Book 111. of Je S U S C H R 1 S T. TfO

down, a?}d our feeble Knees, that we faint net in t!j:s Spi- ritttd Warfare j and enable thofe who can do nothing without thee, to conquer all Difficulties through thy Strength.
I know, O Lori!, that if. any good thing feem to be in me, yet even this deferyes my meaneft Opinion, and will in no degree jultifie my thinking otherwile of my leif, than a mod vile ard worthlefs Wretch. And therefore, when thy angry Juftice afflids me, it is- my Duty, with the profoundeft FTumiiicy, to lay my Mouth in the Duil, an,d meekly fubn it to thy cor- redring Hand. For, thciigh I cannot difcover all the Reafons of thy ]V 'yfierious Judgments, }et this [ find no difficulty todifcern, that I my feif am nothing, and that I proceeded out of nothing. O the dark Ab} fs I in which I can find nothing relating to my feif but Vani- ty and Nothing. Where then is the Prefumption, where the Pride, the lofty Conceit of my Worth and Virtue ? Whither are all my vain Confidences, and towring Imaginations fled ? Thy Judgments, Lord, have fwept them away like a Torrent ; and all are funk in thofe unfearchable Depths. Thefe fhew me to my felf, and juftifie the Prophet s Rebuke, Shall the Clay exalt it felf againft the Tot- ^f"*- ^T;. ter, that fafljioned it ? Beheld, as the Clay ^'''•^'^^^^' is in the Hands of the V otter y fo is every Mortal Man lit thy H'jnd, O Lord.
And is it pcffible for that Soul to fwell with Info- j lence and vain Conceit, which is duly fenfible of thy Maje-fty, and fubmits to it, with that Lowlinefs and refigned Submiffion which thy Truth dired:s ^ No, no. Not all the Voices of Mankind confpiring unani- moufly in his Praife, can blow him up to fond Con- ceits of his own Excellence, when once his Hopes and Heart are fixed on God. For he confiders, that all thefe are butfo many Copies of himfeif ,• frail and fee- ble, deceivable?and perifhing, emptinefs and nothing.
That
i6o €>f ti)t imitation Bookiii.
Thar They^ as well as their Words, are only Air and
Sound J and both will quickly vanifli together; but God
and his Truth remain for evermore.
^^- ^^' Ceafe thtrefore from Man, for wherein is he
to he accounted of^ and endeavour to have Praife of Him y who reftfieth the Vroud, but in his X Pct.iv. o'^n due time exalteth them^ who humble
themfd'ves under his mighty Hand,
Chap. XVL
With whatReferves we ought to Pray.
Chri/l.'] ir EX this, my Son, be the Language and 1 J Style of all thy Prayers : Lord, if it he. thy Pleafure, grant me this Re^ueji ', If what I ask conduce to thy Glory., do thou he f leafed to give and frofjer it; Lordy if Thou, to whom .all Things and their Conjequences are perfectly hiown^ feeft that, this will he for mj true Advan" tage, not only bellow it, but with it Grace to ufe it to thy 'Glory : But if thou feefi it may proz^e hurtful to me^ do not cnly deny 'my Petitions, which proceed from Ignorance and Mifiake ; but. remove far from me the 'very Defire of thaty which cannot he obtained without my Prejudice,
This iaft is" a very reafonable and expedient Re- jqueft ; becaufe many Defires, which feem/ not in- nocent only, but even virtuous and wife, profitable and praife- worthy in a Man's own Eyes, are yet nei- ther infpired by God, nor agreeable to his Will : Nor is it eafy to difcern , whether one be aded by a good orevil Spirit ; or whether, in the Matter of his Pray- ers, his own lucliniitionind private Refpeds do not deterrriine hlrri. And many a one, who huh fancied the Impulfe of Divine Grace, and perfuaded him- felf, that he harh bssn direded and aded by it all a-
long.