Head I. The Nature ~f' Regeneration. - 157 an underllanding Hill, but it was darkened;-, he had fii!1 a wiJJ,' but it was contrary to the will ofGod; So in re· generation there is not a new fubfl:ance created, but new qualities are infufed; light ioft~ad of darknefs~ righteo~fnefs inllead of unrighteoufnefs. 2. 1t is a fupernamral cbang~; he that is born again, is born ofthe Spirit, John iii. 5. Great changes may be made by the power of nature, efpecially when affifl:ed by external revelation; and nature may be fo elevated by the common influen-ces of the Spirit, that one may thereby be turned into anotl)er man, (as Saul was, 1 Sam. x. 6.) who yet never becomes a new man', But in regeneration. nature it· felf is changed, and we become partakers of the divine na· ture; and this mu!l: needs be a fupernatural change. How cao we that are dead in t-refpa!fes and fins, renew ourfelves, more than a dead man can raife himfelf out of his grave? _ ~'ho, but the fanCl:ifying Spirit of Chrift, can form Chrill: in a foul, changing it into the fame image? Who, but the Spirit of fanct:ification can givt: the new heart? Well may we fay, when we fee a man thus changed, 'Thi! ir the jinler of God. - ' _ 3· It is a change into the likene!s of God, 2 Cor. iii. 18. We-·-ieh_olding, ar in a g!afr the glory of the Lord, are changed into the fome image. Every thing that generates, generates it~ Lke: the child bears the_image of the parent; and th_ey that are born of God, near God's image. Man afpiring to be as God, made himfe lf fike the devil. In his - natural ll:ate he refembles the devil, as a child ' cloth the father, jo!1n viii. 44· Ye are of Jour father the devil. But when this h::\pny chano-e comes, the imacre of Satan is de~ ' l 0 , ~~ fa.ced, and the image of God ref~ored,tflt Chrill: himfelf, 1 who iJ the brightnejs ifhis Father's glory, is the pattern, after whi-ch the new c r e~.r ure is made, Rom. viii: 29: For whom he t/id forekntw, htr a!(o did predejlinate to be co1z~ formed to the,. ip1age of hi.; ,S'~n . Hence he is faid to be formed in the regenerate, Ca/. iv . I 9· 4· It is an ur.iverfal chi1nge; all thingr becomemrw, ~Cor. v. I 7. It is a blefi leaven that leavens the whole ~ump, the whole fpirit, and 'foul and body. Original fin wfetls the ,whole man; and-r egenerat ing grace, which is , ·th~ f~:tlvl;, goes as far as the fore. This fruit of the Spirit ·' 0 1$
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