138 111"an unable to recover hi11ife(f. State JI; )·lever be able to work thyfelf out of this Hate of corrupti· · on and wrath. Thou mufi have Chrifi, elfe thou {hale pe– ri !h eternally. It is ORly Chrijl in )'Ott, can be the hope of ,rlory. But ~f thou wilt needs try it ; then I mufi lay bcf.ore thee, from the unalterable word of the living God, two 1 hii1gs which thou muft do for thyfelf. And if thou can!t do them; it mufi be yielded, that thou art able to r~over t hyfelf: but if not, then thou canft: do nothing this way, for thy recovery. · Firfl, If thou wilt mter into life, keep the commandment!, Matt h. xix. 17. That i!, if thou wilt by doing enter into life, then perfecdy keep the ten comrnands. For the fcope of thefe words Is, to beat down the pride of man's bearq - and to let him fee .an abfolute need of a Saviour, from the impoffibility of keeping the la•.v, The anfwer is given, fuit– able to the addrefs. Our Lotd cheeks him fo r his compli· :ment, .Good fl1cy1er, ver. 16. telling him, There iJ non: t ood but one, that if C()d, ver. 17. ,"i-s if he had faid, you think yourfelf a goo~ man, and me another ; but where ~oodnefs is fpoken of, men and angels may vail their faces before ' the good God. And as to his queflion, wherein he difcovereth his legal difpofition, ChriH: does not anfwer him, faying, Believe, and thau jhalt be.faved; · that wouJ.d not have been fo feafonable in the cafe of one who thought he e·ould do well enough for himfdf, if be but knew what 1 ood things he ~ould do : but, fuirable to the humour the man was in, he bids him keep the commandments ; keep .them nicely, and ac.curately, as thofe that watch melefac– tors in prifon, Jell any of them efcape, and their life . go for thei• 's. See then, 0 unregenerate man, what canfi thou do in this matter ; for if thou wilt recover thyfelf in this way, thou mufi perfeCtly keep the commandments of God . And ( 1.) Thy obedience inuft be perfect, in refpect of the principle of it; that is, thy foul, the principre of action., . mufl: be perfeCtly pure, :If!d altogeth"er without _fin; For the Jaw re-quires all moral perfection, not only ,a~ual but ha- . bitua.l, and fo condemns original fin ; impurity of nature, as well as of aCtions. Now, if thou canHbring this to paf~J, thou {halt be able to anfwer t~at quefl: ion of Soloruon's, fo as never one of A,dam's po!i:erity coulcyet anfwer it, Prov. XX. 9. /f'h~ Cf111ja)') hawmad:f!l)' heart cf:aJS { J3Ut iftbo• ) · ·- can!l:
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