42 Mark'9. 44. Efa. 4. 6. Mat. 7.2 6 The Builders of Babel' death and hell, here they will ref?, and here they will büild,. and here they will /jeep. Being conic to this pleafant plain, here they retòlve to fecure themfelves, and build a Tower reaching toHeaven : They confult and conclude, now they have their heartsdefire, and nothin? (hall be refrained from them : Andall this they doe, (ayes the Holy Ghoft, leaf we befcattered : All thefe things, andall thefe devices, are but Coverings of;wens inventing to five themfelves fromwrath and from the guilt of confcience, which elfe would gnaw within them , and be in them the worm that never dies : hereby they think they have made themfelves a fhelter fr,m the (form and the wind, but `tis but as the houle built upon the landhaving no Foundation, it can never Rand, here is no fecurity ; though they think toprovide for, and fècure them- felves, and think themfelves wifer and holier then all other men ; Their end is alwayesfelvifhnefs, to fccure and pro- vide for themfelves;and the means by which they attain all, is alto within themfelves,by their own wifdom, power,parts, righteoufieífe, endeavours, and the like. Al-fo in this way of inan to come to life and ref}, what does he? he bethinks himfelfwith all the wifdom he can,to chufe wifely and difcreetly : we will here build (fay they to them- felves) and we will build fure andfafe, and we will make brickandburn themwell; 'that fo their building may endure, and not fall upon their heads. They have ííi11 fomething or other, that they themfelves invent, and pretend the rule ofthe word to goe by, as the fafeft way : fomething that they finde out, that their own felftells them is a likely way: Say they to themfelves, Chrift has promifed if men beleeve and repent, then they (hail be faxed Well, I will goe and perform there , and reform my life and the like, Mayes man) and then thefepromifes are mine. The jewes (cfpe- cially the Pharifees) were very expert and nimble at this ; who more ftriSt according to Gods own rule, who more fearched after every Iota of the Law, and as farre as they were convinced ftrived after conformity ? herein lay the top oftheir Religion: And here they hadbuilded up Babel. Now whenChrift comes and firips themof their righteoufnefs and pulls
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