~ Book.lV. ~---- Looking unto 1t{us. ' Cbap.2.. Sett.4 Gal.! .:o ~-Per:;. 4: wafhed, now yr are f.rnrtifird, now ;e are juftified in the N ame of the Lo~d [efus , atJd by the Spirit of~ur God; As eve~y man is, fo is he aff~ded, fo he fpeaks, and fo he lives; if thy life be fuperoatural , ~o 15 thy affdl:ions, fo is thy words, fo is thy coaverfarion ; P•ml llved a life one~ of a bloody perfecuror, he breathed out threatenings again£!: all the Profdfours of the Lord Jefus, bur now it is otherwife, the lift which I now live in the flejb, I live by the faith of the s ,nneof god, who /r,ved me,and gave himfr!fefor me. 0 my foul, haft thou the old converfarion, the old affections, the old difcourfe, tl1e old paffions thou ufedfl: to have! what, is thy hearc a den of lufl:s, a cage ofuncleane imaginations? then feare thy felfe, there cannot from a fweet fountaine -come forth bitter fireames , there cannot from a refined fpirir, as re fi ned, come forth corrupted actions or imaginations ; a thorne cannot frnd f orth grapes, faith Chrifl:; fo neither can a Vine fend fo rth t ~'Ome£ .fay we. I know there is in the befl:, fomething of fl efh, aswell as of the fp irit ; but if thou art new. borne, then thou canfr not but fl:rive againfr it , -and wdt endeavour to conquer it. 3. Where this new birth is , t.!l ere is a new nature, a new prin- :t Pet,l•4• · Rom.7.u. _,.Cor,}, J7, ·ciple ; Ptter calls it the hiddenm,zn of the heart , the d1vine natut;,e•. Pautcallsittheinwardman; thenewcleature , it i5 compared to a root e., to a f om1ttrinP, to a founda rivn, and for want of this foundatioc , we fee now in thefe fad times fo mud1 inconfiancy, and unfetlednetfein fome profefiours themfelves, many have gotten new and fl:range notions, but they have not new natures, new principles of grace; if grace were but rooted in their hearts, though the winds did .blow, and fl:ormes arife, they would continue firmeand fl:a~le, as being founded upon a rock. Never tell me ofprofeffion, !hew, outward aCtion, outward converfa- - tion, outward duties of Religion; all this may be, and yet no new creature; you have fome bruits that can ad many things like men, but becaufe they have r.ot an humane nature, they are ftill brutifh ; fo many th ings may be done in away of holinefs, . which yet come not from this inward pri r. cip ~ e of renovation, and therefore it is bur copper and not gold; mifl:ake not 0 my foul in this, which is thy befl: and furefl: evidence : though I ca ll the new birth a rwwcreatur<? , my meaning is not as if a r.ew _faculty we(.e infufed into him that is new borne, a man when he ·• · .. -- ' - is
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