Marshall - BT765 M37 1788

D rea. VIL Of Sanc`i?fcati®n; 735 t6 purifieth the heart, and worketh by love," Atîs XV 9. Gal. v. 6. The foul muff be brought to take pleafure in God and Chrift by faith, or elfe it will lufi after flefhly and worldly pleafures. And the more you ffrive againft lufts without faith, the more they are ftirred up; though you 'prevail fo far as to retrain the fulfilling of them. Beg a holy fear of God, with fear of coming fhort of the promifed reft thro' unbelief, lieb. iv. I. Such a fear is an ingredi- ent of faith, and it will breed in us a reverential, yea, a child-like fear of God and his goodnefs: Heb. xii. 28. Hofea. iii. S. " We muff have grace, whereby " we may ferve God with reverence," c. le is in the margin, " We muff have or hold faff grace." And there is no other way to hold faft grace but by faith ; and this will quickly calm all panic and tor- menting horror. And if you would be free from careleffnefs, and fighting the wrath of God, your way is, firft, by believing, to avoid defpairing : for people grow carelefs by defpairing; and, for their own quiet, they will endeavour to flight evils which they have no hope to prevent; according to the pro- verb, "Let us eat and drink; for to morrowwe die," i Cor. xv. 32. True humiliation for fin is either a part or fruit of faith; for, on our believing, "we flail " remember our own evil ways, and doings that 66 were not good, and íhall lothe ourfelves in our own fight for all our abominations," Ezek xxxvi, 31. We fhall alfo then willingly renounce our own righteoufnefs, and " account it but dung, that we " may win Chrift" by faith, Phil. iii. 7, 8. But beg- gars will make the moft of all their nafty rags, till they be furnifhed with better clothes ; and cripples will not caft away their crutches, until they have a better fupport to lean on. Godly forrow for fin is wrought in us by believing the pardoning grace of God ; as it is found by experience, that a pardon from a prince will fometinies fooner draw tears from a ftubborn malefactor, than the fear of a halter will.

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