A55308:497
Speculum theologiæ in Christo, or, A view of some divine truths which are either…
Speculum theologiæ in Christo, or, A view of some divine truths which are either practically exemplified in Jesus Christ, set forth in the Gospel, or may be reasonably deduced from thence / by Edward Polhill ..., Esq.
London: printed by A.M. and R.R. for Tho. Cockerill, 1678
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
where we have the breathings of Vital Religion, David admirably sets forth, how in all his holy actings he did depend upon God: Thou hast commanded us to keep thy Precepts; but O that my ways were directed to do so, vers. 4, & 5. I will keep thy Statutes; but O forsake me not utterly; vers. 8. With my whole Heart have I sought thee, but O let me not wander from thy Commandments, vers. 10. I will run the way of thy Commandments, but do thou enlarge my Heart, vers. 32. I love thy Precepts; but quicken me, O Lord, according to thy loving kindness, vers. 159. I have chosen thy Precepts; O let thine Hand help me, vers. 173. We see here the true Picture of an holy Life: It is working and depending; it is Obedience and Influence in Conjunction. The holy Man very well knows, that the new Creature, ⟨p. 418⟩though it be in it self an excellent thing, and more worth than the Soul it self, is defectible, and cannot stand alone, or subsist without a Divine concourse: it was breathed out from God; and, without his continual spirations to support it, it will vanish into nothing; should God tell him, That he should stand alone, and upon his own bottom; he would, though richly furnished with divine Graces, fall into an Agony, and be ready to sink into despair; his Heart would immediately suggest to him, that he might, with David, roll in Adultery and Blood; or, with Peter, deny the Lord Christ; or, with Julian, turn total, final Apostate, were he left in the hand of his own counsel; he knows he might do any thing which hath been done by others. St. Austin brings in one speaking thus; Non multa peccavi, I have sinned little, yet love much: And then answers thus;1 Tu dicis te non multa commississe: Quare? quo regente? Hoc tibi dicit Deus tuus, Regebam te mihi, servabam te mihi, agnosce gratiam ejus, cui debes & quod non admisisti? Thou sayest, That thou hast not sinned much: Why? who ruled thee? Thy God saith to thee, I ruled thee, I preserved thee; acknowledge then his Grace, to which thou owest even this, That thou hast not sinned as others. The holy Man is very sensible, that unless God bear him up with his Grace, he shall soon sink into all manner of fin. Hence that of Luther, Vita hominis nihil aliud est nisi oratio, gemitus, desiderium, suspirium ad misericordiam Dei: Our Life should be a perpetual breathing after that Grace of God, upon which we depend:
where we have the breathings of Vital Religion, David admirably sets forth, how in all his holy actings he did depend upon God: Thou hast commanded us to keep thy Precepts; but O that my ways were directed to do so, vers. 4, & 5. I will keep thy Statutes; but O forsake me not utterly; vers. 8. With my whole Heart have I sought thee, but O let me not wander from thy Commandments, vers. 10. I will run the way of thy Commandments, but do thou enlarge my Heart, vers. 32. I love thy Precepts; but quicken me, O Lord, according to thy loving kindness, vers. 159. I have chosen thy Precepts; O let thine Hand help me, vers. 173. We see here the true Picture of an holy Life: It is working and depending; it is Obedience and Influence in Conjunction. The holy Man very well knows, that the new Creature,