or fal)ci, th , t.hat he doth not love thee? In· this, thy fe l'ious trouble about hislov'e, to thee, thou apparently. evidenoefl thy lnve to hitp; ana in the cvidcn.- cing of that thou m a~e ll it apparent that he loveth thee. . Obj. M•y then every Sault hat ownt a l•ve ta Cbrifl, or complJIIIJ for wa!lf of Chrijls /qve 1Q it, be cancluJed to lave G:prift, ar to ha~e Chrijulove .? 1; • ~' 1, · . ,, '· • •• Sal.• I anf~er no; This con.cluding,,.;i~her. ~relat!;s to my \))-igh· bvur ~ or to·m¥ falf. · , ,. 1 · r. 'If my Neighbour bears me thu_s complaining, fees me thus troubled; and,hears me thus exprelf1ng the cau(e of my trouble, and fees nothing in the courfe of• my· h\c, but what evidenceth my Holinefs, and that my Soul is preffing hard after God, and walking dote wtth him, he hath no reafon to conclude that I am an nypocrite -;- 5Uf is b<Jund· thus ·m- judge ofme;- anrho-pity, help and pray for me; for fecret things belong to God : but notwithfianding this, I may be a (alfe l)ypocrite. z. As to my felf, if my heart tells me that I am feriam in thefe camplainl!; and tha,t I do not cotnplajn of thai part· which aketh not , but that this is my true grievance : And 2. l find . that my Soul is at this time Hnited to the fear af God, and that I dare not wilflllly fin againll him, I niay then C!>nclude, that my ficknefs is . a ficknefs of love, and a good,lickQefs. In the !all place, what you have heard, That ~gracious Soul Vfo 4· . may,obe]ick;_aflave, may be ufeful,to ever'( graciollS Soul to learn it · patience under the want of thofe degrees of [e11Jible enjaymmfl "'hicb it may be ather S ou/1 meet with : yea, and und er this lave- . fic~nrfr thro~tgb want ofthafe enjoyment!. The a1furance of Divine Love, being the matter of divine promifes, and the fweetell ob. jeer in the world, is highly defirable by every gracious Soul; yet is It dillributed to the Saints in a proportion very unequal (confi dering perfons receiving it)though highly equaHfwe refpect the wifdom and juflice of him that gives it: But many a poor Soul fins by too iwp.rient de{iw of it, and laying all the 1\rels of their Souls S.llvation upon. it, This is that which 1. wo11ld have y:au - t~kt |