16o TheTover ofthegoffielle ERS 2. ler. zo.zc. Eph.4.17)10. Roroa.,28,29. Coi. 2.11. Philip.3.3. 1 11 tohold up again(} the temptations and conflisof his foreil enemies ; theonly took and inftrument of a Chri- all that he hath to doe,anyaalionofpiety,charity, loyalty, or fobriety withall ; the onely glaceofa Chri- flian wherein he may fee his owne face and fo learne to denyhimfelfe,and wherein he may fee the faceofGod in Chria,and fo learne to defireand to follow him. So that upon the matter for any man to be ignorantof theGo- fpell is to unchritlianhitpfelfe againe, and todegenerate into a heathen. Towneoist thine indignationupon the hea- then that know thee not. Ignorance makes a man a very heathen. ThisIfayand tegifiefaith the Apotile,thatyou henceforthwalke not as other Gentiles walke in the vanity oftheir rind: foryou have trot learned Chrift.It is not the title, nor the proleilion which inaketh a man a reall Chriflian, and diiiinguilheth him from other heathen men, but the learningof Chrili inhis Spirit and Gofpell. For as he who was onelyoutwardly and in the flail a Jew, might beuncircumcized in his heart ; fo he who is onely in titleand name a Chriiiian,may be aheathen in his heart; and that more fearefully than Sodome and Gomorrah,or Tyreand Sydon,becaufehe huhput from hirnfelfe the Salvation ofthe Lord, and judged himfelfe unworthy ofeternall life. Lafily, if there bee indeed fuchpower in the Go.. fpell , wee fhould labour to 6eare witneffe unto the tellimony which Godgiveth ofhis Word in a holy con- verfation. It is a reproach call upon the ordinances of God when men doe in their lives denie that ver- tue which God teflifieth to be in them. Wicked men are laid to crucifie Chriti againe, to put him to fhame, to make God a liar; not that thefe thingscan fo really bee, but becaufe men in their evill lives carry them- felves , as if indeed they were fo. And in this fenfe the Gofpellmay bee Paid to bee weake too, becaufe the pride of men holds out againfl the laving power thereof.
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