Carnal Liberty to be denied : what. 177 from Righteoufsgefs, as the Apoille cats it, Rom. 6. 20, To be free from a voluntary fubjedlion to God, and free from his fe- vere and holy Laws, and free from the thoughts of holinefs, and of the life to come, and free from thofe fighs and groans for fin, and that godly forrow which the fanc`lified undergo ; and to be free from all thofe fpiritual motions and changing works upon their hearts, which theSpirit cloth workon all the` Saints: to be free from holy fpeeches, and holy prayer, and other duties, and from that ftriet and holy manner of living which God commandeth ; to be at liberty to fin againft God, and to pleafe the flefh, and follow their own imaginations and wits, let God fay what he will to the contrary : to be free to eat or drink what we love and have a mind of, and to bemer- ry, and wanton, and luftful,and worldly, and take our courfe without being curbed by fo precife a Law, as God bath given us : to be free from an heavenly converfation, and thofe pre- parations for death , and that communion with God which the Saints partake of : This is the wicked Liberty of the world, which the worit of carnal mendefire : And the next beyond this is a Liberty to lie in the fire of hell, and a freedom from falvation,& from the everlafting Joy andPraifes of the Saints. If fredom from Grace and Holinefs deferve the name of Freedom, then you may next call Damnation a Freedom. And it is part alfoofthis sinful miferableLiberty to be free from the Government, and Officers, and good Laws which rule the Churchand Commonwealth. And fuck wretches there are in tize world, that ferioufly judge it a defirable Liberty to be free from thofe. They think that their Countrey is Free, when every man may do what he lift, and they have no King or other Governors, or none that will look after them, and punifh their mifcarriages : And they think the Churth is free, when they have no Paftors, or when Pailors have leaf} power over them, and they may do what they lift. And indeed if they were rid of Magiftrates and Minifters , Lhey were free I As a School is free that bath thut out the Mailer, or have rejected him, and teach and rule one another I And as a Ship is free when the Matter and Pilot are thrown over- board ; and as an Army is free when they have call off or loft A a their
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=