self-conciitzdner moil be de.vied. rah, and thole other (..onivarors, Petonb. 16 3. is grown fo common in the mouths of .gnorant pr proreffors, ire take too much upon you (fay they to their Guicie, and Teachers) re.-ing all the Congregation are holy, every one a; them , and the LOra among them : wherefore then lift you up yewfelves above the Con- gregation ofthe Lord ? j It is the Holmes of the Congregation, and all its members, and the pretence oft..;od him telf among them, that is pleaded againft he fuperiority ofMotes and Aaron, as ifwith fo Holy a people , that had God hirrifelf to be their Teacher and Guide, there were no need of men to be ,lift up above the Congregation of the Lord. But it wasfelf that was in- ten:(ed, what ever was pretended. From this felf-cenceitednefs alto it is that the weightieft common truths that Self bath no fpecial intereft in, are fo little valued, and relifhed, and infified on ; and that a leis and more uncertain point which /elf path efponfed, than be more relifhed, infifted on, and contended for Hence alfo is moft of the common confidence of men in their own Opinions ; that when the poinq is doubiful, if not certainly falfe, in the eyesof wifer men then them elves, ;wet thefool rageth and it co4dent,Prov. 14. 16. He can carry on a conceit of his Own with as brazen a face , and proud contempt of other wens arguments ,as if he were maintaining that the Sun is light, andother men pleaded to prove it dark : when, alas, it is feltin- terefi that is the life, the flrength, the goodnefs of the mule. Hence alfo it is that men are to quarrelfom with the words and ways ofothers, that they can fcarce hear or read a word, but thefe pugnacious animals are ready to draw upon it, as ifthey had catcht an advantage for the honouring of their valour, and were loth to lofe fuch a prize and opportunity for a vi&ory and triumph : Hence it is that hitting at the layings and doings of others, is the firft, and moft common, and molt fenfible part of their commentaries. And that they can make heretics and monfters not only of tolerable errors, but of truths themfelves, if they have but the inexpiable guilt of croffieg the wildom of thefefeltconceited men.Hence it is that opinions of their own are more induftriouflycultivated eciludtoufly cherifhed ,by a double if not a tenfold proportion of Zeal and diligence, then common truths that all the godly in the, worldhave as much intereft in as they,
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