SECTION i; 233 that we should be innocent or perfect in obedience ; and therefore agracious God has made provision for the repentance of chris- tians, and their return- to his mercy after their renewed falls and sins, otherwise no flesh can be saved : But it is our duty to stir up ourselves to arise and return to God with sincere sorrow, and then with greater watchfulness to set upon our duty, and make it appear through the course of life, that in our heart we hate sin and love holiness. It is not the costly or toilsome performance of ceremonies, nor any long slavish labours in outward forms of godliness nor any painful mortifications of the natural body, and severe pe- nances of fasting and scourging, that will be accepted of God instead of inward piety ; nor yet is thatpiety to be all inward and confined merely to the heart : but it must appear in the life too. The grace of God that brings salvation, teaches us to deny ungodliness andworldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, and by our good works to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; Titus ii. 10 -12. Whatsoever particular neglects the great God may excuse, he will never dispense with a general neglect of holiness : For it is said expressly, Heb. xii. 14. without holiness no man shallsee the Lord. He is a holy God, and as compassionate and condes- cending as he is, he doth not lay aside one ray of his own holi- ness in order to display his grace, nor will he dishonour that glo- rious perfection of his divinity to save a world of sinners. The gospel and the grace of God that saves us, can save us only in a way becoming the holiness of his nature. No unholy thing shall enter intoheaven. We, who are engaged in this christian exercise, have much of strife and conflict to pass through : It is not only a race, but a combat also, and it implies wrestling and fighting : We must take `up arms against the sins of our natures, and the corruptions of our hearts, as well as against Satan, and the temptations of this world. Then surely those that know not their spiritualdangers, who are not made sensible of the sins that dwell within them, have no reason to imagine or expect they shall be conquerors : They are not yet engaged in the spiritual warfare, nor apprized of their spiritual enemies : Theyare not in the way to obtain the prize. If we live according to the inclinations of ourflesh we shall die, but if we through the spirit mortifythe deedsof the body, we shall live ; Rom. viii. 13. They that are Christ's must crucify the flesh, with its affections andlusts ; Gal. v. 24. And it is not only flesh. and blood must be opposed, but principalities and powers of darkness, arid all the hosts of hell, as well as an army of temptations of this wicked world ; Eph. vi. 12. and if we lay down our weapòns and give over fighting, we give up all pre- tences to victory, and lose the crown.
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