Counterfeit Sanctification

The first counterfeit of sanctification is moral virtue. To be just , to be temperate , to be of a fair deportment , not to have one's escutcheon blotted with ignominious scandal is good , but not good enough , it is not sanctification . A field flower differs from a garden flower . Heathens have attained to morality ; as Cato , Socrates , and Aristides . Civility is but nature refined ; there is nothing of Christ there , and the heart may be foul and impure . Under these fair leaves of civility the worm of unbelief may be hid . A moral person has a secret antipathy against grace ; he hates vice , and he hates grace as much as vice . The snake has a fine colour but a sting . A person adorned and cultivated with moral virtue , has a secret spleen against sancity . The Stoics who were the chief of the moralised heathens , were the bitterest enemies Paul had  . Acts 17:18
Thomas Watson

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