The excellency of a gracious spirit Delivered in a treatise upon the 14. of…The excellency of a gracious spirit Deliuered in a treatise upon the 14. of…

if he will lead us where fiery Serpents and Scorpions are; yet we must follow him ⟨p. 282⟩there. Deut. 18. 15. Josephus writing of the times of Christ, says, There was one Jesus a wise man in those ¹times, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he did divers admirable works, yet he was condemned to the cross; but notwithstanding this, those who followed him from the beginning, did not forbear to love him, because of the ignominy of his death, but followed him still. To follow a crucified Christ, a contemned Christ, to follow him in the bloody paths of his sufferings, this is to follow him fully indeed. When one came and told Christ that he would follow him wheresoever he went, Mat. 8. 19 Jesus saith unto him, The Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. As if he should have said, You must not expect great matter in following me, but you must be content to suffer hard things. Christ •els the young man that came running to him to know what he should do for eternal life, that if he ⟨p. 283⟩would be perfect, he must sell all; and then come and follow him; if he would follow him fully, he must be content to part with all for Christ; to sell all, as the wise Merchant sold all for the Pearl. If there be any thing in the world that you are not willing to part withal, if any thing that you are not willing to suffer, you cannot follow me fully. In this consists the uprightness of heart, to go in a right line to God; what soever comes between God and us, yet not to fetch a compass, but to go through it; for if we fetch a compass, the line is not right: we must therefore strike through all troubles and hazards we meet withal, still keep our way, not break the hedge of any Commandment to avoid any piece of foul way. Many think they desire to follow God, but when they meet with some trouble in their way, then they would fetch compass to baulk that, and yet hope to come to God well enough at last; they would be loath not to be accounted followers ⟨p. 284⟩