Head I r. of the natural Stock. . . " 2 2 3 ver believe. And henc~, he" now m<tke~ his·!h()n,J• H 'efforts w amend what was am':fs inhis way before: He prays more earo~flly than t;ver, mourns mor .e bitterly, itriyes againft fin in heart and hfe, more vigoroufiy, and watc~eth . more diligently; if QY any means he may 1 ·at length be fit to come to ChrifL One would think the man is well ;~untbled now : But ah ! devilifh pride lur~s under the veil oJ a-ll th)s feem– iog humility. Like a kindly branch of the old Hock; he :adheres fiill, and witl not fubmit to the righteoufnejs 'of · God, Rom. x. 3· t·Ie will not come to the market of free grace, without money. He is bidden -to the man;ia;;e oj the King's Son, ~here the bridegroom bimfelf furnifhed aU tbe guelts with wedding garments, {hipping 'hem of their own: but he will not come, becaufe he wants a-weddinggarment~ howbeit he is very bufy making one teady. l'h1s is fad work; and therefore he mufl have a deeper ftroke yet, eife he is ruiaed. This {hoke is reached him with the ax of t-he law, in its irritating power . Thus the law girding thr foul with cordS' of death, aod holding it in with the r,igorous commands of obedience, under. the pain of the ctJrfe ; and God, in his hofy and wife conduCt, withdrawing his re· ' firaining grace ~ corruption is irritated, luO:s become vio~ lent, and the · r:1ore they are firiven again{t, the more they ra.ge, like a furious horfe ch-ecked with the bit Then .do corrupti6'os fet up 'their heads, which> he never faw in IHm– felf before , Het'e oft· timeo; atheifm, bla.fphemy and, in vne word, h~rrib!e thingJ concerning God, terrible thought; concerning the faith, arife in. his breafl:; fo that his h.-:art' is a very be!J within him. : Thus while he is , fweeping the boufe of b.is' heart, not yet watered wit6 gofpe! grace; thefe cqrruptions which lay q,uiet before in negleCted cor– f.lers, fly up and down i.n it ·like dufl:. He _is as one who is mending a dam) and while he's repairing brt:>aches in it·, and l1rengthning every par~ of it, a mighty flood "comes down, overtu-rns his work, and. dri-ves all a,way befort; ,it·, as well what was newly laid, as what was laid bef9re. Read' Rom. vii. 8, 9, , o, q. Thi~ is a firok:e. which g~es to the . .heart· and, by it, his hope of getting himfelf more fit to– ' come to Chril1, is cut off. Lafily, Now the ti~ne. is come, when the man betwixt •. hop,=: .., I
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