252, The /infulneffeof Sinne. Grace, to him it belongeth not only tò call bent to perfell, not onely to perfc&7, hit to flrergthen, flablifh, fettle Ha, I `Pet.5 .I o. Secondly, this Impotency is feene in this, that the good things they doe cannot fully pleafe God by themfelves, but f }and in need of further purification from Chrifl, and pardon from God ; Even when we are Children we muff bee (pared, and borne withal', c_Alal.3.17. Deut. I. 31. The ufe which we fhould make of this point is frft, to keepe us Humble, in regard of this thorne in our flesh, which ditables us to doe any good, and when wee have done our uttermoll, yet 1h11 makes us unprofitable fer- vanes. Lay together thefe confiderations : . Firft, remember the long time that thou wert utterly barren, and didft live nothing but a life of firme, how much of the fib wre of thine age hach been dedicated unL to Satan, and thine owne lulls ; how.thy childhood and youth bath beene all vanity, and thinke wee did God require the fir!} fruits in the Law, but to lbew that we were all his, and therefore that he ought to have the fira and bell of our life devoted unto him, and li bmitted unto his yoke. Secondly, confider even now when thou artat,befl that thou art not fufficient of thy felfe to thinke a good thought, that in thee, that is, in thy fiefh, in thee from thy felfe dwelled) no good thing, the originaIlof all the good thou dolt is without thee, By the grace of God thou art what thou art, and all thy fsuffaciency is in his Grace. Thirdly, when this Grace doth call, knocke, quicken, put thee on to any good, how averfe and froward, how. dull, indirigible, undocile is thy evìll heart, like a filly Lambe, never findes the way it felfe; and when it islet); is every ftep ready to flop and !tart Aide. Fourthly, when it prevailes to let thee indeed a. worke, how exceedingly doll thou faile in the meafure of
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