of Hyp~trifle in Religi1n: . man ea_n~ever_go deep e_nough in his duties 6-R h·amiliation , and fancbficatlon, who l!ii not perfwaded of fucb an horrid defilement upon him. Nicodemmwas a Mafier in l{rAel, a teacher of the Law, yet he undertlood not a fincere, graci– ous working of any duty in his hearr;and w~y? he did not fee tl;e neccffity of Regeneration, he war ignorant, that being born of the flefh, he was wholly Aefh. Alas, there is no man doth any more then pare the nails, or wafh the face in religi– on; be .doth not change the vitals and the inwards, that is not affeCl:ed with this natural pollution : What made]'~tul in that religious zeal he fhewed, account l1imfclf to be fqme great body, .when he was nothing but an· em'pty fua.– dow ? was it not, btcaufe he did not ftnow luft to be fin, Rom.7. He was aliv~ till that knowledge enlighrned him, as a mao feeth not the Toads and Serpent' ina dark Dung~on, till the Sunne fhine into it. Would you thereforebe true infide and inwara Chriflians? go to .the heart and root in every duty: Lay thy f01andation even in this deep of thy. fpiritual vile– nelfe; Say, Its not a leprofie of the skinne orforehead only, but of the very heart and .vitals. Now this corrupt dotlrine doth fiill flie like that pe!lilential arrow at noon-day, and in whofe heart it doth foke in,it cannot but dry upall the hopes of tru~ grace ia fuch, if alwaies pcrflfied in. - That the Law A feeond corrupt dotlrine, which inakes an hypocrite, is~ ofG~d requires Concerning theLaw ofGod,th.tt it reqt~~ireth nothing bHt extern~l noth1ng bu;: obedience; if(o be that a man doth outward!] c~.,form to it,he bath _ d e~ternal obe· done 1111 that i4 required. This was a poifogous dotlrine 1ence. h h .r ""l h c · · f h ' b · r among t eP aruees; -J."'OW as t e ,ountam, 1 · t at e po11on. cd, all that drink of it are indangered , fo it was then, Tbe -Pharifees had poifoned all the fprings the people were to drink of, and by no principle more.then this. Therefore our Saviour Matt h. 5. was thought eo preach great paradoxes, when he told ehcm o~ an h~art· a~ultery; of an heart-murder, . PZnd unle/etheir righteo'itj1uf{f excu:ded that of the Scribe! and Pharifees, they could never enter into the Kingdom of Hea'Ven. lf then people arc perfwlded, that a mcer civil deportrnenc, andanoucward ab!linence from finne, is a11,that God look· eth at; tha.t the skinneof the bea.fi: is enough for Sacrifice, without r
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