False Religion

Some persons who have heard the Gospel , abandoned their vicious courses , and been enrolled as members of the church , and after a while openly returned to their former sins . The apostle betrays no faltering in dealing with the case ; he utters a certain sound . Although it was "knowledge of the Lord " that induced them at first to reform their lives , they had never been in true faith united to the Saviour . The fear of the Judge had driven them for a time from their indulgences , but the love of the Redeemer had not conclusively won them to hope and holiness . They dreaded Christ's judgement seat , but were not created again into His image . They fled in fear from the material food of their corrupt appetites , but carried their corrupt appetites away in alive in their breasts . When the terror passed the tastes revived , and , by a resistless instinct , devoured again the very abominations which they had cast out as evil .
                     The sow was washed ; the filth was wiped from the creature's skin , but the creatures instincts remained unchanged . Man's true need and God's sufficient cure is  "create in me a clean heart , and renew a right spirit within me . "

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