Head L and jplrittt~ l (;enerati-·m . t77 , are yet, by t1iei ~ ne\v birth, near of :kin with the excd ... ren t in tlv.:! ~ar!Ji . .Eiglth(Y, Th~re is a Iikenefs betwixt the parent and the child. £very thing tint ger.erates, geoennes its Jike: and the re(Jenerate ate p'artakaJ of tle d:r.:ine IJalz;re-, 2 Pet. i. e ' u • 4· Tile mor::d perfeCtions of the divine nature are m mea.- fore and degree communicated to the renewed fuul1 and th us the divin~ image is retrieved .; fo that', as the child _re– fembles t he Cnher, the r.ew creature refembles God him• felf, being holy aJ he is _!.>o!y ~ , LaJily, ,'\s t-here is no birth without pain, both to the · mother and to the chitd; fo there is ~reat 'p:tin io bringing– forth the ne~;'; cre-atlHe. The children have more or lefs of thefe bi1 rh· p·::tins, whereby ;key are prickcrd in their het:triJ• .-'\cts ii. 37. The fou-l hath fo-re pai~1s when under convicboll and humliation. A wotmded.fpiril who can bear? The mo-_ ther is pained-; ZiolJ travailr, lfa lxvi. 8. ilie fighs, grooes, cri~ rh, and hath hard labour io her miniHer-s and memben, t.o ?ring forth children to her Lord 1 Gal. iv. 19. My lilf/1 chifdre11 ofwhom !travail in bfrth again, unJ.jl Chri/i be formed in )'Ott. And never was a mother more feelingly touched with joy, thaf a man· child ttNu born i11to tr.. world, than fhe is upon the new birth of her children. B"ut what' is more remarkable than all this, we read, not only o£ our Lord Jefus ChriiPs travail-( or toil of foul, lfa. liii.r I~ but ' (what Jies more direetly to our purpofc) of his pains, Ot pangs. as of one tfava iling ~n child birth ; fo the word ufed Aar ii. 24. properly ilgnifies. Wtll may he call the new creature, as Rachel called her dear buught fon, Benr.,ni, i.e. 'Thefon ofmyforro"'JJ; and as fhe called another Naph– _tali, i.e. My rwrtjlling : Jor the pangs of that travail put .... him to Jlrong crpng and lean, Heb v. 7. yea, into an a– gony and bloody /weal, Luke xxii.44· And, in the epci, he ' died of [hefe pangs, they oecame to him l.~e painJ of death, , Afrs ii. 24. · \ .. The DoBrine of Regeneraiion "pplied. U«E I. By what is faid, you may try whether you are in the ibte of.g rac.e, or no't. If ye be brought out cf the Hat~ flf wrath .or ruin, into the fiate of grace or fJ1vatioo ; yt:, \ '
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