not utterly to have forfaken him, even in the midst of his fin; tho' his heart fmite him the very minute it is finished, and repentance and remorse take off the relifh of the unhappy draught; yet ftill 'tis fin; 'tis in its nature damnable: and nothing but the blood of Jefus can purge the guilt. 3. The perfect man may be fuppofed, not only actually to abftain from mortal fin, but to be advanced fo far in the mortification of all his inordinate affections, as to do it with eafe and pleasure, with conftancy and delight. For it must reafonably be prefumed, that his victory over ungodly and worldly luft, is more confirmed and abfolute; his abhorrence of them, more deep and fenfible, more fixt and lafting, than that of a beginner or babe in Chrift. The regenerate at first fears the confequence of fin; but by degrees he hates the fin it felf. The purity of his foul renders him now incapable of finding any pleafure in what he doted on before; and the love of God and virtue raiseth him above the temptations which he was wont to fall by: Old things are past away, and all things are become new. . 4. Laftly, The perfect man's abstinence is not only more eafy and steady, but more intire and compleat also than that of others he has a regard to the end and defign defign of the law; to the perfection of his nature; to the purity and elevation of his foul; and therefore he expounds the prohibitions of the law in the most enlarged fenfe, and interprets them by a fpirit of faith and love. He is not content to refrain from actions directly criminal, but fhuns every appearance of evil; and labours to mortify all the difpofitions and tendencies of his nature towards it; and to decline whatever circumstances of life are apt to betray the foul into a love of this world, or the body: he has crucified the world, and the body too. That pleasure, that honour, that power, that profit, which captivates the finner, tempts, and tries, and difquiets the novice, is but a burthen, a trouble to him: he finds no gust, no relish in these things. He is fo far from intemperance, fo far from wantonness, so far from pride and vanity, that could be without any difadvantage to the intereft of religion; he would imitate the meannefs, the plainnefs, the laborioufness, the self-denial of our Saviour's life; not only in difpofition and affection of his foul, but even in his outward state and deportment; and would prefer it far above the pomp and fhew of life. In one word, he inquires not how far he may enjoy and be fafe, but how far he may deny himself and be wife he is fo far from Z 2 defiring defiring forbidden fatisfactions, that he is μικρόν * αναγκαίων ἀπτόμενον. Καὶ ὡς λειτεργίαν ἐπαχθῆ ὑποτελοῦντα τῇ φύ σει, καὶ δυσχεραίνοντα μὲν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τρὶ ταῦτα διατρι βής. Όροι και πλά TOS. P. 454. quote but one or two paffages of St. (4) Miris x x Bafil; (a) his defcription of the perfect man with regard to his felf-denial runs thus. He is one that confults the neceffities, not the pleasure of his nature; and feems to grudge the time which he bestows on the fupport and nourishment of a corruptible body. He is so far from looking upon eating and drinking, &c. as an enjoyment, that he rather accounts it a task or troublesome service (6) Ἡ κενοδοξία, και η ανθρωπαρέσκεια, κὶ τὸ πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν τι πιῖν, ὅλως ἐπὶ παντὸς πράγματ Χρισιανοῖς απηγόρω 72. p. 456. service which the frailty of his nature demands at his hands. Nor was this great man more fevere against the lufts of the flesh, than against thofe other branches of the love of the world, the luft of the eyes, and the pride of life. (b) All vanity and affectation of praise and refpect; all the oftentation (faith be) and fhew of life, is utterly unlawful for a Chriftian. And all this is directly confonant to his glofs (c) on those words of St. Paul, They that use the world as not abufing it. Whatever is beyond ufe is abufe; directly confonant to his definition of temperance. (d) That it is the extirpation of fin; the extermination of unruly paffions, and the mortification of the body, extending even to the natural appetites and affec-9. pag. tions of it. (c) Παράχρησις δὲ ἐστιν η ύπερ τ χρεια δαπάνη. ρ. 457. (d) 'Esir v Εγκράτεια, αμαρ τίας αναίρεσις, πάνω θων ἀπαλλοτρίωσις, σώματος νέκρωσις, μέχρι και αυτῶν φυτ σικών αναθήμαζαν τε 445. I know not what fcruples or mistakes the doctrine I here advance concerning this part of my perfect man's liberty, may be encountered with: but I am confident, I have given no juft occafion for any. I do not fay of the perfect, with Jovinian, that they cannot fall; but I fay, that they may, and ought to ftand; and, if it be not their own fault, will do fo. I do not affirm of them, as the hereticks in Vincen tius Lyrinenfis did of their party, that are privileged from fin by a peculiar grace and tranfcendent favour; but I affirm, that they shall not want grace to preserve them from it, unlefs they be wanting to themselves. I do not go about to maintain, that God fees no fin in his children; but I maintain, that mortal fin is not the fport of his children. But do not I in this fall in with the Papifts, who affert the poffibility of keeping the commands of God? I answer, that taking them in the fenfe, in which they themselves in the conference at Ratisbone defend this doctrine, I do. They there tell us, that, when they talk thus, they take the law or commands of God, not in a ftrict and rigid, but in a favourable and equitable, i. e. a gofpel conftruction: and this is fo far from being heterodox, that Davenant accounts it a plain giving up the question in controverfy. But am I not run into the error of the Pelagians and Quakers? I anfwer, if the one or the other affert, that the perfect man paffes thorough the whole courfe of life without falling into any fin ; or, that in the best part of life, he is impeccable, and not fubject to fin (as in the heat of difputation their adverfaries seem fometimes to fasten on them) I am at a wide distance from them. But if they teach, |