Reynolds - Houston-Packer Collection BX5133.R485 T47 1642

zo The Sinfulneffe of Sinne. Cnntr.I4iI.1ib.6. cap. 13.6. cont ,,. EpiI . Pe1ag. G6.1. cap. 8,9 10,11. Phil. 3. . Att zy.3. z Tiva.a.3, not, content unto and delight in the Law,fcele a warre in ;-his members, mourne and cry out under the fenfc of his -owne wretchedneffe; yet for all this he isflill an unrege- nerateman: an opinion tending dircc`fly to the honour of Pelagianifine, and advancement of nature, which made Saint e 4u.fin in that ingenuous and noble worke of his Retra &ations to recant it, and in all his writings a- gainft the Pelagians (in which, as in other polemical) workes, wherethe vigilancy of an enemy, and feare of advantages makes him more circun:fpe6t how he (peaks, his expo$ítions ofScripture are ufually more literal! and folid, than where he allowcs himfelfe the !cope of his owne conceits) He ail' underfland s thofc paffages, of the complaints of a regenerate man againfi his inherent concupifcence. We are therefore to refolve that the op- pofition Bands thus; Once in my ílateofunregeneration, Iwas without the law, that is, without the fpirituall fenfc ofthe Law, but when the Lord began to reveale his mer- cy to me in my convcrfion, then he gave mean eye to un- d erfland it in its native and proper compaffe. The Apo - fl le was never quite without the law,(being an Hebrew, and bred up at the feet of gamaliel) therefore the diffe- rence between being without the Law, and the corn- -ming ofthe Law, mull be only in modo exhibendi ; be- fore he had it in the letter, but after it came in its owne fpirituall fhape. And there is fOine emphafis in the word came, denoting a vitali, moving, penetrative power, which theLaw had by the fpirit of life, and which before it had not as it was a Dead letter. Secondly, we muflnote the oppofition between the two eflatesof Saint `Paul. In thefirfl he was Alive; and that in two refpc ls. Alive in hisperformances, able as he cenceiv'dtoperformethe riihteoufncfeof theLaw with - out blame,Phil. 3.6. Alive in his Prefismptisnr,mifperfiaa- fions ,felfe- juflifi cations, conccits of righteoufnar, and falvation,A6 .z6.9 Phil.3.7.Jn the timid elate Sinn revived, za _._.a

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