The Whole Works of Robert Leightonto Which Is Prefixed; A Life of the Author (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1846 Excerpt: ...or volubility of words. The sure measure of our growth is to be had from our holiness, which stands in this, to see how our hearts are crucified to the world, and how we are possessed with the love of God, and with ardent longings after union with him, and dwelling in his presence hereatter, and in being conformed to his will here.tions that are hatched under the sweetest pleasures in the world, this one thing is enough, the multitude of diseases and pains, the variety of distempers, that those houses we are lodged in are exposed to. Poor creatures are oft-times tossed between two, the fear of death, and the tediousness of life; and under these fears they can not tell which to choose. Holy men are not exempted from some apprehensions of God's displeasure because of their sins; and that may make them cry out with David, O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. Or, perhaps, this may be a desire, not so much simply for the prolonging of life, as for the intermitting of his pain, to have ease from the_ present smart. The extreme torment of some sickness, may draw the most fixed and confident spirits to cry out very earnestly for a little breathing. Or rather, if the words imply the desire of a recovery, and the spinning out of the thread of his life a little longer, surely he intended to employ it for God and his service. But long life was suitable to the promises of that time: so Hezekiah, Isa. xxxviii. 5. There is no doubt those holy men under the law, knew somewhat of the state of immortality; their calling themselves strangers on earth (Heb. xi. 13), argued that they were no strangers to these thoughts. But it can not be denied, that that doctrine was but darkly laid out in those times. It is Christ Jesus who hath br...