OF REGENERATION, 19.5 n ledge ofthe glory ofGod, in the face of Jesus Christ." Did God no otherwise work on the minds of men, but by an externalobjective proposal of truth unto them, to what purpose doth the apostle mention the almighty act ofcreating power, Which he put forth and exercised in the first production of natural light out of darkness? what allusion is there between that work, and the doc- trinal proposal of truth to the minds of men? It is there- fore a confidence not to be contended with, if any will deny that the act of God in the spiritual illumination of our minds, benot of the same nature as to efficacy and efficiency, with that whereby he created light at the be- ginning of all things. And because the effect produced in us is called light, the act itself is described by shin. ing. God bath shined into our hearts, that is, our minds, so he conveys light unto theta by an act of om- nipotent efficiency. And as that which is so wrought in our minds is called light, so the apostle leaving his metaphor, plainly declares what he intends hereby; namely, the actual knowledge ofthe glory ofGod in the face,of.Jesus Christ; that is, as God is revealed in Christ by the gospel, as he declares, ver. h. Having there- fore, (1.) Compared the mind of man by nature with a respect unto a power of discerning spiritual things, to the state of all things under darknessbefore the creation of light. And, (2.) The powerful working of God in illumination, unto the act of his omnipotency in the pro- duction or creation of light natural, he ascribes our a- bility to know, and our actual knowledge of God in Christ unto his real efficiencyand operation. And these things in part direct us towards an apprehension of that work of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of men in their conversion unto God, whereby their depravation is cur- ed, and without which it will not so be. By this means, and no otherwise, do we who were darkness become light in the Lord, or come to know God in Christ sa- vingly, looking into and discerning spiritual things with a proper intuitive sight, whereby all the other faculties of our souls are guided and influenced unto the obe- dience of faith. Sect. 55. It is principally with respect unto the will, and its depravationby nature, that we are said to be dead in sin. And herein is seated that peculiar obsti- nacy,.whence it is that no unregenerateperson doth, or can answer his own conviction, or walk up unto his light in obedience. For the will may be considered two 3C ways. (1.) As a rational vital faculty of our souls. (2.) As a « free principle, freedom- being of its essence or nature. This, therefore, in our conversion to God, is renewed by the Holy Ghost, and that by an effectual implantation in it, of a principle ofspiritual life and ho- liness, in the roomof that original righteousness which it lost by the fall. That he Both so, is proved by all the testimonies before insisted ont (l.) This is its reno- vation as it is a rational vital faculty; and of this viva- cation see before. (2.) As it is a free principle, it is determined unto its acts- in this case by the powerful operation of the Holy Ghost, without the leastimpeach- meat of its liberty or freedom, as bath been declared. And that this is so, might be fully evinced, as by o- thers, so by the ensuing arguments: For (1.) If the Holy Ghost doth not work immediately and effectually upon the will, producing and creating in it a principle of faith and obedience, infallibly determining it in its free acts, then is all the glory of our conversion to be ascribed unto ourselves, and we make ourselves therein, by the obediential actings of our own free-will to differ from others who do not so comply with the grace of God;. which is denied by the apostle, 1 Cor. iv. 7. Neither can any purpose of God concerning the conver- sion of any one soul be certain and determinate, seeing after lie hash done all that is to be done, orcan bedone towards it, the will remaining undetermined may not be converted, contrary to those testimonies of.our Sa- viour, Rom. vit. 28. Matth. xi. '25, 26. John vi. 57. Neither can there be an original infallibility in the pro- mises of God made to Jesus Christ, concerning the multitudes that should believe in him; seeing it is pos- sible no one may so do, if it depends on the undeter- mined liberty of their wills whether they will or no. And then also must salvation of necessity be of " him " that willeth, and of him that runneth, and not of " God that shews mercyon whom he will have mercy," contrary to the apostle, Rom. ix. 15, 16. And the whole efficacy of the grace of God, is made thereby to depend on the wills of men, which is not consistent with our being theworinnanshep ofGod created in Christ Jesus untogood works, Eph. ii. i0. Nor, on this sup- position, do men know what they pray for, when they pray for their own or other mens conversion to God, as Libertas sine Gratia nihil est msi contumacia; non libertas. Au. gust. Epist. 69. 24,
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