In sum, till experience have
seasoned his understanding, he is rather a child than a man, a prey of
flattery or a praise of providence, in the way of grace to prove a
saint, or in the way of sin to grow a devil.
A HOLY MAN.
A holy man is the chiefest creature in the workmanship of the world. He
is the highest in the election of love, and the nearest to the image of
the human nature of his Maker. He is served of all the creatures in the
earth, and created but for the service of his Creator. He is capable of
the course of nature, and by the rule of observation finds the art of
reason. His senses are but servants to his spirit, which is guided by a
power above himself. His time is only known to the eye of the Almighty,
and what he is in his most greatness is as nothing but in His mercy. He
makes law by the direction of life, and lives but in the mercy of love.
He treads upon the face of the earth till in the same substance he be
trod upon, though his soul that gave life to his senses live in heaven
till the resurrection of his flesh. He hath an eye to look upward
towards grace, while labour is only the punishment of sin. His faith is
the hand of his soul, which layeth hold on the promise of mercy. His
patience is the tenure of the possession of his soul, his charity the
rule of his life, and his hope the anchor of his salvation. His study is
the state of obedience, and his exercise the continuance of prayer; his
life but a passage to a better, and his death the rest of his labours.
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