unto the Law, Declared and Vindicated. 387 Prefumptions, I {hall oppofe only the teftimony of the fame Prophet, which he may confider at his leifure, and which, at one time or other he will fubfcribe unto. chap. 64.6. We are all as an unclean thing, and all our Righteoufneffes are as fil- thy rags. He who can make garments of Salvation, and robes of Righteoufuef of there filthy rags, hath a skill in compafing Spiritual Vettments that I am not acquainted withal. What remains in the Chapter wherein this Anfwer is given unto that teftimony of the Scripture, I {hall take no notice of; it being after his accuttomed manner, only a perverfe wreft- ing of my words unto fuch a fenfe, as may Teem to counte- nance him in cafting a reproach upon my felf and others. There is therefore no force in the comparing of, there things unto life and death natural, which are immediately oppofed 5 so that he who is not dead is alive, and he who is a- live, is not dead, there being no dittinét ftate between that of life and death. For thefe things being of different na- tures, the comparifon between them is no way argumenta- tive. Though it may be fo in things natural, it is otherwife in things Moral and Political, where a proper Reprefentation of Juftification may b. taken, as it is forenfick. If it were fo, that there is no difference between being acquitted of a crime at the Bar of a Judge, and a Right unto a Kingdom, nor different Rate between thefe things, it would prove, that there is no intermediate eftate between being pardoned, and having a Right unto the Heavenly Inheritance. But this is a fond imagination. It is true, That Right unto Eternal Life, doth fucceed unto freedom from the guilt of Eternal Death. That they may re- ceive forgivenef of fins, and an inheritance among them that are fane-tified. But it doth not fo do, out of a neceffity in the nature of the things themfelves, but only in the free confli- tution of God. Believers have the pardon of fin, and an immediate Right and Title unto the favor of God,the Adop- t) d d 2 tion
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