, Christ, our Father hath
left us to the Spirit in his latter will; and, therefore, as we have
absolute necessity, so he hath both willingness and ability, because it is
his office. "O Lord, I know," saith Jeremiah, "that the way of man is not
in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps," Jer. x.
23. O it were a great point of wisdom thus to know our ignorance and
folly, and this is the great qualification of Christ's disciples, simple
as children, as little children, as void of conceit of their own wisdom,
Mark x. 15. And this alone capacitates the soul to receive the impressions
of wisdom; as an empty table is fittest to write upon, so a soul emptied
of itself; whereas self conceit draweth a number of foolish senseless
draughts in the mind that it cannot receive the true image of wisdom.
Thus, then, when a soul finds that it hath misled itself, being misguided
by the wild fire of its lusts, and hath hardly escaped perishing and
falling headlong in the pit, this disposes the soul to a willing
resignation of itself to one wiser and powerfuller, the Spirit of God; and
so he giveth the Spirit the string of his affections and judgment to lead
him by, and he walketh willingly in that way to eternal life, since his
heart was enlarged with so much knowledge and love. And now, having given
up yourselves thus, you would carefully eye your Leader, and attend all
his motions, that you may conform yourself to them. Whensoever the Spirit
pulleth you by the heart, draweth at your conscience, to drive you to
prayer, or any such duty, do not resist that pull, do not quench the
Spirit, lest he let you alone, and do not call you, nor speak to you. If
you fall out thus with your Leader, then you must guide yourselves, and
truly you will guide it into the pit, if left to yourselves. Therefore
make much of all the impulses of your conscience, of all the touches and
inward motions of light and affection, to entertain these, and draw them
forth in meditation and action, for these are nothing else but the Spirit
your leader plucking at you to follow him; and if you sit when he riseth
to walk, if you neglect such warnings, then you may grieve him, and this
cannot but in the end be bitterness to you. Certainly, many Christians are
guilty in this, and prejudge themselves of the present comfort and benefit
of this inward anointing, that teacheth all things, and of this bosom
guide that leadeth in all truth; because they are so heav