Or, The New 'Birth. Fourthly, The Will of an V~rtgtntrltte M4n ufually it U a g_enernl not a particular Will. 4· If God fhould ask them, Sinntrf, what would you do to be favcd? 0 any thing, 1t ir/' ~~· every thing, fay they; why lea~e offfuch an~ fuch a ~n, perform fuch and fuch 'lttr~. H;J.., Dudes, why, yes, L?~d, ~hey will do any thmg b_ut this Duty,, or leave any.thi~g but that fin j JUft fa IS It With manx Men, they wll! do any _thtng, every thmg 10 general, but bring it down to particulars, to the do1~1g_ of this o: that Dt~ty, or to the leaving of this or that Si_n,. and then they are willing to _do JUft nothmg. And t hus you fee how far the W!ll It felf _may be wrought._upon m Unregenerate Men, and what it is that ufbally hmders this change from bemg a thorough work of Rcr generation. Fifthly and 1aftly, There may be alfo agreat and wonderful change wrought i11 thct, , Jts1 5· and yet they may continue in their former Vnregenerate flare. They may have efcapcd, as There "'"J the ..Apojfle fix:aks, ~he pollutions of the world thorough the knowl~dg_e of Chrijl, and yet be:: ;;eh'Z~ a.,gain entangled). winch fhews them. to be unregenerate, as It IS 2 Pet. 2. 20. To ef.. rDithou:Rt~ cape the pollutlons of the World IS no Argument of the t .ruth of Grace, unlcfs your gmaatim. felves alfo are cleanfed from the po\lutions of your own Hearts; for fins may be left meerly from external forced principles, fuch as are the terrours of Confcience, or the heavy Judgments ofGod; when God fets a flaming Sword betwixt a Sinner and thofc fins th:zt he counted his Delight and Paradife; to leave fin upon fiJCh con.. ftraints as there, is to leave fin with a great deal of reludancy and unwillingnefs; as a M.trintr in a Storm c:.1fts his Goods over-board, he cloth it indeed with a kind of Will, btrt it is with an unwilling willingnefs, he is frighted and ten·ified tn it, for fear he and they fhould !ink together; fo when a Soul is toffed in a Tempcfr of Divine \Vrath, ready to fplit aga inft the Rock of Ages, and to fink and be [wallowed up in a Sc.1 of Fire and Brimftone, it is forced to lighten it felf, and to c:tft this and d1at dc:1r Lufl: over-board, and this it doth from a \V ill, but yet it is with ihch a forced \ •\l ill:ts the Mariner throws his Goods into the Sea in a Storm; and as foon as the Tcmpcft is all:Iyed, the one gathers up his Wrack, and the other gathers up his fins again. Thefe Men leave their fins as Lot'J Wife left Sudom, they dare not longer continue in them for fear Fire and Brimftone Jhould rain down upon them, and yet in leavi ng them they give many a look hack towards them, and at Iaft they return again to them. I have fpoken to this formerly on this fbbjea, I !hall not therefore infift on it loneer now, only be fi1rc you rely not upon thefc broken Reeds as evidences of Eternal Life and Glory, for thefe things arc deceitful, and haYe deceived many, at leaft, for a time; and fo much for the firft Br:mch of this Ufe of Trial, which was to Jhew you what changes may be wrought upon carna l Men, which they may mifi-ake for evidences of their Regeneration. The recond Branch of this Ufe of Trial, is to lay down fomeparticulars that the 2. Scripture hath m:~.de inf.tlliblc Marks and Tefts of a Rcgtneratt Per{on. But before I Br~neh'(t' come to mention thefc in their particular Order, it will be expedient briefly to pre- ~~! ffi ~1 mire romcthing concerning the manner of oOtaiuing aflbrancc of Grace, by the rut· Signs and CharaCters of Grace. In the firft place therefon:, It U poffible for a Chriflian !o tt~tain an af{ured knowledge of Aff'W'•11!t his Rcgmrration, I fay, an allured knowledge, to carry lt h1gher than the Papifts do, ~1 ~egrn~ that allow no more than a conjetl:ural probability, which may well enough preferve b"tw' ma~ from dcijx1 ir, but yet doth not exclude all fears and doubtings:: But it is no won- ;~ ;£J:;;Je der that they that will not truft their natural renfes in the DoChine of Tranfilb- · ftantiation, fhould not much lcfs truft their fpiritnal fcnfes in the Dofrrine of Arfuram:c. A Chriftian's Affi1rance is many degree above there weak gnelfes, and arr ives a t a far ?;reater certa inty than any demonftration can be, for the evidences of .fcnfe and reafon is not ro cle~r as that of AJfurance is; the teltimony that fenfe and reafon gives is but Humane, but the teftimony ghren in a Chriftia11's Aflhrance is Divine, and therefore is far more certain, and more infallible. The Apoftle groundcth the evidence of AITiirancc upon the Divinity of the Wltriefs, in Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit it frlf (mark that) bet.treth wirnefs with our fpirits rhat we are the chi!drtn of God; what greater ground for Aflilrance can there be than this? The Spirit it felf bearf' th witnefs, and what God fpeaks is infinitely more certain than that which our very Eyes fee; and therefore it is very injnrious to his Truth and Veracity, when he by the fecret and fwect whifperings of his Spirit informs the Soul that it is in a ~ate of Grace, to think that this teftimony on ly gives probable gueffesand conJectures. The witncfs that the Spirit gives is fi1ch a full affitrancc as 1·cmoves all doubts·
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