4:® Difcourfe Gotdr C offrl4e happZMeff6. II. tiers out ofthe wordof God,and fellowes of fuchnotorious ranke.But if(betides the difclaimingofthefe) his confcience be ableto iraformehimofhis civili honefty,externall juftice, force workes ofcharity,&c.Why then, the matter is putout ofall coutroverfie, and he prefentlycanonized for a Saint in his owne conceit. Youmay fee his picture in theeighteenth ofLuke : O t ed , f thane thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjatl, adulterers, or as this Publican. There is hisexemption from commonprophaneneffe. Ifaji twicein the weeke, (give tithes of aft thatIpofJe[re : There is his out- ward juftice and religiousffolemnrties. But you mutt not cÚ- ceive that the formali hypocrite dothproclaime this in pub- like, with fuchgrofl ;, and palpable of;entation : Nay, (per- haps) when it arifeth, hee lets it not rat long in his owne thoughts, left by this vanity hisvertues lofe theirgrace, and he his comfort. Butcertaine it is,a confciocifnes ofhis being free from impious impieties, of his morali hot-idly, perfor- mance ofoutwardduties ofReligion, and force inward, in force meafure (though not univerfally, nor to thedegree of theChildrenofGod) is one of the beg groundshee bath for his affurance ofbeing in Rateoffalvation. Parallel tothis of Luke, is that, Prov. 30. verfe i a. There isa generation that are pure in their owne conceit, and yet are not wa hedfrom theirfilthineffe. That is,they imagine their temper ofReligi- on, their pitch oflid ineffe, their formali Chriftianity, to bee the very right pathto heaven: when indeed theywere never trulyhumbled with a fenfeand fight oftheir fins, out ofthe Lawand Iudgements ofGod. They were never acquainted with the pangsofconfciencein a newbirth, or themyfleries offalvation:but within are full ofhollow-heartedrefle,luke- warmenef e,and much bitternefie againft true godlineflèand thepower thereof. The fecond reafon whereby the formali hyppocriteis mo- ved to thinkehis ílate to be good, and the way of his life to be right, is a prejudicewhich bee conceives from the impu- tations which the world layethupon the children of God : fuch as are Pride, Hypocrifie, Singularitie, Melancholy, Simplicity,
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