The Ninth Excellency, Those that are content they may expect reward from God, that God shall give unto them the good of all those things that they are contented to be without, and this brings in abundance of good to a […] spirit▪ There is […] and such a mercy that thou thinkest would be very comfortable •nto thee if thou hadst it, but canst thou bring thy heart to submit to God in it? thou shalt have the blessing of the mercy one way or other; if thou hast not the thing it self in re thou shalt have it made up one way or other, thou shalt have a bill of exchange to receive somewhat in li•• of it, there is no comfort that any soul is content to be without, but the Lord will give either the comfort on somewhat in stead of i•: Thou shalt have a reward to thy soul for what ever good thing thou ar• content to be without. You know what the Scripture saith of active obedience, and the Lord doth accept (o• his […]) their […] for the deed, though we do not do a good thing▪ yet i• our hearts be […] to will to d•• it, we shall have the blessing though we do not do the thing: You that complain of weakness, you cannot do as others do, you cannot do as much service as other• do•, if your heart be upright with God▪ and […] […] do• the same service that you s•• others do, you would account it▪ a great blessing of God upon you, the greatest blessing in the world if you were able to do as others d••; now you may comfort your selves with this, ha•i•g▪ to deal with God in the way of the […] of Grace you shall have […] God […] of •ll […] d••, •• a ••cked […] ⟨p. 117⟩shall have the punishment for all the sin he would commit, so thou shalt have the reward for all the good thou wouldest do. Now may not we draw an argument from active obedience to passive, there is as good reason why thou shouldest expect that God will reward thee for all that thou art willing to suffer, as well as for all that thou art willing to do, now if thou beest willing to be without such a comfort and mercy when God sees it fit, thou shalt be no looser, certainly God will reward thee either with the comfort or with that that shall be as good to thee as the comfort, therefore consider how many things have I that others want, and can I bring my heart into a quiet contented frame to want what others have?
The Ninth Excellency, Those that are content they may expect reward from God, that God shall give unto them the good of all those things that they are contented to be without, and this brings in abundance of good to a 〈…〉 spirit▪ There is 〈…〉 and such a mercy that thou thinkest would be verie comfortable •nto thee if thou had'st it, but c•nst thou bring thy heart to submit to God in it? thou shalt have the blessing of the mercy one way or other; if thou hast not the thing it selfe in re thou shalt have it made up one way or other, thou shalt have a bill of exchange to receive somewhat in li•• of it, there is no comfort that any soul is content to be without, but the Lord will give either the comfort on somewhat in stead of i•: Thou shalt have a reward to thy soul for what ever good thing thou ar• content to be without. You know what the Scripture saith of active obedience, and the Lord doth accept (o• his 〈…〉) their 〈…〉 for the deed, though we do not doe a good thing▪ yet i• our hearts be 〈…〉 to will to d•• it, we shall have the blessing though we do not doe the thing: You that complain of weaknesse, you cannot do as others do, you cannot do as much service as other• do•, if your hearte be upright with God▪ and 〈…〉 〈…〉 do• the same service that you s•• others doe, you would account it▪ a great blessing of God upon you, the greates• blessing in the world if you were able to doe as others d••; now you may comfort your selves with this, ha•ig to deale with God in the way of the of Grace you shall have God of ll d, a cked
