Or,.The New-Birth; ' ' 475 Men ma.y gather up their loofe and diifolure Lives wirhln the compafs of Civility ~nd moral Honefiy, an.d yet they may be uner Strangers to a \Vork of true aQd faving Grace ; and thts may be afcnbed ro two .Grounds-, partly to the Convictions of God's Spirit, awakening natural Confctence to fee the Horror, and eo forefee the Danger that is in fuch infamous Sins; and partly to Prudencej that they have gain'd from the frequent Experiences that rhex have ha~ of the manifold Inconveniencies char they have brought upon them!elves by fuchSins formerly. Ti1efe two may make a great Amendment in Mens Lives and Con~ verfations ; al}d yet both rhefe C~'ViElions and Prudence fall far ibor~ of true Regenerating Grace: ~11 rhe feenun_g Ame~tdr:tent of fu c_h_Mens Ltves rn_ay be effeCted two w_ays, etrherby changmg thetrSms, or by ttnng ou~ of the Stnne:. Firft The Lif_e may feem to be refqrmed, when Men onlj change the1r rude and bo'~ r. 1 /feromSim,fo~fuchaf are demu;ea~d(ober. Whe,n Men tt:o.m riocous gro':'~n~ut worldly; from prophane and t~rehgwus they grow fuper~trtous and hyp~cn ... one ~i~ton~ tical · from Atbeifts ro be Heretzcks ~ when .Men make thts Change of botile~ lj for ano~ rous ~nd roaring Sins for thofe chat are more dcm~re and fober, they are apt tber. Or, to think that this Change muft be a Change of then· Natures, whereas indeed it is but only a changing and bartering of their Sins; and ufually it is fuch a Change too, that tho' ic render the Life more inoffenfive, yet ic makes the Soul more incurable. St. Auftin long fince haeh cold us, That Vias may give place, when yet no Vertue takes it, bu.l one Vice gives place to another. Secondly, The Lift ma)' [etm to be refor~'d, _when as Men are ?nly tired out with 2 • their Si·m, or when Men have out-grown the" Sms. There ?.re SinS that ?.re prO-' WhtnMta per and peculiar eo fuch a Srart; and Seafon of a Man'sLife, upon the altering are tired of which theyv~!ni!h and diCtppeear: The Sins of Youth drop off in declining, o~twhb_ • Age, being then incongruous. This is that wl1ich deceives many, when they Sm,or.M_tJe look back upon thefe numberlcfs Vanities that they have forfaken and lhakeil ~b;];o;'i:s'. off, and find how deadcn'd their Hearrs are ro tho(e finful Ways, which before they delighted in; they conclude, that certainly this great Change muft needs proCeed from true Grace, whereas indeed they do not leave their Sins, but . their Sins leave them, an~ drop off from them as rotten Fruit from a Tree: The Faculties of their Souls, and chc Membr.rs of rhcir Bodies, that before were Inftr"umenrs,ofSin unto R ightcoufnefs. are, it maybe., btunced and becomeun• ferv~ceable ·; this Nlaim of Nacue is far from regenerating Grace,that dochnot d.ifa.blea Man from the Service of Sin, but only fet s him free from it. · Fourthly, To be endcu:ed with emirunt Gift;, t~nd with the common Gracts of the, Spirit, is not to be rege,urattd. Tbefe may be beftow'd upon the Wflrft of Men....Jt i;~·" 11 There is Grace rhar renders a Man lovely in God's Eyes, and there is Grace·betndon/d that renders a Man lovely only in Mens Eyes, of both tht.:ft:: one and che fame with tmi· Spirit is the Author: In fOme the Spirit ·fan&ifies the Hcarr, and in or hers it nu;/ G_i(j/ only illuminates the Head. Balnam was irradiated with the fupernatural Light ~be;::;,_ of Prophecy. Judt~~ was dignified wirh the extraordinary Office of the Apo· moll Gra - ftlefhip, and fem out co\vork lvfiraclu, rogethf.:r wich the rcft of rhe Apoftles : us_of the Yea, fo much are the Gi!ts of the Spiri;:, the Operations of the Spirit, that they. Spmt. are i.n a peculiar m:tnn~r ~a lied the I-lol.J r._ho{f himfetf: Sec this in Afh I. 4 . A& r. 4 • Chnft commands h1s Dtfctples there to watt at Jerufalem for the Promife of the Father; that is, for the Gifts of the Spirit, for that was the Promife of che Father; and he tells them in the 8th Verfe, That they flJOI~ltl receive poum· af:tr that V S the Hol.J Ghoft ~pas come upmJ them : Cerea in it is, that they had already received er. ' the Holy G.bff in the fanetifying Graces of ic ; we cannot think that they were in an unrege~crate, unco~vcn:d E_ftare ~fter ~brifi's peach ; but they had not as yet rece1 \•cd rbe plenttful Effuhon ot the extraordmary Gifts of the HolyGhoH, of [peaking wi;:h Tongues, or· a bold and ready Uttcra.ncc of work~ ing of Mirad~s, and che !ike, which were rhen neceiTary to qualifi~ them for the fuccefsful fpreading of a new Doctrine: And this is more clear in Atls 8 ACh 8 1 ., when Pbilip had.prcach\t ac Samari11~ it is_ ftid he converted many, in Ver. 12 : · -· fo that doubtlds ~la!lY. ~f t~em had rccetved rhc Spirit already in its faving Graces ; and yet ~t ts ftud tn Ver. 1}. that the Holy Ghojl 'vas not ya j:11/en t!pm Ver. 1 S• any of thun ; ~hat ts, though _th£y were co~1~erted, yet they were not endowed Wtth rhofe w_onderfl!l Gifts of the Spmr bcfort:.mencion'd, whi;h afterwards they reccn·cd. Now h:td he been among them, and he:lrd them !j:leakof P PP P • · Chrift
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