Verf. 17. the fixth Chapter to the Rom A r s, 119 tier, and of all the truth which thou hai!hewed unto thy fervant, for with my flaff I pa /d over this yordan, and now I am become two bands. It would cure the Pride of many, if they would remember their mean Originals , and how like the Hopfta}k, they mount up and grow out of the very Dunghil. God folemnly injoyned hit People, when they injoyed the plenty of the Land, to remember the obfcure beginnings of their being a Nation ; and therefore when they offered the Firftfruits, they tired this Confeffron, Dent. 26. 5. A Syrian ready to perifh was my Father , when he went down to Egypt , and fojoarned there with a few men, and became a Nation great and mighty and populous. Thus God taught them to acknowledge, that their fir[t Eftate and Original was molt wretch- ed and mtferable 5 and fo muff we. It holdeth more in moral things, Eph. 2. I, 2, g, #, 5. And yon bath he quickened, who were dead in tre ffais and (ins, Wherein in time paff ye walked according to the courfe of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air , the Spirit that now worketh in the ebildren of difobedience. Among whom alfo we all bad our converfation in times pall, in the luflr of ourflejh , fulfilling the delres of the flefh; and of the mind , and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. Bat God who is rich in mercy, for hi* great love wherewith he loved ur, Even when we were dead in fins', bath quickened as together with Chrifi. a Tim. r. r3. Who was before a blafhemer and a perfecutor and injariona. But I obtained mercy, ñìsss9nv all to be mercied. That God fhould take us with all our faults , and bring us into a better condition , how dotti this heighten the Mercy ! Secondly, To quicken us to more diligence in our prefent Eftate. He that hath been a diligent Servant to an hard and cruel Matter , from whom he could not expel any re- compence worth his Toil, furely fhould be diligent and faithful in the Service of a lo- ving, gentle, and bountiful Matter. This is urged, Rom. 6. rg. Ar you have yieldedyour members fervant, to uncleannefi, and to iniquity unto iniquity, even fo now yield your mem- bers fervant, to righteonfnefr unto holinefr. And it is illuftrated by fiveral Scriptures, I Cor. 15. 9, t o. .1 am the leafl of the Apoflles, and am not meet to be called an Apofile, becaufe I pert cuted the Church of God. Bret by the Grace of I am what I am, and his grace that mss bellowed upon me, was not in vain ; bat I lahoured more abundantly than they all. And Alf 26. It. I punifhed them oft in every Synagogue, and compelled them to blaf heme , and being exceedingly mad againfi them, I perfecuted them even to firange Ci- ties. Thirdly, To make the reality of the Change more evident. There isa great Change wrought in thofe who are brought home to God ; it doth much hurt to Believers in judging of their own Cafe , to forget what they once were , whereas comparing thefe two, what they are, and what they were, would boner bring it to an iffue, and make the change more fenftble and evident. The Scriptures often direl us to this method, Col. I. 2 t. And you that were fometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now bath he reconciled. Eph. 2. r3. But now in Chrifi Jefur, ye who fometimes were far of, are made nigh by the blood ofChrfi. And Eph. 5.8. re were fometimerclari- net?, bat now are ye light in the Lord. Our gradual progrefs in Holinefs is more infenfi- ble, and therefore we may overlook the mercy, becaufe we fee not fuch eminent effets, as we found at firft. But all that belong to God may fee a Change, and fay as the blind man, fob. 9. 25. This one thing I know, that whereas Isms bli,td, I now fee: they may fee plainly, they are not the fame men they were before. But when men forget the Eftate they were once in , and the great change the Spirit wrought in them, and feel not fuck alterations continually, they live in doubtfulnefs and darknefs. As our forget- ting our poverty and of liaion, maketh us undervalue a more plentiful condition , and thofe comforts which we would account a wonderful mercy before ; or as when reco- vered and in health , we forget the tedioufnefs of ficknefs , and are not thankful for the comfortable days and nights we enjoy, w hen we go about our bufinefs , and fleep with- -out pain. So we undervalue the prefent (late of Grace, by forgetting the unfruitful works of darknefs, or the evil difpofitions and prances of our Unregeneracy, and have not filch comfortable apprehenfions of the mercy , which the Spirit of God (hewed in our Cure. Cannot you remember when it was once much otherwife with you ? that you are not now the perlons you were then. 2. Here is a Defcription of their prefent (late by Grace, which deffrveth to be weigh- ed by us. In it I obferve, r. That the Dotrine of the Gofpel is in Converfion imprinted on them ; for it is laid, That they have obeyed from the heart the form f Dorine into which they were delivered. Their very heart and Soul was modelled according to the Tenor of the Gofpel , and the Truths revealed therein. I. I will
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