* In margin here, ' Cherish holy motions.' — G.
A FOUNTAIN SE.VLED. 429
he came by the motion of the Spirit into the temple, Luke ii. 27. John was ' in the Spirit on the Lord's day,' Rev. i. 10. Our manna falls most then. Christ's Spirit and word dwell together in the heart. Therefore the apostle useth the dwelling of Christ in us and the word indefinitely.* Faith wrought by the word lays hold upon Christ, and brings him into the soul, and keeps him there. It is a blessed thing when the Spirit in the ordi- nance and the Spirit in our hearts meet together. This is the way to feed and cherish the Spirit in us, and to put oil as it were into our lamp ; because the Spirit, as it is in us, is thus nourished, even as the fire, though in its own element, fecdeth upon nothing ; yet with us here below it is maintained with fuel, otherwise dieth and goeth out. Take heed of slight- ing any help of faith that God affords us, as wicked Ahaz, Isa. vii. 3, scq. God offered him, for the strengthening of his faith, a sign from heaven, or from earth, or any other creature. Oh no ! he would not tempt God. He seemed a pious man ; he would not tempt God ; but what saith the prophet ? ' Is it little for you to despise me ? but you will grieve God ;' insinuating, that when we despise those helps God hath given, we grieve the Spirit of God. Those that neglect the word and sacrament, what do they despise ? A poor minister ? and neglect bread and wine ? No. They despise God himself, who knows better than ourselves what need we have of these helps.
6. Again, When ivo find the Spirit not assistinr/ mid comfnrtinq as in former times, it is fit to search the cause, which we shall find some slighting
of holy motions, or the means of breeding of them ; or yielding to some corruption which we are more especially addicted unto, or some sin unre- pented of, which we take no notice of. It is good, therefore, to search our souls to the bottom. There may be some hidden corruption lying in the soul, which may undermine our grace and comfort; there may be a privy thief that robs us of all. And besides beloved and secret sins, it is good to bethink ourselves of old sins, which perhaps hitherto we have but out- wardly thought of ; and God is willing by some deadness and trouble of spirit, to mind us of renewing of sorrow for them. For want of strict accounting with ourselves, God calls us to these arrearages and back- reckonings, as we see in Joseph's brethren, Gen. 1. 15. If we find not that sweetness of communion with the Spirit that formerly we enjoyed, bethink ourselves when and wherein we lost it, that we may meet the Spirit again in these ways wherein we found him before we lost him, and take heed of those courses, in the entrance of which we found the Spirit leaving us. ;
7. Again, Take heed of little sins, which we count lesser sins perhaps than God doth. We weigh sin in our own balance, and not in his, whereas no sin is to be accounted little ; for if it were once set upon the conscience, and the wrath opened due unto it, it would take all comfort from us. And therefore we must judge of sin as the Spirit doth, if we would not grieve the Spirit. As the communion of the Spirit is of all the sweetest, so the pre- serving of it requires most exact watchfulness and thorough understanding of ourselves. Take heed of the beginning of sin. When any lust ariseth, pray it down presently ; say nay to it ; let it have no consent ; be pre- sently humbled ; otherwise we are endangered by yielding to grieve, by grieving to resist, by resisting to quench, by quenching, maliciously to oppose the Spirit. Sin hath no bounds but those which the Spirit puts, whom therefore we should not grieve. And let us look to the head and spring of sins, whereby we grieve the Spirit of God ; not to the sin so
* Qu. ' indifferently ' ?— Ed.
480 A FOUNTAIN SEALED.
much as to the root. "Wc arc angry with ourselves for being passionate, but what is the cause of passion ? It comes from pride. Jonah was a passionate man ; in that measure that he was passionate he was proud. Ho was loath to be shamed when he had said, ' Nineveh shall bo destroyed,' Jonah iv. 11. He thought upon the sparing of them he should be dis- credited ; and he preferred his credit before the destruction of a populous city. So there is much depraving and detraction in the world ; and there- upon brawls and breaches. What is the cause ? A spirit of envy, and ofttimes a spirit of pride. So men run into the danger of others by wrong- ing them. What is the cause ? Worldliness, base carthly-mindedness. Men think not of the root of sin, but dwell upon the act done. We should be led from the remote streams to the spring and source of all, and bewail that especially.