224 Ho"'.JJ-1/;c bn:mchHJ art takm .out, &c. State- tu, hope ahd :efpair, refolves _to go to ChriO: as he is ; 2nd therefore, like a dying man flretching himfdf, jul1 before his breath goes out, he rallies the broken {orc~s of his fou'l; tries to believe, and in fome tort hys hol-d on .Jefus Chrifi. And now the branch hangs on' the old !tock, by ,one fiogle t\atk of a -oatural·faith,produced by the oatural vigour of-one's own fpiri't, under a mofi preffir.g neceffity, Pjal. lxx viii, 34• 35 · When he jltrw them , then they fought him. and they ?elurned and enquired early after God. And they remembred lhat God. rw:u their rode apd the high Cod their Rede-emer, Hof: viii; 2. lfrac! jha!l cry umo me, 'Yly Cod, w e knorw the~. ' But the Lord mindi_ng to perfect bis work, f~tches yet an01her ftroke . whereby the b-ranch falls quite off. The Spirit of G9d convincingly difcovers .to the ' finner, his utter inability to do any thing tbtlt is.good ;•and.fo he dieth, Rom. vii. 9· That voi~.:e powerful-ly ft r ,1kes through hi$foul, How tanye beli~ve ? John v. 44· Thou canft no more be!ieve;– than thou canfi reach up thine_hand to hea\'en, and btir.g Chrifr down from the~.Ke And thu~ at len~th he fee s, l!e. . can-neither help himfelf by wo,.king, nor by be!fevini-: and havmg no more to hang by, on the old fiock , he therefore fal·ls off. And while he··is difheJfed thus . fee ing himfdf like to he fwept ~way with the fl ood of ,God 's wrath; and yt~t unabl e fo much as to !he tch forth a h,and to lay hold uf ~ twig of the tree of lift:. _growing on tbe banks of the river ; he is fallen up, anu i ngrafted iuto t he true vine, the Lor& Jefus Chri.{t giving him the fpirit of faith. By what has been faid upon this bead, I defign not to rack or diftrefs tender coofciences ; for though. there a re but fe w fuch at this day , yet God forbid I 010ul d off..:n d· arry of , Chrift's little ones. But alas ! A dead Deep is fall en upon <this generation; they will not be awakened , let us go as nea,r · the quick as we wi ll: and the-tefore, I fe ar the re is another fort of awakeu,ing abirling 'this ·fermon -proof generation, .which fhall make the ,ears Of them. that hear it to tingle • .However, I would not have th is to be looked ·upon as the fovereign God's fi inted rne thod of breaking 9jfjinners from' ·>~he o!djlorJl: but this ( Ci!ft:rt-as a cer <1i n·truth, that all who – are in Ch rift, hav e- been bt·oken off fr om all thefe fevercH · confidences ; and t h;;, t thev \Vho were nevet· br~ken o1f fr.orn-· t-hem, ate. yet in their natural Hock.. Never.the-lefs; if thre, . ho1:ue..:: \ .. ' ·
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