SECTION TIf. 17 quently called Upon to strive and seek, that your inward dispo- sition of soul toward your neighbour may be kind and just and faithful, such as God requires; that you may be delivered from the power of sin reigning in you, and that you may be reformed and made fit for the business and blessedness of heaven, where nothing shall enter that defileth. You are exhorted and obliged to pray earnestly to God for the assistance of his Spirit in this di- vine work, for unless we are born of the Spirit as well as washed with water, we cannot enter into the kingdom of God; John iii. 3, 5, 6. Now has this been your solemn care ? Has this been your zealous desire, and the matter of your labour withyour own heart in secret, and of your fervent prayer to God ? Do you give yourselves no rest till you find such achange wrought in your souls, whereby you are become new creatures, wherebyyou hate every thing that is offensive to God, and love and delight in the practice of your duty toward God and man ? What clear and . convincing evidences have you, that you have entered into this new state, and obtained this divine blessing? That in- stead of being a child of sin and wrath (as you are by na- ture) yon are become a childof grace, and a son or daughter of the Most High God? Again, as you profess this doctrine of inward regenera- tion, and the necessity of it in order to eternal life, do you take due care to impress the sense of it on your children ? Do you let them know, that though they are baptizedwith water, which is designed to he a type or figure of regenerating grace, and of your duty of purification from sin, yet this is not a sufficient evi- dence of it, unless they find that their hearts are inwardlychang- ed ? Do you inform them at proper seasons, and by all gentle and convincing means, that they are early sinners before God, that their hearts and lives are corrupt and unholy, that washing with water can never make them christians any farther than a bare profession goes, that they must be born again, i. e. they must become new creatures, and have their hearts and inclina- tions and desires and passions altered from what they are in a sinful state, and formed unto holiness, if ever they would be saved ? Jelin iii. 3. What profit is it to yourselves or your children, to avoid this unhappy mistakeof inward regeneration by baptismal water, if you never concern yourselves to seek after such a real divine change of heart and life, in yourselves or in them, as may make it appear that you are born again ? What advantage is' it to your offspring to guard them from this error, if you never take care to convince them of their corrupt nature and sinful inclinations ? If you never teach them plainly that it is their duty to be con- verted and turned from sin 'to God, and beseech them earnestly to set about the work of conversion with all holy diligence ? What signifies it to keep them from this mistake about regene. VOL. V. B
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