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A81566 Divine characters: or, The true Christian discovered, and the hypocrite detected. In three treatises. The first treatise shewing, that both saints and unconverted sinners ought daily to go to God in Jesus Christ, for pardon of their sins ... The second treatise shewing, how we are to expect salvation, not from any righteousness of our own, but by the righteousness of the mediator, Jesus Christ ... The third treatise shewing, The Gospel evidences of a true Christian ... ; To which is added the summe and substance of the Christian religion, in a short catechise. P., A. 1695 (1695) Wing D1718A; ESTC R174671 155,114 255

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upon every sinner in the world while under the law Rom. 5.18 2. The guilt of the corruption of our natures sin in the fountain as I have shewed which is likewise upon every Son or Daughter of Adam they are all corrupt Psal 14.1 wherein lies the exceeding sinfulness of sin 3. The guilt of actual rebellion against God sin brought forth and acted in the outward man against God Now under this threefold guilt is every sinner in the world while under the Law the effect of which if not reconciled is punishment suitable to the guilt which is Thou shalt surely dye And The wages of sin is death Eternal Death Rom. 6. last Vse 1. This may therefore inform and convince that every sin brings guilt upon the soul and so deserves death and everlasting wrath from God you that make light of sin to lye to prophane the Name of the Lord be in worldly discourses on the Lords day in any way of sin whatsoever weigh this in thy conscience there 's not the least sin but makes thee guilty before the Tribunal of God God the Law Angels Conscience are all witnesses against thee where 's the soul that will think to avoid this charge shall I prove every soul of you guilty and that before God If this were proved by the power of the word in the conscience I know what and I shall shew it you will be the effect of it lay your Consciences to the Word and if thou art found guilty before the Lord this day go home with the sense of it upon thy soul and do as a guilty sinner should do 1. Consider first as to what concerns God immediately the Law requires thou shouldst have no other Gods but him Exod. 20. which Jesus Christ interprets is to love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart with all thy Soul Now hath God had thy whole Heart and Soul darest thou say so Hath not the world had more of thy Heart than God Dost not thou love the World and the things of it Do not thy Affections Thoughts Desires of thy Heart even day and night go after it Yea you cannot but grant that 't is so Then God and Angels are witness that thou art guilty of the damnable sin of Idolatry And such a one shall not as such enter into the Kingdom of God Eph. 5.5 Know by that Scripture A covetous heart may send thee to Hell as well as any sin in the World No Covetous man who is an Idolater shall enter into the kingdom of God Read over the place every day and tremble at it Here 's guilt already enough to damn thee 2. Thou hast worshipped God superstitiously and idolatrously after the Traditions and Commandments of Men You that are elderly people are all guilty here in a grevious manner in the time of your ignorance and superstition coming to Sacraments with sins upon your Souls from which sins your are not converted and changed to this day which the Apostle calls eating and drinking damnation or judgment under which guilt you still lye and would heap up more of this guilt were not some more tender of your Souls than your selves Art thou not now ready to cry out Oh hold hold you need go no further my Conscience is smitten Oh! guilt great guilt lyes upon me Oh that 't were the cry of many Souls before the Lord how might it end in mercy that shall be for ever 3. But yet further to pursue thy Conscience for that 's the nature of guilt doth not the Lord require in his law that thou shouldst not take his Name in vain Exod. 20.7 Now sinner stave off this guilt if thou canst How oft hast thou abused and profaned this great and dreadful Name the Lord thy God by swearing or in thy by words crying Oh Lord Oh God for God's sake for Christ's sake upon every foolish vain occasion with no more reverence of His Name than the most common name in the World And some of you have as many days as you have lived since your Child-hood been frequently guilty of this great evil which thou hast made a small matter of which if ever God pardon it it will appear to be odious guilt from the height of thy Heart-Atheism How oft hast thou heard the Word and thy Heart been after the World and thine eyes gazing up and down that 't is easie to discern thou regardest not what is spoken from God to thee and the same in Prayer How oft hast thou babled over the Lords Prayer like a Charm with no reverence of Gods Majesty upon thy Soul In thy bed it may be in a drowsie manner or if otherwise not understanding the Words thou speakest much less thy Heart affected with them or it may be saying over the Creed and the Commandments or some Book of Prayers as abundance do grievously prophaning God's Name and offering Lip-labour which his soul abhorreth yea know what hath been often proved that thy prayers and all thy worship and good deeds as thou callest them are an abomination to the Lord while thou art in thy sin an unconverted and unholy person yea the way of thy worship in which thou placest thy greatest confidence hath been the highest aggravations of thy sin in offering up to God that which his soul hateth Isa 1.11 12 13 14 15. When you make many prayers saith the Lord I will not hear you c. And as to the sanctifying the Sabbath which thou shouldst make a holy rest unto God thou hast made it a meer fleshly rest consuming the day upon thy lusts in vanity idleness carnal and worldly discourses in families in the streets to the high dishonour of the Name of God and hardening of thy heart against the truths of God rendering thereby the preaching of the Gospel wholly unprofitable to thy soul A carriage far unlike a man that hath the grace of God upon him and a most invincible argument to thy Conscience that thou makest not God his word ordinances sabbaths a holy delight and knowest not the excellency and sweetness of Communion with him say sinner and lay thy Conscience to this conviction is hearing and that with love praying praising meditating conferring of holy things the very Heaven of thy soul and so longest for such Exercises as the joy and strength of thy heart Nothing less Thy own Conscience being Judge but hear drowsily and negligently it may be despisingly revile the Preacher speak evil of the word out of thy gross ignorance and hatred to be reformed speak vainly carnally worldly with such as are like thy self Here 's guilt enough to send thee to a thousand Hells if God smite not thy heart for it and thou turn not unto him for pardon and a better heart to be given to thee Add to all this an unthankful and unholy use of Gods good Creatures it may be thou hast been betray'd by the devil and thy own ready heart to some secret sins which thou thinkest enough if thou canst
hide from man not considering the judgment of God that hangs over thee But if not so yet a heart full of uncleanness envy wrath malice which our Lord Jesus Christ in his opening the Law in its spirituality Mat. 5.21 22 27 28. convinceth to be murder and adultery which it may be thou hast never considered of so thou hast not been an actual adulterer or murderer In a word There 's not a vain thought in thy heart the first rising of it but brings thee under the guilt of condemation of the Law and as thou art under the Law as if a transgressor in thought word and deed of the whole Law This may seem strange to thee but see it proved Jam. 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all But it hath been proved that thou art guilty of the breach of every Commandment of God from thy youth up But see further sinner that some word of God or other may hit thee this Law could not condemn thee wouldst thou have been convinc'd of guilt and made in to grace by Jesus Christ but thou art under the guilt of Gospel-contempt Come sinner saith Jesus Christ see what I can and will do for thee I 'll save thee from this condemning Law I 'll take away the curse I 'll remove all thy guilt blot out all the charge that is against thee I 'll put a righteousness upon thee I 'll bestow my spirit upon thee I 'll give thee a heart to love God and his Law and in the inward man to delight to walk in it and then take thee to Heaven and fill thee with glory for ever All this Heaven of mercy and free grace thou hast sleighted and sinned against and brought thy self under greater condemnation than by the law And yet by the way Jesus Christ will do as much for thee still as I have spoken of and more Though thou hast thus sinned against Law and Gospel if thou wilt come a poor undone guilty soul unto him which is that I aim at in thus pressing upon thee and were the sense of guilt indeed upon thy soul thou wouldst seriously hearken to me Therefore yet further bear with me Take home this guilt to thy Conscience and say Oh guilty guilty of all that hath been this day charged from the righteous God upon me Oh may the Lord find thee out this day and lay in the fresh sense of the guilt of sins even of such thou hast long since committed do not justifie nor excuse thy self any longer for that 's the natural way of thy heart as thou hast been shewed Never did guilty prisoner at the bar find more shifts more subtle pleas than the proud and shameless heart of a sinner will do till God himself pronounce guilt in the conscience and then the guilt of one sin laid in brings in the guilt of all other and they sometimes come in like waves and billows upon thy soul Oh let the sense of thy lying swearing prophaning the Sabbath slighting the word refusing Jesus Christ out of thy secret hatred of holiness reproaching the people of God because in their practice they condemn thee Oh let this any all seize upon thee go and lye low before the great God judging charging condemning thy self and say God and his Word hath found me out this day and I go home with at arrow of God in my conscience I am the Man or Woman that am found the guiltiest soul in the Congregation how to be delivered and saved from it that 's my business now Blessed be the advice and counsel now which formerly I despised of any good man that speaks in the Name of the Lord unto me and will show me there is yet hope for so wretched a creature as I am Particularly these are the effects of the sense of the guilt of sin wrought by the Holy Ghost upon the conscience of a poor soul in order to his salvation 1. Fear of wrath to come more or less possesseth the heart can a man be guilty and not fear if truly sensible of it This was upon Adam after he had sinned and heard Gods voice which struck him with sense of guilt Gen. 3.10 I heard thy voice and was afraid so when guilt came upon Belshazzar his thoughts troubled him Dan. 5.6 Felix trembled Acts 24.25 The Jaylor came trembling Acts 16.29 The fear of wrath the fear of a miscarrying soul the fear of eternity seizeth upon the spirit of a poor creature and then 't is an infinite weighty matter with a poor soul to be saved 2. Shame is another effect of guilt brought in upon the conscience So Adam likewese was ashamed and hid himself because he was naked Gen. 3. What fruit had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed Rom. 6.21 So Ezek. 16. last That thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord See also Ezek. 43.10 11. Oh how is a sensible guilty soul ashamed before God Angels and men of such ways and carriages in which he impudently before delighted himself and lies down in his shame and confusion of face even covering his face before God and ashamed to look up unto him 3. The soul walks up and down with a burthened spirit those creature-comforts delights contentments which before would still the spirit now will not sense of guilt eats out the hearts of them the soul must now have something else than wind and vanity for so are creatures become to such a poor soul It may be the deceitful heart carries a poor creature to this thing and that but finds no satisfaction there the burden still remains the arrow that God hath shot sticks fast till Jesus Christ pluck it forth and heals all with his Blood and Spirit 4. Guilty souls make out for deliverence sue to Heaven are enquiring how the law may be satisfied how guilt may be removed how attonement may be had how bondage taken off in a word how he may come to see the face of a blessed God reconciled in Jesus Christ and so love him and bless him to eternity Why now careless sinner Is' t not better be thus than be hardening for Hell and have the guilt of sin as nothing to thee till the books shall be opened all thy sins written in Letters of Blood against thee Conscience accused charged and witnessing against thee and so away screeking to Hell without all remedy and canst not be heard a word for thy self nor any one Saint or Angel for thee Now thou mayst be heard if thou wilt speedily acknowledge thy guilt not cover thy transgression nor hide thy iniquity in thy bosom Job 31.33 but come with fear and shame burthen'd with thy guilt to him whose arms are yet open to receive thee and is ready to take away iniquity off thee and take off thy
that sleepest Ephes 5. The voice of the Spirit doth awake that Conscience that before was asleep in sinful security 4. A good Conscience is convinced that all the keepings of the Law and keeping a Conscience to men cannot justifie the soul before God cannot commend it to God which a Second Table-Conscience imagines it will and so in peace Paul kept a Conscience as to many things Acts 23.1 I have lived in all good Conscience before God unto this day meaning I conceive from his youth up when he was a Pharisee but when his Conscience was convinced and awakened and came to see Jesus Christ he saw that all his keeping a Conscience as to many sins and Duties could not in the least commend him to God A good Conscience is sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 So that this is the efficacy of the blood of Jesus Christ upon the Conscience of a Believer it pacifies it in the sense of the forgiveness of sins towards God so as it can draw near to God and it purgeth it from dead works sin and pollution to serve God acceptably This is a good Conscience indeed 6. A good Conscience respects all the Precepts of God as well of Holiness to God as Goodness to Men which the Conscience we have been speaking of doth not Such a one makes not conscience of this great and absolute Precept Be ye holy 1 Pet. 1. It makes not conscience of purging the heart of secret mourning to God of the purity of God's Worship It makes no Conscience of lesser sins as we have shewed not of all sin as Herod heard the Word gladly but made no conscience of persecuting John to death when he stood in the way of his Lusts Now I say a good Conscience respects Precepts of Holiness secret as well as publick Duties inward as well as outward Sins lesser sins as well as greater 7. A Scripture good Conscience is much taken up about godly sincerity So Paul 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that with simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but with the grace of God we have had our Conversation in the world c. Thus a soul that walks with a good Conscience towards God labours to approve it self in all things with a godly sincerity to do all as unto God Lastly a good Conscience labours to keep it self pure and undefiled it is accompanied with a pure heart 1 Tim. 1.5 Now the end of the Commandment is love out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned A Soul that would keep the Conscience good would keep it pure and the whole inward man pure as a Temple unto God Vse Now see how many ingredients go to make up a good Conscience in a Scripttre-sense and what a great mistake is in this weighty matter and how far abundance of people that make conscience of their dealings with men conclude thence they have a Scripture-good-Conscience to God when they are not savingly enlightned their Conscience never search'd by the power of the Word and throughly awakened out of a natural condition never humbled for resting in themselves and their Duties not having their Conscience sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ and purged thereby not having a tender respect to all the Precepts of God not to walk before him in godly sincerity nor with a pure heart You then that are short of these things you are wholly to seek in that which you so much pretend to and speak peace to your selves in the having or keeping a good Conscience you have as yet no part in this matter 2. What hath been spoken of a good Cnnscience may be for instruction and direction to the Called Ones of Christ how to preserve the Conscience good and peaceable and so to live and dye in the peace and comfort of it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Get it sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus Christ every day and under the searching of the Word and awake unto God and pure and undefiled respecting all the Holy Precepts of God as binding to your conscience so will the conscience be tender and peaceable and God will witness in your conences your acceptance with him in his Son Jesus Christ I would give out further some Notes of Tryal Whether you rest in false common grace or not as to what we have already spoken in so weighty a matter 1. By your never suspecting the truth of your grace but taking all upon trust never doubting but you have Faith and do repent and so of all the rest that soul that never suspected his grace may well fear that his pretended grace is no more than what a Hypocrite may reach unto The poor called children of God are exceedingly jealous their Faith is not sound that they are short in every grace because of the woful mixtures that they find more Unbelief than Faith more hardness of heart than softness more Pride than Humiliation and so of all Now that soul that goes away with an unsuspected confidence of every Grace sure flatters himself and his way will be found to be deceitful 2. That Soul that draws back his conscience from the searching power of the Word when it gives out ways of trial of Sincerity and truth of grace and puts it off as if not concerned in it this may well be speak a false heart A gracious heart would bring the Work over and over to the Touch-stone of the Word delivers up it self unto it yea is much with God to search him in point of a firm Work upon his Spirit as to any prevailing Iniquity in his heart as David Psal 139. When he was before the Lord appealing to him and opening his heart to him speaks thus ver 1. Oh Lord thou hast searched me c. thou hast And yet ver 23.24 begs of God yet further to search him Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me into the way everlasting 3. False Grace is discovered by its easie acting When you can easily believe easily repent easily be humble and so of all others Certainly 't is all naught There is great contradiction within and from the Tempter as to act Grace begun in a soul yea a daily supply from Jesus Christ must be to act any Grace livelily which the common pretending easie Believers are not sensible of It cannot be but every act of Grace must find more or less resistance from flesh and blood which is so vigorously opposite to the nature and acting of real grace in the Soul 4. Such as are
burthens put his hand under thy soul And if thou wouldst know who it is 't is that blessed Jesus who loves to save such a sinner as he loves his life therefore away to him But the heart of a guilty sinner will now urge Well if it be so that some guilt is upon me yet I have done many things well or as well I could will not that take off my guilt and will not God impute the good to me and pass by the evil Or will not God acept of the will for the deed Or if I set my self for the time to come to keep the law as well as I can will not that make God amends Alas poor soul these refuges will undo thee if thou get not out of them No No Thy good shall not be imputed nor thy will accepted nor thy obedience for time to come satisfie I mean still as thou art under the law As well as thou canst will not be heard here If thou indeed gets justified in Christ and rooted in him and so from a new principle of life in thy soul thou bring forth new and holy obedience then thy will is accepted and thy new obedience but not upon this account as to justifie thee before God or as to expiate and take off guilt from the soul This therefore is the next thing I am to prove to thy Conscience if God will Namely Observ 4. No man or woman under Heaven can ever arrive at such a keeping of the law as to be accepted with God for and by such a keeping of it I would press this as plainly as I may for till this conviction be thoroughly and practically received into the Conscience a soul cannot make a saving close with Jesus Christ What I mean by these deeds of the Law is I presume understood I mean The professed owning the true God and frequenting his ordained worship and ordinances observing the Sabbath making good prayers doing some good as to helping thy Neighbour and giving of Alms making conscience of wronging or defrauding any man and refraining many gross sins I mention these things because most men that go thus far as your more civil sort of people think that it is impossible but God must accept them in and for all this that 't is for great sinners to be damned they thank God they are not so by the way soul I shall not doubt to prove that there 's more hope of the vilest drunkard in the Country than of such a one and that this thy good keeping of the law and that as well as thou canst will stand thee in no stead at all and God looks upon thee no more for it than if thou wert the greatest sinner in the world How sayest thou soul to this 1. From clear Scriptures I shall demonstrate it and Scriptural reasons and examples of such kind of persons rejected of God and so labour to drive this nail home upon thy conscience What need we go further than the words of my Text By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight The Apostle speaks of such who professed to own and make conscience of keeping the law as well as they could such as were within as you call it the pale of the Church and frequented the worship of God and were sober people See Act. 13.39 From which meaning their sins they could not be justified by the Law of Moses They could not an utter impossibility of it though they kept the law of God as well as they were able and hoped for pardon thereby yet saith Paul which exceedingly troubled them they could not be justified thereby Rom. 9.31 But Israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness Though they followed after it and laboured to keep the Law of God to their utmost yet they fail'd of their purpose Gal. 3.10 11. c For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse that is such as insist upon works of the Law they are so far from being the more accepted for all the good they did and all the evil they refrained that they were under the curse as well as any sinners in the world besides Briefly Paul who well knew the experience of this it having been his own case as I shall shew spends two Epistles of the Romans and Galathians to convince chiefly what I am now upon therefore peruse them over and over Now the Reasons of it are these namely why any sinners keeping of the Law to his best power can not justifie him or make him the better or at all accepted with God for it This doctrine goes to the quick and I know naturally you do not love it and 't is irksom and disquieting the Lord make it disquieting and unsettling to purpose Reason 1. The best keeping of the Law cannot make a soul more accepted with God while under the Law and not in Christ because of the holiness of Gods Justice which being violated by sin it being also proved that all do sin cannot again be made up by any act of the Creature the severity of his justice cannot admit of it therefore if the Law be transgressed the sinner must dye as he is under the law and stands to the law or God is not righteous which to assert is execrable blasphemy And if your thoughts should prevent me with a general notion of mercy know and consider it well that the law shews no mercy but calls for justice and justice it shall have upon every transgressor whosoever if he stand to his endeavour to keep the Law The soul that sinneth it shall dye From whence by the law I say by the law there 's no appeal What you may do when you renounce the Law for righteousnes and fly wholly to a mercy-seat is another case This is the first reason 2. The best keeping of the Law will not accepted because of the exactness of the Law it requires full entire perfect fulfilling and obedience or all stands for nothing If this were throughly weighed and laid to heart we should come to an issue in the point Mark that Word Gal. 3.12 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the law to do them I think I opened this place lately but mark it well the Law requires of every one and therefore of thee whoever thou art a continuance without intermission of doing not only purposing and endeavouring All things not keeping nine and breaking one Commandment not keeping it outwardly and breaking it in thy thoughts of sin but in All things or Cursed without remedy by the law the Law can give you no remedy see Rom. 10.5 For Moses describeth the righteousness of the law The man that doth these things shall live by them If he doth all things of the Law not purposeth them only but doth them he shall live by them but not otherwise but shall dye and that for ever by
set forth but no New inward man no coming to Christ not being in Christ and it may be feared many Souls are under this dreadful snare 2. Such a kind of outward Reformation may arise from special Judgment and Affliction upon a sinner trembling that God bath smitten him for such a sin and so may take up from it and this also often passeth for conversion not but that sometimes God begins the first stroke by laying his hand upon a sinner but I speak of a meer taking up from a prophane course and never getting into Jesus Christ which many rest themselves in 3. A sinner may leave some sins of youth as inconsistent with riper years and upon that may take himself to be a Convert or a kind of New-Creature to be changed and turned from what he was but no forsaking this sin with loathing of it as against God no brokenness of heart for it and the root of it still unsubdued in his heart 4. A sinner may take up from some gross sins as inconsistent with reputation credit in the World or his profit and wordly advantage so many debaucht persons turn to be great worldlings and yet take themselves to be good Converts when they have turned from a sin that would waste their Estates to be wretched worldlings yet these go away with a good opinion of themselves 5. Sinners may take up and reform to get the favour of some Religious Friend or great Person that doth countenance Religion in hope of some special preferment or honour by them and so get a form of Profession an Ability to speak of good things own the best people hear good men and yet all this proceed from a rotten heart as it was with Simon Magus Acts 1. Hoping after great gain by the gift of the Holy Ghost the gift of Miracles and yet was in the Gall of Bitterness and bond of Iniquity 6. Souls may have a kind of Conviction and taking up to some new duties in the sinful neglect of which they have long lived as to a kind of secret Prayer in observing the Sabbath more strictly read more hear more things good in themselves when used as means to find Jesus Christ in and yet may continue long in these and not a Gospel New-Creature in Christ never humbled so as to be emptied of themselves and come to Jesus Christ as for Righteousness so for life and strength for the performance of all duties and subduing of all Sin and therein chiefly the Legal New-Creature so called doth consist in taking up to most known outward duties something strictly and make Conscience of them as of gross outward sins and yet no Gospel New-Creature I wish there are not too many such 7. A Soul may take himself to be a New-Creature from some good liking that he hath of such as are better than himself and some purposes and resolutions to be better which purposes for a time carry a man forth till new Temptations and then they will not bear a man forth Thus you shall find many sinners purposing and strongly resolving to take up to avoid such courses they have found to end in trouble and yet fall back again because purposing in themselves and not getting into Christ for strength and these think themselves to be a kind of New-Creatures 8 Yea further a Soul may be under some terrors of Conscience for a time and yet heal and relieve himself by leaving the sin outwardly that occasioned such terror and taking up to a greater bulk and formal course and round of set duties under which such Souls ensafe themselves and settle in a kind of peace and take themselves to be New-Creatures because they were under terrors and forsake some sins and perform more duties and yet never healed by the Blood of Jesus Christ nor have taken root in him Before I go any further let me bring home if the Lord will these things to your Consciences and let it be a word to find out such whose conditions have been opened Such then of you who haply have left some gross sins some open prophane courses because the Word of God hath glared upon your Consciences and you could not commit such sins in Peace that upon some special affliction have taken up to a little stricter course that have left the sins of your youth only because they were youthful sins not suitable to riper age or have ceased from Lewd Courses because of your credit among men or your worldly profits sins in which you could not thrive in your Estates If this be all know it that you are not the New-Creatures we are speaking of you are far from the Kingdom of God and if you come no farther even to see your selves wholly at a loss and so get to Jesus Christ you are damned for ever Yea if any for the Favour of Men or some outward advantage have taken up a seeming profession of Religion above the ordinary rate and this be your main principle know thou art seven times the Child of the Devil more than thou wast to deal thus Atheistically and Hypocritically with the great God who will one day lay thee open to all the world and thou shalt be confounded in thy self because of this thy abominable iniquity And such as have come a little further that from some conviction of your shortness of what you should be have betaken your selves to a greater bulk of duties make Conscience of many sins and many duties and so you have setled your selves in your course know you also this you may do and be far from Gospel-New-Creatures Such also as rest in purposes and resolutions wishings and some wouldings to be better this will not do if it be no more or such as have heal'd your selves and have not been healed by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ by a more exact way of some outward duties know it and be convinc'd that the core will break out again and you are yet to seek for a well grounded peace and are none of the Gospel-New-Creatures Now another degree of Mistakes of the New-Creature doth arise from the taking of Common Grace which a Hypocrite may reach to for truth of renewing sanctifying Grace and know that every Hypocrite doth not know himself to be such but a Hypocrite is one that appears to himself and others to be what he is not he takes himself to be a good Christian a Believer a New Creature and is not so The ground of some of these great Mistakes I shall mention As first A poor Creature thinks himself safe because what he doth he thinks he doth it all with a good heart No one so confident of the goodness of his heart as a Hypocrite because he knows not his own heart in that great Reformation in Josiahs time Jeremiah speaks of Chap. 3.10 that Judah turned to the Lord but feignedly not with the whole Heart Yet the people thought otherwise with themselves as 't is likely when they entred into a Covenant with