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…

Fourthly, this choiceness of spirit causeth a suitableness, a sympathy ¹between the frame of the heart, and the ways of holiness: Now sympathies first, are always between the general natures of things, and not individuals, not particulars; as thus, where there is a sympathy between one creature and another, it is always between the whole kind of those creatures; wheresoever such Natures are found, there will be this agreement. We may see it more clearly in that which is contrary; that contrariety of nature which we call Antipathy, it is not between any particulars so much, as between the ⟨p. 409⟩whole natures of things; as between the Wolf & the Sheep, there is such a contrariety: Now the nature of the Wolfe is not contrary so much to any particular sheep, but to the whole nature of sheep, wheresoever the nature of it is found, and therefore to all sheep; Thus it is in the soul, where there is such a kind of opposition of it against sin, it is not against any particular sin so much, as against the whole nature of sin, wheresoever it is; so where there is such an agreement, which we call a sympathy, it is not so much with any particular way of holiness, or particular Act, but with the whole nature of holiness, wheresoever it is found, and therefore such a soul must needs follow God fully. Again, sympathies do always work without labour and pain, and therefore where there is such an agreement between the frame of the heart, and the ways of God, the heart must needs work fully, because it works delightfully: and yet further, this agreeableness ⟨p. 410⟩of sympathy is deeply rooted in the very principles of the creature, it is founded in the very being of it, and therefore it must needs work strongly and constantly. Vain reasonings, carnal objections, subtle arguments, strong oppositions can never prevail against that soul, where there is this deep-rooted agreeableness between the frame of it, & the ways of holiness. But that you may see further what a wonderful agreeableness Grace makes between the spirits of the godly, and the Law of God, which is the rule of those ways wherein God would have the soul to follow him in: observe the several expressions by which the Scripture sets it out.

Fourthly, this choicenesse of spirit causeth a suteablenesse, a sympathy