g Sermon 4. conclufions are broader than the premill'es, and the fuper- i}ru&ures than the foundations ; and yet, alas ! the per - fwafion of many is built upon fuch fandy foundations, and is therefore but a delufion, fince it bath no folid bot. tom. Thus fome, who are carried away with an error, will fay they cannot defend nor debate for fuch a thing, but they are perfwaded of it, as if a well grounded per- fwafion could be without all reafon. A third Charaeter is, That a deluded Confcience can never abide or endure to be contradi&ed, or put to a trial. If any man shall fay to fuch a perfon, That he or the is deluded, they will be ready to hate him. Thus it was with the deluded Galatians, to whom the apoftle is conftrained to fay, chap. 4. 16. Am I therefore become your enemy, becaufe I tell you the truth ? They will readily cati out with the greateft and belt friends, and with the men they were wont to love molt, when they gainfay them in their delufions ; as Paul faith in the farecited place, I bear you record, that if it bad been pofble, you would once bave plucked out your own eyes, and given them to me: And am I now become your enemy,becaufe I tell you the truth? 'Tis an evil token, when a man now bateth another whom he loved before, and on no other ground, and for no other reafon, but becaufe he contradið him in that particular wherein he is miftaken. A fourth Chara&er is, (which is offome affinity to the firft) That, as a deluded Confcience is frothy in its comfort, fo it turneth a man frothy in his pracîice : He is much more concerned and zealous in fmall and minute things than in thofe of far greater moment ; as the apoftle In, hnuateth the Galatians were, where he faith to them, chap. 3. 3. Are ye fo fool fh, that having begun in the Spi. rit, ye are now made perfect by the flail' ? he firaineth at a gnat, and fwallowetli a camel ; and is not fo much taken up with the whole of religion, as he is with that parti- cular thing wherein Le is deluded. He hath more love unto, and fympathy with, thefe that are of his judg- ment and opinion in that particular, than with all the r-eft of the Lord's people that are found and right. The Galatians could not deny but that Paul had more grace than many:, or all; of thefe teachers that sourced and wooed
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