' f 9S The Neceffily if Regeneration. State nr. . . . I dam~edr the -~ate of abfolute and i-rretrievable mifery. He· coovmced .then, that ,ye mufi be born again; put a high va.·· ! ue bo the tl~w-birth, and eagerly defire it. · 'The text tells yo'.l, that the/word is the feed· whereof the new creature is formed : therefore take -heed to it, and en– ' tertain it, for 'it is your life. Apply yourielves to the -read– ing of the fcripture. Ye that cannot read, caufe others read it for you. _Wait diligently on t·he preaching of the wo_rd, s .b.y divine appointment the fpecial · mean oL conver)ion ; fir-it pleafod God bp the (ooiijhne/i of preaching to fav't! · t4,~7H that believe, 1 Cor. i. 21. ', Wher efore, cafi not your– fe]v es out of Chrifl's way ; rejeCt not the means of grace,, lefi' ye,be found to./!tdge your[elves unworlhy ofeternal life. '_Attend prefully to the word preached. Hear every fer- · . · mon, as if. you wer·e he~r,ing for eternity '; an~, take heed, ·the fowls of the air pick not· up •his fe~d from you. as it is fown. , GifJ.e th;fe.lj wholly to it~ 1 Tim~ iv. 15. _Receive"' .it not aJ. tire w.ord of men, but (as it i; in 11 uth). t-he 'IWord · ~fGod, 1 The«. ii. q . And hear it with application, look– ing on it as a meffage fent {flom heaveo, t<O you in particu– lar, tho' not to you only, Rev iii. 22 . HC' that hath an· ear, let him·hear what' the Spirit faith untp the churches ?-· Lay it up in your hearts, medirate upon it ; and be not ·as. the unclean beafis, t.h.at chew not t-he cud. But by earne!t prayer beg the dew of heaven may fall on thy. heart, that t-he feed may. fprin-g up there • ._ · More particularly, ( 1 •.) ·Receive the tefiimon-y of the word cf God,. concerning the mifery of an unregenerate flae, the !infu!nefs thereof. anq the abfolute neceffity of ~egen~ration. ( 2 ) Receive its t-d!imony, coneer oiog God, . what a holy arid jull One he is •. (3-.) Examine thy ways - by it; na~Jel y, the tbough;s of thy. heatt, the ex,preffions of thy lip!, and the tenor of thy life. Look b;~..c~ thro' the fe:– v·eral -periods of thy.. life, .and fee th:Y fins from tile precepts ef the word ; and learn from its-.threa-tnings, wh-at thou art liable to,. on. the account ofthefe fins. (4. ) \ t1ew the corruption of thy. !'1ature, by the help of the fam~ wo~d of God ·; as in a giafs- which reprefents our ug·ly. fa<;.e 10 a hvel1 manner. \Vere thefe things deeply rooted in the heart, theymight be the feed of tha t fear and for tow, on accog~t o.f th}' foul•s . fiate, .v. h:ch ire. ne.c.dfary to pr.epare. and · lbn · , th~e:
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