Chap. z2. fin Expofttionupon the Bookef JO B. Vert 17. not give them the leaft welcome or entertainment. And fo Jefus Chrift is de(cribed fpeaking to the wicked in the dayof Judgement (Match. 7.23. ) Depart fromme, away, get you out ofmy pretence, I will not have to doe with you, I will doe nothing for you ; Depart. His is a word of command, indeed, which though they have no will to obey, yet they (hall obey it whether they will or no. Thus in the prefent text wicked men prefume to fay to God himfelfe, depart from to, &c. 'Hence note. pirá, That wicked or meere carnall men, haveArne appearances and impref es of the pretence of god upon theirfpiri s. They couldnot fay to God, departfrom tu,laad they not tome impreflions and notions of God, of the will aod Law of Gad, of the truth and power ofGod upon them. They who are a- lienated from the life ofGod through the ignorance that is in them, doe yet leek a pretence ofGod with them (As. i 7.27.) That they fhould fake the Lord, ifhaply theymight feele after him and finde him, though he be not farrefrom every one of eu. Take mankinde in generali, good and bad, beleevers and infidels, there is a ncerneffe of God unto them, unto them all : and that not onely a neerneffeof God in what the Apoftle there fpeakes of, common prefervation (ver. 28.) In him we live, andmove, and have our being, or of naturall communications, ofwhich the Apoftle fpeakes there alto, Fr -rat him we receive life, and breath, and all things (ver. 25.)But further God is with them, by a twofold light ; firft, by a light ofDireftion; fecond- ly, by a light ofConviftion. All havea Light ofDireéiion, I.by the Law written in their hearts. The A,poflle is expreffe for this (Rom. 2.14.) For when the gentiles ( he aleanes it ofGen- tiles unconverted) which bave not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, theft having not the Law (that is formally publithed and preached to them) are a law unto themfelves whiahP ew the wake ofthe Law written in their hearts, their con- fsiencealfo bearing witneffe, &c.And as all have a light of direc`fi on from the Law written in their hearts, or in the booke of Con fcience ; fo alto 2. they have a light of dire&ion from the Law ofthe creation, or from that which is written of God io the: I17
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