S n cT. I I II., ofRe&enérstion;, 207 thou art made likeunto God, to love what heloveth, todelighcinWhat hedelight- eth in : Do not then labour after an irnpoffibility, which is toferve God andMam- mon,to bring heaven and earth togethBr;No.if this new naturebe.infufed into the it makes thee above trade, wealth, friends, honour;life ; It filled: thy heart with filch heavenly inclinations, that as the (tone cannot hang in the empty air, but ha fleneth to itscenter, fo the regenerated heart cannot abide in any thing on this fide God ; Whom have lis heaven but thee ,< andwhom on earthbit thce? . . Eigbthly, This birth it inexpreJ6le: He that is thus been again, cannot declare how,, fo our Saviour afterwards, The ffririt or winde 6loweth where it lifleth, and thanknoweft not Whence it comeih, or whíthcritgoeth..As a man underfiandeth not how fearfully and wonderfully he is made in his mothers womb ; fo neither how admirably God doch put thde inclinations anddifpofitions into hisfoul: How is it that hewho was backward,yea,anenemy CO what was good,yetnowwithall de- light followss4? motgmfcimus,modiem.s j'cimue,we finde thefegreat' changes made uponus, but cannot declare how : From this alto it cometh about that we cannot expreffe it to another, only experimentally feelic in.our (elves : As a man cannot exprelle to another what, it is to live; only he feels the motionsof his life in him- felf: Thus alto_ he cannot tell to another what that new life, that new birth is, what that power of Godis which he bath felt in his foul : but faith as the blinde man to the l?harifees concerning ChtifI,' Iknowsot how he made nie whole, only this I know,(that Was onceblinde,do nowfee,Joh,9.and fo here,1krow not how it coni- cal about that I 3111 thus altered, I cannot tell how I amcharged, only this I know, I that was not afraid tofinne, now I ant ; I that did not delight in God, now do. Ninthly, Is that theScripturecalltbb-egeneratien, abirth again, It's a meta. 9. phor,and fo would give us co conceive fame refemblanee between thenatural( and A,i1e,t.ance the fpirituall birch, I !hallcouch upon Mine molt evident. t """`r" `f" rl FM}, Here isin this new birth odaFather, Therefore often laid to be born of namdI and f fpi:iw;ual bitch, God, and children of god. This as it denoteth our impotency , for if we cannot 1. make our natural( felves much leffe can we make our lupernaturall felves ; fo it al-, fomanifefleth the great power andefficacy of Gods grace, which faith to us asunto dead Latarua,Come (archout of thegrave of fin : Every godly man is an /Foe, a childeof thepromife, for bets born onlyby the meer power and grace of God : Mans free-will is Sarah, dead womb; Ic isPhilo's allegory upon that of to Rachel, Am I a God ( faith he) that 1 can give children ? to faith he, God only puts grace and verrue into thewomb of the foul; We may fay to Pelagiacs and Arminians, Are we Gods that we can rape the dead,give life where there is none ? This is good to be obferved, for there is fcarce any dofirine more pernicious to the glory of God then this, whereby we (hall be Creators of the new creatures. We cannot make a fly, and yet we thinkwe can make our felves godly. Oh there- fore look up to heaven, and fay, OLord newmake me, new createme. Secondly, Thefeed or means by which this new birth it accomplifhed, is the Word II; of godpreached: Thusoften, hehath begotten by his word, yam. x.18, and it is that Whereby we are gpickned ; Take all humane eloquence,all Philofophicall pre, cepts, they do no more then the Prophets fervant to the dead childe, though laid uponhim, yet itwould not bring life into him, hismatter mullcome erethere can be life. Alas, to Militia men with arguments from reafon about a good life, fuch as theheathens are very bulk to perfwade men by ; they turn not, or alter the heart. The Word ofGod is that two-edged fword, is thatfire,that hammer, that feed, that Manna, which ferveth to Iubdue fin, and to quicken up to grace. Oh thereforehow carefull shouldpeople be both to get and to live under the preach -. ingof GodsWord ! This is the winde that mutt make dry bones live : This is the voice of a trump, that mull make the dead come out of the grave. How mean,im- potent, contemptible, men may efieem it, yet God hath appointed no other means tocenveyfupernatura lllife; but after this manner. Therefore Where novifion.ir tho
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