To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
A Man ought not to pass over that which stirs up in him some secret Impediment, if he will be Sollicitously concerned for God: or else that same secret Impediment may still remain Se∣perated from God: and when the Man shall come to Examination, that secret of his heart shall come forth, and shew that it still hath been alive in him. There∣fore is he to bear an Examination, and in the Examination this secret of his heart
is to be struck out, and to be mortified that so he may come unto God; no•• must we at this time Fly away, but search thoroughly; and then a Man may b•• truly Sollicitous in God, and so exercis•• himself, viz. by laying aside all Impedi∣ments that are by Means of that Exami∣nation Detected and Manifested. And then the Man comes to a certain liberty, when thorough Examination he is prov∣ed and tryed, he can no longer be ter∣rified at any thing. If yet somewhat re∣mains, that without his knowledge hath lurked in his Mind, that also shall be ma∣nifested, when he repeats the Examinati∣on. Nor can a Man more rightly know, whether he be free or a Captive, then when he is thus touched; and therefore this Tryal is not an evil thing, nor also is it to be avoided, because by the help of it, occult defects, are discovered, and the Man confesseth them to the Lord with Contrition, who also is able to purge him from them.
As long as a Man lives, he is under the Law: and when by his own Endeavours he is come so far, that he cannot ascend
higher, yet he shall get higher, and be advanced: But it is necessary he should put forth his hand, that another may closely take hold of him, and lead him into the way, which else he will not find: that is, he must give himself up to God, so, as that he suffers him only to operate, he himself only sitting still, and Submitting himself unto God. Whate∣ver then is performed, that is no longer done by Man, but God himself worketh above all actions of Man, or his know∣ledge, or Power: God acts, and Man suffers: if this be done, God by such sufferings and dyings, leadeth and exerciseth the Man, which are matters far surpas∣sing his strength and knowledge, even as before also the thing was utterly unknown to him, nor was it possible for him to under∣take such a thing, or exercise himself in it. And in this death it is that a Man is purged, and all things are taken from him, all Whatever were able to hinder in him the undertaking of the true essence. Then is all propriety and Nature renounced, for in God is no propriety, but all things ought to be of a Divine Nature nor can any
other Nature be brought into God. In that death the Soul is lost: and when e∣ver this is done, then a Man cometh to the true essential Life of God, and there Christ revealeth himself most Evidently in Man, and then there is no need to search many things concerning the Place, where∣in Christ is to be worshipped, or any o∣ther such Particulars, because all these will be very perspicuous, or known, to our eyes.
The Law is fulfiled by the new Man without all dispute or Imagination, Jesus hath strength enough to be able to save and Purify a Man from sin: but Christ doth also anoint the Man thus purified with his Holy Spirit.