THE WORD OF GOD COMPARED TO LIGHT, Book III. cumcife thine Heart and the Heart of fhy Seed, to Jow the Lord thy Gcd with all thine Heart, &c. Deut. xxx. 6. What is this but the putting off the Body of Sin? Col. ii. 11. This IS the immediate Work of the Spint of God, no Man ever CJrcumcifed his own Heart. Anew Heart alfowit!Igiveyou, and anew Spirit will ! put within you, and unll take away tbe flony H'art, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. that is, that Impotency and Enmity which is in our Heans unto Converfion. 5· The Work d Grace upon the Soul is called a Vivijicalion, we are by Nature dead in Sins and Trefpalfes; in our Deliverance from thence we are faid to be quicktned. 'The Dead }ball hear the f/oice of the Son of God and li·ve, bei11g made alive; now n() fuch \,York can be wrought 111 us but by an effeCtual Communication of a Princiole of fpiritual Life and nothing elfe will deliver us. Some think to evade the Power' of this Argument by faying all thefe l:.xprellions are metaphorical, and ar.,uin<> from them is but fullome Metaphors. And it is well if the whole Gofpd be"not 0 a Metaphor unro them.* But if there be not an Impotency in us by Nature unto all Acts of fpirin1al Life, like that which is in a dead M an unto ACts of Life natural, if there be not an a iiko Power of God required unto our Deliverance from that Condition; and the work1ncr in us a Principle of fpiritual Obedience as is required unto the raifing of him that ~ deady they may as well fay the Scripture fpcaks not truly, as that it fpeaks meta· phorically. 6. Believers are faid to be begotten and born again of the Spirit, by which it ap· pears that our Regeneration is not an Act of our own. 1 mean not fu our own as by outward Helps and Alliftance to be educed oui of the Principles of our Nature. Of his owit Will begat he us by the Word of 'fruth, &c. J.ames i. 18. Born again not of corruptible Seed but of incorruptible, &c. I Pet. i. 23. lf/hith were born not of Blood, 11or of tbe Will•f Man, but of God, John i 1 3· 1 his being fo, it behoveth them who plead for an active lnterelt of the Will of Man in Regeneration, to produce fame Tef· timonies of Scripture where it is alligned unto it, as the Effect unto its proper Caufe, where it is faid that a Man is born again or begotten anew by himfelf. And if it be g anted, a<, it muft be fo, unlefs Violence be offered not only to the Scripture, but Re fon and common Senfe, that whatever be our Duty anJ Power herein, yet thefe Exprellions muft denote an ACl: of God and nor ours, Regeneration being thus proved to be the glorious Working and Operation of the rloly Ghoft, we fhall now proceed to !hew further, the Nature and Excellency of Grace as it fhines forth in the Gofpd, and is experienced by every fincere Chriftian. I. Gofpel Grace is glorious, becaufe, when received in Truth, it deliver~ the Soul from Bondage, it breaks the Bonds. For the Soul is not fet at hberty by the bare !bedding of Chrifl.'s Blood, without the Application of it by the Spirit or Infuflon oi Grace into the Heart. 2. The Gofpel through the Grace of it when received in Truth, opens blind Eyes, it makes them fee, that never faw, in a fpiritual Senie, before, it opens their Eyes that were born blind; how blind was Saul till the Gofpel Grace fiJOne upon him or rather in him? 3· The Gofpel through the Grace of it, when received in Truth, raifes the dead Soul to Life. It is hereby we come to be quickened, the Flefh profiteth nothmg, It ts the Spirit that quickencth; that is, the human Nature wit hout t he divme canno_r ac-• compli01 Salvation for us; nor fi>all any Soul rece1ve any favmg Benefit by the Flefh, or D eath of Chrift, unlefs he be qurckened by the Spmt. 4 . [he Gofptl in the Grace of it, when received in Truth,. cafts out that curfed Enrpity th•t :s in the Heart agatnft God, and thereby reconctles the Smner to the bleffed Majelty of Heaven. 5 . The G :ace of the Gofpel works Regeneration, makes the Sinner another Man, a new M "n. It forms the new Creature in the Soul. I. It infufes new ~1alities. 2. lt makes the proud Perfon humble, and not to vaunt hi~ftlf. 3· It m. kes the unckan Perfon chafte, and to lathe lafclvlous Thoughts. 4· lt makes hai'd-hearted Sinners full of Bowels. ·5. It makes the impenitent Soul to bear all Things. • Dr. Owen page '79· 6. It
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