i 68 - Tht: Co?j_(cience reneweJ. State HI, ther perfons or t-hings for his fake. What is loveJv in them, to the renewed heart, is fome ray of the divine g~c~- - nefs appearing in rhein: for unto gracious fouls they-ihine only by borrowed light. This accounts for the faint~loving all men, and yet hating thofe that hate Gt>d, ~nd con– temning the wicked as vile per Ions. They hate and con– temn them for their wickednefs ; there is nothing of_God io that, and therefore nothing lovely nor honourable in it: but they love them for their commendable qualities, or perfeCtions, whether natu ral or mo ral; becaufe, in whom– toever thefe. are, tbey ar.e from God, ,and can be t-raced to him as their founta in, Finaliy, regenerating grace fets the affections fo firmly on God; that the rna,n is difpofed, at God's command, to quit hi:) hold of every thing elfe, in ·()rder to kee? his bold of Chrilt; to ha te fatlJer and mo– t her, io comparifon with Chriil, Luke x1v. 26. It makes f even lawful enjoyments, like J ofeph's nuntl e, to hang wofe about a man; that he rn ,ly <]Uit t:!em when he is in ha:. zard to___be enfna;ed by holding them. If the llream of; our affections was, oe\·er thus turned; we are, doubtlers, going down the flre~m irrto the pit. lf ' th~ lu}l ofthe eye, the !ufl of the flejh , and the pride oflife, h~ve the throne in our hearts,. which ihouid be poifdfed by the Father, Son and holy Ghofl: if we never had fo much love to God, as ourfelves; if Gn has been fomewhat bit· ter to us, but never to Litter as fufL:ring, never fo bitter as the pain of being weaned from it: truly we are f1ran– '.gers to this faving chang~• .For ;;race ' turiJS the affeCtions upftde dowQ. wheotver it comes into the heart, Fourthly, The confcience is renewed. Now, that a new ligh t is fet up in the {(ml in regeneration; confcience is en· !ightned, inHruCt:~:d, and inforfTied. That andle o/ the L ord ( Prov. xx. 27.) is now fr1ufftd and brightned ; fo as it fh ines, and fends forth its light into the mort retired cor· r.ers of the he<: It; clifcovering Gns wh id1 the foul was not aware of before:' and, in a fpecial manner difcovering the corruption or depravity ,of nature, that feed and fpawn whence all aCtual fins proceed. This produces the new cofTiplaint, Rom. vii. 24. 0 wret.;hed man that I am, 'WhO /htJ!I deliver me from the body..:_()f thi1 death? Th~t confci· ence, which h1y ileeping in the man's bofom before, is _now · · ·' ' awakened,
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