Riches of mercy to men in misery, or, Certain excellent treatises concerning the dignity…

Secondly, It stands in doing whatsoever we are convinced of. See an example of an honest heart to be considered in Cornelius, Act. 10. 33. we are here present, saith he to Peter, to hear whatsoever is commanded of God to hear, viz. to obey. See in Nathaniel, behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile. This is guile in a mans heart, when he makes a show to do many things and deceives himself in doing them. See in Paul when he was strucken down to the earth, Act. 9. he said, Lord what wilt thou that I do? and I will do it. And so he did not only in doing but suffering for him: and such a heart is in every man after conversion, for till then he will not give his shoulders to the yoke. See an example of an honest heart seemingly in Johanan, Jer. 42. where he bids Jeremiah to go to God and see if they should go down into Egypt, there he made a show that he would do whatsoever God commanded: yet after he tells him he intends it not, unless the word should run with the streams of his affections, Ezech. 14. 3. these men saith God have set up idols in their heart, yea and a stumbling block before their faces. So that there is an Idol in the hearts of many, when they come to hear, and that hinders their profiting by it, and hearing by accident that makes it worse, as we see in Physic impurum stomacum quo magis nutrieris eo magis laseris, an impure stomach the more it is nourished the worse it is, because the stomach is of that nature that either it assimilates the meat into nourishment, or else rejects it, but unto an unhonest heart the word is a reproach, and therefore when in the Word it meets with admonitions ⟨p. 296⟩it swells and is moved at them as if it were provoked by a defamation.

Secondly, It stands in doing whatsoever we are convinced of. See an example of an honest heart to be considered in Cornelius, Act. 10. 33. we are here present, saith he to Peter, to hear whatsoever is commanded of God to hear, viz. to obey. See in Nathaniel, behold a true Isralite, in whom there is no guile. This is guile in a mans heart, when he makes a shew to do many things and deceives himself in doing them. See in Paul when he was strucken down to the earth,