That true Repentance and Conversion taketh ⟨p. 48⟩off the Heart from all carnal confidence, either in domesticall preparations of our own, We will not ride upon Horses: or in foreign aid from any confederates, especially enemies of God and his Church, though otherwise never so potent; Asshur shall not save us: Or lastly, in any superstitious, and corrupt worship, which sends us to God the wrong way, We will not say any more to the work of our hands ye are our gods, and causeth the Soul in all conditions, be they never so desperate, so desolate, so incurable, to rely only upon God. It is very much in the nature of man fallen, to affect an absoluteness, and a self-sufficiency, to seek the good that he desireth within himself, and to derive from himself the strength whereby he would repel any evil which he feareth. aThis staying within it self, Reflecting upon its own power and wisdom, and by consequence affecting an independency upon any Superior virtue in being and working, making it self the first Cause, and the last End of its own motions; is by Divines conceived to have been the first sin by which the creature fell from God, and it was the first Temptation by which Satan prevailed, to draw man from God too. For since next unto God every Reasonable created Being is nearest unto it self, we cannot conceive how it should turn from ⟨p. 49⟩God, and not in the next step turn unto it self, and by consequence, whatsoever it was in a regular dependence to have derived from God, being fallen from him, it doth by an irregular dependence seek for from it self. Hence it is that men of power are apt to deify their own strength, and to frame opinions of absoluteness to themselves, and to deride the thoughts of any power above them, as Pharaoh, Exod. 5.2. and Goliath, • Sam. 17.8, 10, 44. and Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 3.15. and Sennacherib, 2 King. 18.33, 34, 35. Isa. 10, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14. And men of wisdom, to deify their own reason, and to deride any thing that is above or against their own conceptions, as Tyre, Ezek. 38.2, 6. and the Pharisees, Luke 16.14. John 7.48, 49, 52. Acts 4.11. Isa. 49.7. & 53.3. and the Philosophers, Acts 17.18, 32, 1 Cor. 1.22.23. And men of Morality and virtue, to deify their own righteousness, to rely on their own merits and performances, and to deride righteousness imputed and precarious, as the Jews, Rom. 10.•.
That true Repentance and Conversion taketh ⟨p. 48⟩off the Heart from all carnall confidence, either in domesticall preparations of our owne, Wee will not ride upon Horses: or in forraigne ayde from any confederates, especially enemies of God and his Church, though otherwise never so potent; Asshur shall not save us: Or lastly, in any superstitious, and corrupt worship, which sends us to God the wrong way, We will not say any more to the work of our hands ye are our gods, and causeth the Soule in all conditions, be they never so desperate, so desolate, so incurable, to relie onely upon God. It is very much in the nature of man fallen, to affect an absolutenesse, and a selfe-sufficiency, to seek the good that he desireth within himselfe, and to derive from himselfe the strength whereby hee would repell any evill which he feareth. aThis staying within it selfe, Reflecting upon its owne power and wisedome, and by consequence affecting an independency upon any Superiour vertue in being and working, making it selfe the first Cause, and the last End of its owne motions; is by Divines conceived to have been the first sinne by which the creature fell from God, and it was the first Temptation by which Satan prevailed, to draw man from God too. For since next unto God every Reasonable created Being is nearest unto it self, wee cannot conceive how it should turne from ⟨p. 49⟩God, and not in the next step turne unto it selfe, and by consequence, whatsoever it was in a regular dependence to have derived from God, being fallen from him, it doth by an irregular dependence seeke for from it self. Hence it is that men of power are apt to deifie their owne strength, and to frame opinions of absolutenesse to themselves, and to deride the thoughts of any power above them, as Pharaoh, Exod. 5.2. and Goliah, • Sam. 17.8, 10, 44. and Nebuchadnezzer, Dan. 3.15. and Senacherib, 2 King. 18.33, 34, 35. Isa. 10, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14. And men of wisdome, to deifie their owne reason, and to deride any thing that is above or against their owne conceptions, as Tyrus, Ezek. 38.2, 6
- aSu• potestate delectar•, velat Bonum s•um s••i ipsi •ssent à superior communi omnium beati•ico bono, ad propri• defluxerunt, &c. Aug. de Civit. Dei. lib. 2. c. 1. Cunt causa mise•iae malorum Angelorum quaeritur, e• •erito […] quod ab illo qui Summe est aversi adsei•so• con versi sunt qui non Summe sunt, & Ibid. c. 6. lib, de vera Relig. c. 13. de Genes. ad Lit. lib. 11. cap. 14. & 23. Aquin part. 1. q. 63. art. 3. •t seems that there was no other way for Angels to sin, but by Re•le• of their understanding upon themselves ▪ when being held with admiration of their own sublimity and honour, the memory of their subordination to God, and their dependency on him, was drowned in this conceit, whereupon their adoration, love, and imitation of God could not choose but be also interrupted Hooker l. 1 sect 4.Su• potestate delectar•, velat Bonum s•um s••i ipsi •ssent à superiore communi omnium beati•ico bono, ad propri• defluxerunt, &c. Aug. de Civit. Dei. lib. 2. c. 1. Cunt causa mise•iae malorum Angelorum quaeritur, e• •erito 〈…〉 quod ab illo qui Summe est aversi adsei•so• con versi sunt qui non Summe sunt, & Ibid. c. 6. lib, de vera Relig. c. 13. de Genes. ad Lit. lib. 11. cap. 14. & 23. Aquin part. 1. q. 63. art. 3. t seemes that there was no other way for Angels to sin, but by Rele of their understanding upon themselve when being held with admiration of their own sublimity and honour, the memory of their subordination to God, and their dependency on him, was drowned in this conceit, whereupon their adoration, love, and imitation of God could not choose but be also interrupted Hooker l. 1 sect 4.
