Head Il. of tht nat;ural Stock ~ - prays more ferve~tly, hears ~t~entively, and' ltrives to get his heart affected m everv rehgtous duty he performs: and -thus he comes to think. himfelf not only an outjidc-, but an irljide Chrifl:iao. Wonder not at this; for th~re is no'thing in it beyond the power of nature, O't what one may attain .to under a vig.orcus influence of the cov.eoant·ofworks. There– fore another yet deeper firoke is reached. The law charg– et~ home on the man's confcience, th'at he was a tranjgreffor from the "JJomh'; ' that he came into the wodd a guilty creature : and that, in the time of his ignorance, and even fince his eyes we.re opened, he has been guilty of many ::~c .;; tnal fins, eit her altoge~her o•erlooked by him~ or not fu:ffi– ci ently mourned over. (For fpiritua) fores; not healed by the blood 6f Chrill, but ikinned over fome · other way, are ' edily ruffied, · and as foon break out again.) And tbere– fore the law takes him by the ~hroat, faying, Pay what thou owe/l. Sixth!y, Then the /inner fays in his heart, Have patimce .rwith me, and I "".vi// pay th,ee cd!; and fo falls to work to pacjfy an offended G_od, and to atone for thefe fins. He . ·renews his repentance, fuch as it is; bears patiently the affiicHons laid upon him ; yea, he affiids himfelf, denies himfeif the uf~ of his lawful comforts, fighs· deeply, mourns bitterly , cries witp tears for a pardon, till he--hath ~ro.1,1ght up his heart to a co.nceit of' having obtained it ; hav.,ing thus done penance for what is parr, and refo.iving to _be a good ' fervant to God, and to hold on in outward and inward o– bedience, for the time to come. But the {hoke mull: gone;n·– er the heart yet, ere the branch fall off. The Lord difco– yers to him, in the zlafs of the law, how he finneth in all 'he does, even when he does the beO: be can ; and therefore the dreadful found returns, to his ears, Gal. iii. 1 o . Curft1 iJ every one that cantinueth no( in all thingJ, &c. lVhnz ye fafled and mourned, faith the Lord, did ye at all fajr ' unto me, ever; to me? V\Tili muddy water make clean clothes ? Will you fatisfy for on~ fin with another ? Did. nt>t your thoughts wander in fucb a duty ? Were not you~ affe&ions fLn in another? Did not your heart give a whotifh Jook. to fuch an i.dol ! And did it not 'rife in a fit of impa– tience un<iier fuch an affiitliOJl? Should I a.ccept this 'ifyotu· . h'tmd1 ? Curftd be the decei-r,;er, rwhi~h focrijiceth to ;he T ' Lcrd , '
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