A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of Jude

which is usually upon some secret or open sin into which God suffereth them to fall against Conscience: there will be care, though not horror; and solicitousness, though not utter despair: No Soul ever came to Christ without a load upon his back, though every one be not ready with the Jailer to kill himself for anguish: You will be at a loss sometimes; it is easy security that goeth on from the cradle to the grave in the same tenor of hope without variation. There will be a time when you will smite upon the thigh, and cry, What shall I do? And as there will be some trouble found in them, so some change; all are not converted from profaneness to Religion, some from civility to Religion, from profession to sincerity, from servility to ingenuity: Time was when they were careless of communion with God, prayed now and then out of custom, had no delight in the Almighty, but now it is otherwise. Partly because there is a constant calling, so that first or last we shall be sensible of the motions of the Spirit, and the hearts answer: to some God speaketh in thunder, to others in a still voice, but to all he speaketh; therefore did you ever discern Gods calling and your answering? Psal. 27. 8. The Lord said, Seek ye my face; my heart said, Thy face Lord will I seek: There is no gracious heart but they are often sensible of such a dialogue between God and the Soul; this discourse is constant: he speaketh to us by the injection ⟨p. 20⟩of holy motions and the actual excitations of his grace, and we speak to him by serious promises and resolutions of obedience: God calleth us into his presence often, and the heart echoeth, Lo I come.

which is usually upon some secret or open sin into which God suffereth them to fall against Conscience: there will be care, though not horror; and solicitousness, though not utter despair: No Soul ever came to Christ without a load upon his back, though every one be not ready with the Jaylor to kill himself for anguish: You will be at a loss sometimes; it is easie security that goeth on from the cradle to the grave in the same tenor of hope without variation. There will be a time when you will smite upon the thigh, and cry, What shall I do? And as there will be some trouble found in them, so some change; all are not converted from prophaneness to Religion, some from civility to Religion, from profession to sincerity, from servility to ingenuity: Time was when they were careless of communion with God, prayed now and then out of custom, had no delight in the Almighty, but now it is otherwise. Partly because there is a constant calling, so that first or last we shall be sensible of the motions of the Spirit, and the hearts answer: to some God speaketh in thunder, to others in a still voyce, but to all he speaketh; therefore did you ever discern Gods calling and your answering?