Of Natural, Moral, and Civil Liberty. 67 able to fave us, laying ofsde all filthinefs and S E R M. fuperfiu ty of naughtinefs : And then he de- III. fcribeth the feveral forts of hearers, the `'yam careiefs, unattentive, unreformed, and the ferious and obedient. The former he corn - pareth to a man beholding his natural face in a glafs, who fern forgetteth what manner of man he was: The other looking ftedfaft- ly with earneft attention into the gofpel, and continuing therein, is transformed by the re- newing of his mind, and becometh a faith- ful confiant doer of the word of God. It is in this defcription, ver. 25. he inferteth the charaaer of the perfect law of liberty, whereby it plainly appeareth, that it hath a reference to the deliverance of men from fin and the power of their vices and corrupt affections, that they may pra Life pure re- ligious virtue, as the effe ± of their em- bracing the dotrine of Chrift. If this be the light in which our religion appeareth, it is a truly amiable one, and fhould recommend it to our higheft efteem and veneration. What can be conceived more friendly to human nature, more wor- thy of fupreme goodnefs, than to relieve a multitude of rational beings from a moff difhonourable and unhappy thraldom, into which they had precipitated themfelves, by F 2 a vo-
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