Blake - Houston-Packer Collection BT155 .B53 1653

Chap. 9. and the Covenant of Grace. . 63 the natural man receiveth not the things ofthe Spirit of God, for they are foalifhneße unto him ; neither can he know them , becaufe they are fJiritually d fcernecd, i Cor. z.14. This native blindneffe in man; with the neceflity of an Omnipotency for curer is plain, not only in the Heathens who (wanting the light of Revelation, ) are as St. Paul fpeaks, darkneffe : But alfo in thofe to whom light is brought, and the word preach't ; that Rand in actual Covenant with God, as appeases, Deut. 29.1. & 4. Compared, The Lord loath not given you a heart to perceive, ( fpeaking to men in Cove- nant) andeycstofee and ears to hear, unto this day. 2. In will to delire, and heart to embrace any fuch tender ; but on the con trary there is a readine %dill to oppofe , which is plain; not on- ly by the flirres that are railed wherefoever the word is preach't, (as we fee through the Hiftory of the Aar. So that it is grown into a Proverb, Evangelium ciet bellum.) But allo by the ftrug lings to withfland any motion or convic4ion which the word works; what Stephen tells the Jews that they did, each man by nature is apt to do, to rejig the holy Ghofl. AEis 7. 5 i. There is much refinance in the heart, which grace by power does not ut- terly take away but overcome and fubdue. 41Y'This appears in Gods indication and fuldeclarationof himfelf, what his workis , and what is to be expected from his hand in the Covenant- conditions which he requires of us, which we find from his mouth in feveral Texts of Scripture. The Lcrd thy god will cir- cumcife thy heart and the heart of thy leed to love the Lord thy God. Deut. 3o. E. Anew heart alfo will Igive you, and anew f irit I will put within you ; I will take away the fitony heart out of your flefh, and I will put my Spirit within you, and caufe you to walks in my flatutes, Ezek. 36. 25, 2 6, 27. But efpecially in that Text Jer. 31. 3 t, 32, 33, 34. The dayes come faith the Lord, that I will make a new Covenant with the houfe of Ifrael and with the houle of Judah: Not according to the Covenant that I made With their fathers in the day that I took them-by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt (which my Covenant they brake; although 1was an hujbànd to them, faith the Lord:) But this fhall be the Covenant that 1 will make with the houle of ifrael ; alter thole dayes ( faith the Lord) I. will put my LaW in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they 'hall be my people, Ad they fhaII teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, laying; Know

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=