V'ii it s.z. ttll our righteoufnefs u as filth] rags,"Ifai.64.6. :No work of oars · is fo pure,but there is fome taint and filth of fin cleaving to it, which without aMediator in the rigour of tfl~ Law, wo4ld be damnaqle: So tpat though the : ~ffence of the work be good and holy, yet becaufe ·of the •flefhly · adherences it cannot·any way undre– go the fl:riClnefs of divine Judgment; man ·being in part holy, a1.1d in pare c,arnal, the effect cannot exceed t}te. force of the caufe; and as there is·a mixture ih the faculties andprinciples ofop{ration, fo there will be in the aElions themfelves, efpecially in ~Clions reli– gio.us, ~orrupt nature ·returning and recoyling wit~ the more: force againfi refolocions of duty. 2. ·-There maybe (I con~eive) an atl:i– on fo fhort, that there is no room or fcope for corr'uption topm forth it felf; as ma fudden holy glance, or thought, we may con– ceive a motion or lufi of th~ Spirit,or renewed nature, in it fdf, ·and as ·preceding a lull .of the fldh, or the oppefition of,tre old natu~e, wkich though it be· not ·perfeEflJ, yet is pure!] holy : ~ Befides, in . . fome aCl:ions the force and vigour of corrupt nature may be wholy j k Dc1t4 ~n zpfi' fufpended by the pow·er of God; as it is in converfion, in which r;cncra~~m;~-: Divines fay we are wholy pafsive; k and though God cloth not ~e~~;,.fn ~ol un· ~ake ~~ay ~he P?wer ofrefifiing, ye~ he bridleth it, an~ f~fl?endeth tatem agit ~ ut 1t, that corruption cannot put torch lt felf; but lyeth htd m1ts own ' aftu~liur re~- root. Befides, in fome atl:ions which are meerly natural,as in walk– fiend! putmtzla ing a fttp or two, there is not the leaO: provocation to draw forth pr11x1ma p•o t - . fi d h c b · fil d h rl" to tempore fuf- m ; an t erewre I cannot ut JU y con emn t at unneceuuy pendatur ;emo. rigour in Come, who fay, That a renewed man in every atlion,whe– tam_ _autem -. ther moral, civil, or natural, be it but the walking of two or three &m a{itl prt· f\:eps, cloth aCl:ually fin ; afond nicety ! which, under the colour of ft~e~~~;o7tn~~: a de~per hu~ility,.~efiroyetb true humiliation. 'f!e need n~tm1ke · am ntJn quid,m man more gmlty, tts en?ugh to humble us, that tn mar~y ths~$s We funditus e:xtir- offend~tll: But the Devtlloveth to cheat men of true humthty.by pat fed in .fua that which is affeCl:ed and firained; and when Fancy inventerh Cup– am,~r~,/·adzct pofed crimes, Confcience is the lefs troubled for thofe which are · de zte 11 ere pc .. mittit The;i real; cttriofttybeing a kind of excufe for due rcmorfe. 3• Thofe Brit~. in sy: athons are n"t acceptable with God for their own fakes; partly n Jd. Dord. becaufe though they arepure, or free from fin, yet ~hey are not per– ~rr.de convcr- Jea, they might be more holy: And partly be€aufe they are done ' ftgru. by aperfon that bath a corropt nature, and is·fiained with the guilt ofother at'l:ual fins, the leaft ofwhich renders him obnoxious to the curfeofthe whole Law,'/am•z.l o. So that chefe atl:ions al!o need a · .. - -· ·· Mediator
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