ltnd il f}irit wit/Nut Gnil(...): ._ 101 It was not any carnall refpc8, or earthly advantage did move him,but the pure and meer dictates of confcience:Hc thought be was bound to do what he did, elfe he would have finned gricvonOy againll Gqd,and have dant.r:Jcd his own foul. So that Paul in that oppofition againi1 Chrifi and hi!Church, . was thus farre without guile in his fpirit,that he_ did not go againff the light ofconfcience, be did not perfccute what be was convinced in his confciencc was tile truth ofGod; but inall this, be did as he thought it was his duty to do. Not that"this doth excufe him, as is to be £hewed, any further then that he was not a convinced hypocrite in his oppofitions of Chrifi, as many of the Ifrael ites were. Obferve, That men unregenerated, and devoidof true grace, mayJtt in many particulars both·m;vards G(}dand man, be. true. an4 unfeigned. . This is anamrall conftqncnce from the text, and this pra• t\icall matter will bevery piercing and fearching even into the deep thine~ ofmans heart. But before I come to the particu~ Jars, one or tw.o things mufi: be a little in6fted on cre.we can proceed. , · As firfi, Wbatfoever fome have·tfiought and ·wrote to the . contrary,we take it a,s atruth cleer from Scripture, Tht~t Paut Wa! net regenert!ltcd, or godly, tilt he bad that miraculom convt'r· jionJi-or~? Heaven: for if this be not made good, my Dotlrine will fall to the ground. Some therefore ha·ve faid, that Paul · from his youth up was godly, and that heerr~d onely in .the ob jet\: of his faith, about this puticular perfon tobe the Mef– fias: he believed in, and hoped for aMcffias, but only that. this individuall perfon was the Mdlias, bedenied : now fay. they, many good men were godly, and heldout fuch a faith, as Nath11nad and the CentuJion ~ and they arc the rather mo– ved to tbis,becaufe AEls z1.1. _Paul did there openly profelfe, he had lived in allgood crmfcience hefore God ti/J that day, fo that it feemed he had alwayes a.good confcience before God. But t~is affertion is no wayes admitted : For I. Paul. fp.eaks of htmfelf, as ablajphtrner, and the greateft o.j:~tlljinners, till God had mercy on bim,in that extraordinary .copverfion ,acknow. !edginghis eftate wrftched anddamnable, till Go.d.had_ thus 0 3. cnlighterifd.,
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