The Soul's Preparation for Christ

As it is with pocket dy•ls, a man may shake them this way and that way,¹ but they are still northward by virtue of the lodestone; so there are many shakings in the soul, sometime it feareth God will not be merciful, he sometimes hopes that he will; thus it is tossed to and fro, but still it is heaven-ward, & there is a hope that it may be otherwise: For the Lord holds the soul by a secret virtue to himself, and draws the heart to seek for mercy.

As it is with pocket dy•ls, a man may shake them this way and that way,¹ but they are still northward by vertue of the loadstone; so there are many shakings in the soule, sometime it feareth God will not be mercifull, he sometimes hopes that he will; thus it is tossed to and fro, but still it is heaven-ward, & there is a hope that it may be otherwise: For the Lord holds the soule by a secret vertue to himselfe, and drawes the heart to seeke for mercy.

1. 1The soul hath many shakings.The soule hath many shakings.

When the Prodigal child was brought to a desperate strait, he began to consider what he had done,¹ whereas before he said; shall I ever be a slave in my fathers family? but at last when all was spent, what doth he do? he saith, It is true, I can look for no help and favour, and I cannot tell whether my Father will receive me or no; yet my Fathers servants have bread enough, and I shall starve for hunger; O wretch that I am, I have left a kind fathers house; yet, come what will, I will home to my father, and say, Father, I have sinned; Thus the soul thinks with it self, Oh the many sweet and gracious calls that I have had! how often hath Christ come home to my heart, and desired entrance? and yet I shut the door upon him: shall I now go home to the Lord Jesus Christ? How justly may he reject me that have rejected him? he may damn me, and yet he