Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v4

Chap. Y r. An éxpofition upon the 73oák, of J O B. Verf. i z. of rightof duty, which according to its OW14 conftitution, or the juft expeftation ofothers,it fhould have,is empty.The ftomack empty when it path no meat in it,though it be full ofwinde.Man is called empty,becaufe(though as full ofevil as an egge of good it fs,yet) he is not fill'd with good,he is not f°,Ü'd with God,with the knowledgeofGod with love to , and faith in God. So the Apoftle fames befpeaks him Chap.z.lo. But wilt thou know , O wain man,thatfaith without worI is dead? As if he had faid,rhou emptyman thou that haft but a boafíz offaith , thou whofe faith is fill'dup withgood words ,notfruitedwithgoodworks,wilt thouknow (thou(halt, whether thou wilt or no) that thyfaith is dead.Where there is life, there is operation ;works are not the form but they are the fruit of faith : they are not the effence of a living faith, but they are theevidence that faith lives; and he is to be numbred arnong the vainelt ofmen who (peaks of his faith , while his works arealtogether fpeechlefs, or fpeak nothing but unbelief. When man fell from God, thedevil emptied him of that which he Was full of; the image ofGod in uprightnefs,and fii'd himwith thatwhich was but emptinefs, his own image,in unrighteoufnefs. The nature of fallen man in the belt notion of it , is but white paper, in which nothing is written ; in another notion it is black paper, written, or blotted rather withevil. And though tome no- tions and general principles (from whichconfcience works to conviftion) remain there,yet they are fo weak and languid,fo like fparks covered over with ,- or rather buried in embers and afhes, that theyare fcarce difcernable , and are not only utterlyunable without affiflance to difcern between common truthand errour, good and evil ,- but quite dead to fpiritual good. Hence though man bath not loft all , yet hebath as bad as ioft all , becaufe he bath loft that Which was bell', or fhould make hart fit to ad that whichis good. Things whicha& not, are but very little . better then thofe Which are_not. Man having totally'ioft all holy habits, and all power -toaft in, or toward holineffe , is not wronged, whenhe is called , vainemptyman. And as he is vain, becaufeempty of what he ought to have fo he is more vain,becaufe £ullofall that which he ought not to have. This empty fulneffe the Apofìle defcribeth (Rom. I.29s 3e.) fil- ledwith all unrighteoufneffe; fornication, wic{eedneffe, coveteoufneffe, 9nalicioufneffe,full ofenvy murder, debate, deceit, malignity, with filch fluffas this he is filled, of this chaffe and cockle he hath good M 2 meafure,

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