Ambrose - BT200 A42 1658

Chap.2 .Se~.4 Looking unt~ :}tftu. Book. IV. Part.4. 779 this quickening Spirit, communicated from ChrHl:, unto thy. foul. 3· If Chrifis refurred:ion be mine, then am I planted togeth~r in the lik_snef{e ofChrifts refurretlian; then do I refeJilble, and am Rom. 6. ,., made conformable to Chri£1: in his refurred:ion; now if we· would know wherein that refemblance is, the Apoftle tells us,that R 6 liks Ill Chrift JYM raifed ~tp from the dead 6y t!Je glory of the Father, om• .'4· even fo we alfo jhould walk.., in newm.fleof life. 0• mortification is a refemblance ofChrifis death, and ou.r vivification is a refemblance ofChrifisrefurred:ion. In this ground ofour hope concerning our intereft io the refurred:ion ofChrifi,I lhall propound thefe quefiions.~ 1. Whether indeed and in truth our fouls are vi vi· fied? 2. Whether we encreafe and grow in our vivifi . cat~on? For the firft, the truth and certainty ofour vivification will ap· peare by thefe rules. · 1. True vivification is general,both in refpect ofus, and in refpect of grace. 1. In rcfped: ofus, it is diffufed throughout the whole man; the ver7 God of peace fanllifieyou wholiJ (faith the Apofl:le) and I praJ God that y~ur whole JPirit~ foul, and 6ody may 6e prcferved I Tbef.r .~; . 6/amelef{e Hnfo the coming of our L 1rd [efu; Chrift. And, 2. In rerped: ofgrace , it is in every grace; I know it is a queftion, -whether all graces are fo.connexed and chained together, that pofilbly theycannot be fevered ? but I fuppofe it is truely anfwered, that in refped: ofhaJ,ic they cannot be fevered, though in rerpetl: of the act or exercife they may be fevered ; fome graces are more radical than others~ as faith and love, and therefore they firfr appeare; but asa man lives firfi the life of a plant, then of fenfe, then of reafon, though all were radically there at fir£!:; fo it is in graces; experience tells us that fome Cbrillians are eminent in fome graces, and fome in othet• graces; forn e have m0re love, and fome more knowledge, and fome more pa· tience, and fome more felfe denyal; but aU that are true Chriftians have each of thefe graces in fome meafure or other; or at leafi they have them in habit, though not in the act; if vivifica· tion be true, there is a whele work ofgrace both in heart and · · G g g g g 2 life ;

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