A saint or a brute the certain necessity and excellency of holiness, &c. ...…

3. You must distinguish between those Christians that have fallen since their conversion, into any great and wounding sin, or ••uris• some vexatious distempers; and those that walk more uprightly with God, and maintain their integrity and peace. No wonder if David after his sin, complain of the breaking of his bones and heart: and if Peter go out and weep bitterly. The […] ⟨p. 324⟩[…] ⟨p. 325⟩⟨p. 326⟩servants of Christ do know so much of the evil of sin, that they cannot make so light of it, as the blind and obdurate world that are past feeling. That sin which hath cost them formerly so dear, and hath cost Christ so much dearer on their behalf, must needs cause some smart in the penitent soul. Sickness is felt, because it supposeth the subject to be alive: but the dead feel not that they are dead and rotten: And it doth not follow that therefore death is more desirable then sickness. It is because they are so like to the ungodly, that the servants of Christ do grieve and complain. But so far as they feel the healthfulness of their souls, and are conscious of their sincerity and upright conversations, they have greater comfort then the world can afford them.

3. You must distinguish between those Christians that have saln since their conversion, into any great and wounding sin, or ••uris• some vexatious distempers; and those that walk more uprightly with God, and maintain their integrity and peace. No wonder if David after his sin, complain of the breaking of his bones and heart: and if Peter go out and weep bitterly. The 〈…〉 ⟨p. 324⟩〈…〉 ⟨p. 325⟩⟨p. 326⟩servants of Christ do know so much of the evil of sin, that they cannot make so light of it, as the blind and obdurate world that are past feeling. That sin which hath cost them formerly so dear, and hath cost Christ so much dearer on their behalf, must needs cause some smrt in the penitent soul. Sickness is felt, because it supposeth the subject to be alive: but the dead feel not that they are dead and rotten: And it doth not follow that therefore death is more desireable then sickness. It is because they are so like to the ungodly, that the servants of Christ do grieve and complain. But so far as they feel the healthfulness of their souls, and are conscious of their sincerity and upright conversations, they have greater comfort then the world can afford them.