.. ? · . ~ndafiirlt witboNt Guil~.·' . C:mcer, becaufe they 4o according to their conrcienie, The}i think they ought to do wh1t they do. For all th.e Idolatry that ~erwu iri the world, all that ever the-H\!athenifh per..' fecutors, or the Jewifh enemies to Chrillianicy have ~one,' came in mmy of them from afeduced and erroneous confci· cnce ; neither can there any folid rea(onbeginn, why the Idolatry ·in the old Tellament fuonld be lelfe indulged then . ' blafphemous, damnable herefies in the new, that overthrow either the divine nature ofChrifi: or the holyGhofi,or the~u~ thority of the Scripmres,which are the fundamentals ofReli· gion. Certainly the honour and glory ofGod is as precious, as dear tohim now as ever, and by the word of God, efpe· cially che new tefiament, the tell:imonies are as clear for the . divine nature ofChrill: (I fpeak not of the fublime _quell:ions or manner ofexplicationof it,but only the e~ill:ency, rh:tt he is truly Goa) to them that believe Scripture, as that there is a God, is or may be clear to them, that have nothing but the,: book ofnamre to prove ic from: It is not then thy ignorance who enjoyeA: the means, or the error upon thy confcience which feduceth thee,tba~ will acquit thee before God. ChriO: from Heaven {aid to PaHl, why per{ecuteft thou me? Atl:s 9.4. though he replied, Who art thou Lord? although as was bin· · ted before, God had mercy on him, be.caufe he did it igno– rantly, yet that ignorance W:.lS wilfufl and affected becaufe he had means to the contrary; Infomuch that a learned Critick .Tarnavicm ,th-inks it fhould be tranOued, although I did it ig-, nmmtly,as th~ HebrewChi, often in the Scripture: Howfo– ever,that this ignorance did notexcufe,is plain, becaufe Pttul makes Gods converfion of him fuch an extraordinary inRance of the riches of Godsgrace, that makes himfelf an infiance, that all the ages to come may wonder at: and there is no man fo affected with, and paffionately magnifying the grlce of God to finners,as Paul iB, from his own experience, which he could not have done, if his ignorance and erroneous con– fcience,had acquitted him for his former finnes.Thus youJee bow eafi!y i~ may fall .our, that men though hearty and de~ vout, accordmg to therr knowledge and way in matters that relate to God, m:~y yet be wholly ddlitute_,of the work of r Cl_. grace
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