An Expofttion of the Epijlle r-..J\../1 The fecond Corollary is this: Go, take any mall that hath had never fa high Jermon a work, where only the principles of Nature have been wrought upon and im- ' XXVI!. proved, wound up to the highefl; if God turn this man truly to him, there ~ necdeth as much power yet to do it, after all this that I have mentioned, as to create a World, as to raife up Chrifl from the dead. To make this plain unto you. All other kinds of workings upon the pr;nciples of Corrupt nature,fome fay,are 'di(pofttions preparing forGrace.And I will yield it thus far they are,that whenever 'God works upon any man, he beginneth to fiir Self-love firfi; for there is no other principle to begin withal. llut let the Holy Ghofl wind up all thefe princi– ples in man never fo Jar, never fo high, yet it' he will favingly convert that man, he mull put a new principle into ltlm; that requireth as m1.1ch power as to mako Heaven an'd Earth, and all the other will not contribute thi& to it. I will yield, that fuch workings as thefe make a man nearer to the Kingdom of heaven; but you lhall fee what Chrifl faith in Mark 12. H· He fpeaks of an ingenious< Scnbe,he went beyond the P harifers,they put their Religion in Duties. No ,faith the Scribf, it lies in loving God above a man's felf; Thou art nrar (faith Chrifi) · 1 mto the ki11gdom of God. B~ how near? Suppofe there be two Kingdoms, and one man liveth in the borders of his Kingdom, next the other; he is indeed nigh to the other Kingdom, nighcr than one that liveth in the head City", or in the heart of it: So here, this man is at the borders, at the utmoll confines ofthe Kingdom of Death; but if he come to be tranllated into the Kingdom of Life, .this ab Almtghty power mull do It. ColojJ.1. 12. G.vwg thanks unto tht Fa– ther which hathddiveredm o11t of the power of 'Dark11e{s, and tranjlated tU i~to the Kingdom of hi& well-be/9ved Son. He is nearer indeed, but he is in the borders frill, 1· will make a Suppolition or t;vo unto you to explain my meaning; Suppofc that Opinion were true, (I do not fay it is,) which fame Philofophers fay concerning the forming of a Man in the Womb. They hold there arc three Souls in a man; The Soul of a Plant, whereby he groweth; the Soul of a Beafi; whereby he bath fenfe; and the reafonable Soul, which is put in over and above all thefe. Now, faith Arif/otle, the Child in the Womb liveth firfi the life of a Plant, and it groweth; then a:terward it liveth the life of fenfe, the life of a Bean; there is a fenfttive Soul added to that, as they interpret him: Yet when it is grown up thus far, to bring the reafonable Soul in it requireth the Almighty work of Crhtion, it is created, and with creation infufed, and with the iofu– lion created. Jufl fo it is her~. If the Ho!~· Ghofi have wrought upon Corrupt nature never fo far, to bnng 10 a true pnnc1ple of Sptr,tual Farth, and to brin~ in a true principle of Love to God above a man's felf, (wherein Holinefs lies;) all this is no way conducing to it, it mull ,be a creating anew, it can never be educed outof man's Nature; no princip:e in man will be wound up to this, it mull be (as the reafonable Soul is) infufed from heaven. I will give you another Infiance; And the lnflance I lhall now give, is more proper to the limilitude in the Text, which is an allufton to the raJjing of Chrif/ frorn death to life. Go, take two dead Bodies, (I will give youinflancesof two Dead bodies in the Scripture that were raifed to life.) Take one jufl as the Prophet £/,fba did, 2 Ki11g-4- newly dead, within an hour after, when the Soul is newly out of the body; and take Lazarm, his Body, that had6und<ad(our daies, and .did jliuk. Take this Child's Body, the Soul was newly out of it; there were a great many preparatory difpofitions to a R,efurre&on, to bring life again one would tlunk; What was there ? There was natural warmth leti: flill, there was the blood remaining frelh in the Veins uncorrupt, there was a bcdy litly limned in all the parts of it: yet for all this, if you will make t his Child live you mull put the Soul anew into it; that Power thot raiftd up Chn{/ from the dead, mull raife up this Child newly dead. Come to L az arur, ht ffi11krth the Text faith, he had been buried /otJY d,Jits : Then here is indeed a greater work in this refpdl',' that ~he putrefaCtion is to be taken awoy more, but yet fl ill there mull be a putting mof a new l;fe to both. And to put a new life into this dead Child, there was as much Power required, that is, as Almif)hr)' a Power, as into L.tzarus his body, that had been longer dead, though there was
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