TheTover ofthe 40....r* 41lEgararete. in requireth of them, and which they have neither will nor power to doe, whenhe producethhis mute, and en- treth into controverfie with them, convincing thew in the court of their owneconfeiences, Co that theyare not able to (land our, they have then no other refuge left, but either tofubmit (which they will in no wile endure) or to flye into the face ofthe word,and with iland it with malicewhen theycannot with reafon. Till men canbe perfwaded todayapart all filthiocife and fuperfluicy of naughtineffe, they will never reteive the engrafted word with meeknetie. For till then it isa bindingword,which fealech their guilt and condemnation upon them. Lafily ,the mighty power ofthe word towards wic- kedmen is feene in alteringthem: in their femiperfwa- fions and femiconverfionsunto goodneffe, in refraining them from thofe lulls which they dearely love , and in forcing them to thofeexternal! conformities which have no inward principles to fupport them. The humiliation ofAhab, the obfcrvationof Herod, the incomplete per- fwafion of eAgrippa, the forc'd obedienceand flatteries of the differnbling levves, the ethics and offers ofhy- pocrites towards religion, the velleicies and hankerings of unrefolved wills after Chrifi, are notableevidences of the power and majetly which is in the Gofpell. If I fhould Ice a millfione in the ayre notfalling confiantly and fwiftly downe, but fwag, and waver, and floate about in a kinde ofunrefolved motion, as if it were in a deliberation which way togoe, one while yeelding to its owne weight, another while lingering, and by fits attempting to afcend, how could I fufficiently wonder at that keret vertue,and thofe orange 411prd-1-ions which did retardate the natural!defcent of fo weightie a body ? fo when I fee men,who retaine theprinciples of their owne corrupt nature, which carry them with as (iron?, an impulfion to finne and hell, as a rnillfione is moved unto its Center, hanker notwithfianding after good- neffe, 155 VERSE 2. Iam.i.zr. Mat.x8.18. Mark46.16. x Kiug.st.27. Mark.o.zo. Aft.a6.28. 78.34,36. Luk.9.51.6x.
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