An.Expofttion of the EpifUe "-A./\ But you will fay, Thefe are Metaphors? ' SermotJ Suppofe they be but Metapt:ors many of them, yet frill in this they agree, XXIV. ·That the fame Power tltat created, the fame Power that !hall change a Beafl into ~aMan make that transformation; the fame Powe~ that !hall quicken a dead man ~he fame Power doth go tq convert.· :ln'this they agree. . My Brethren, I ask you this ~efii9n1 ::ro"whai: end doth God fet forth the worl< of Grace to us by thefe Metaphors·? He fetteth them forth that he migb.t have real Thanks, tHerefore certainly ·there is fomething in thefe expref. lions that anfwereth the work of Creation'tlia~ is real ; for. God would not have YOU give thanks above his·propoi"tion·, ·al5ove what !Jis power in working. is. Do but compare Ephef:2,ro;withCot:3.idi' · In Ephej.2. 10. fatth he, Wt are biJ workmm1jh1p. How? Pr<idud!d by Creation;' If he had meant any other working, (will you mark mf Reafon 'Q'lP·-he. ?ad meant any other wc;>rking than Creation, he would rlever hav~ faxd1, Hi1s workmatt}blp Cre,,ttd; It had been enough to have fa id, ,His ·workmalf/hipffor that i~plie_th the Power of God, Why doth he addCrtated1' CerUu\1·)'; to !hew thar JS as great a work as Creation : Therefore in Colo0.'3.IO, ·(com'pare with ihis-likewife Eph+ z 4 .) be compareth the Image of God•before -~he Fall, to the·Image of God now re. newed in the heart of a Chriflian. Saith ,he,-We are retuwtd (fo it is in the Coloj[tans) after the Imagnf him that c~~at'ed him, namely at lirfi. All the World grants that it was an ·immediate power of Creatiorf wroYght that Image at lirfi. Now then look Ephtf.4/Z4• and tliete .you !hall find, that this Image is faid :o be created Jikewife, A(ttr tht lmagt of h1m that' created thtm at the lirfi. So that this is his meaning; As it is the fame Image, fo there is the fame powergoeth to work it; it is'aCreation works it now, as a Creation wrought (t before. He ufeth the fame expreffion both of the one and of the other. ,. Will you come to ·partitulars, this 'is Bt!r in' ,general, yo·u !hall find it is a Power exceedeth the Crtation. I will but take'for my grdund Ezek. 36.26. you !hall fee there what goetli to convert a man: The Power of God is put forth· there in thre~ things. ' ' I It is put forth firfiin the removing of what hindereth; there is_Amotioimpt– dimenti, it is called the taking the flony heart out of your fle!h, fo Verfe :z.6, There is Secondlyta giving of a p~w Capacity to perform, a new Nature and new difpofition, whichis called giving"a 11ew Spirit, and by tuw Spirit he · meageth another thing than the Holy Ghofl. Why? For he mentioneth him afterward, I .J!ill put my Spirit wii'hin yott, and caufe you to walk i11 my Sta– ttltes. That's at the 27th Verfe, but this new Spirit is at the 2-6th Verfe. And then Thirdly, There is not only a Power given, new and holy Difpofi– 'tions, that lhall make a man capable by t/le adiogs of the Holy Ghofi to do "ell, it is a w orkman/hip creattdtogood works, it is fit fot it; but he telleth us, 1 w ill put my Spirit withinyou, tmd caujt you to wa_tk i•; m1 Stattttn, fo faith Verfe 27. And to lhew that Ire Jt ts that doth all thxs by an AlmJghty power: What faith be at Verfe 36? after he had fet down inlargements of Promifes; faith he, I the Lord haveJpokm it, and I will do it; as he is Jthova be will do it. Now let us but confider thefe Three things, and you !hall fee what a mighty power goeth to turna man t!' God. Confider fir{! what God tak.es away; I will tak#(faith he) tht flony htartotJI of yo11r flt/h. It is not a hardnefs, fuch as is of Wax, that by an extriofecal power it may be melted; the Fire will melt it, the Sun will melt it; but no fire QPSun will melt a Stone, you can deal with that no way but by taking it away ; therefore that is the phrafe, I will (faith he) take away the heart of j/o11t, or tht {lone of the heart, You fee here is fomething to be defiroyed, therefore it is called anew Creaturt, 2 Cor.)· '7· Why New? ·Becaufe all New refpedeth all Old to be taken away, as Heb.8 .11lt. In that he faith a New Covtnrmt, he brtth made tht fir{/ Old, he abolifiJeth that: fo the words following imply, and fo indeed it followeth in2Cor.).17, Hr thatisi1;Chri{lis a 11ewCreattJre; Q!d thi11gs are pafl awr;y, behold all things are btco'1le New. There is a palling away, a taking away of Old thin'gi, and there not ·a whit of the Old remaineth in thl New,
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