The Sincere Convert

6. Their wisdom is sin. Oh, men §6are often commended for their wisdom, wit, and parts, yet those wits, and that wisdom of theirs is sin, Rom. 8. The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God.

6. Their wisedome is sinne. Oh, men §6are often commended for their wisedome, wit, and parts, yet those wits, and that wisedome of theirs is sinne, Rom. 8. The wisedome of the flesh is enmity against God.

Thus, all they have or do are sins; For, how can he do any good action whose person is filthy? A corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good fruit; thou art out of Christ, therefore all ⟨p. 60⟩thy good things, all thy kindnesses done unto the Lord & for the Lord, as thou thinkest, are most odious to him. Let a woman seek to give all the content to her Husband that may be, not out of any love to him, but only out of love to another man, he abhors all that she doth. Every wicked man wants an inward principle of love to God and Christ, and therefore, though he •eekes to honour God never so much, all that he doth, being done out of love to himself, God abhors all that he performs All the good things a wicked man doth, are for himself, either for self-credit, or self-ease, or self-contentment, or self-safety: He sleeps, prays, hears, speaks, professeth for himself alone; hence, acting always for himself, he committeth the highest degree of idolatry, he plucks God out of his throne, and makes himself a God, because he makes himself his last end in every Action; for a man puts himself in the room of God aswell by making himself his finis ⟨p. 61⟩