THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED, N'C. 157 stance of what we contend for is granted, as we shall ple which we receive its our regeneration: " for all which ends we ought to pray for him, according to the example ofholy men of old. be ready at any time to demonstrate. It is true, God doth command us to circumcise our hearts, and to make them new. But he doth therein declare our duty, not our power; for himself promiseth to work in us what he requireth of us. And that power which we have, and do exercise in the progress of this work in sancti- fication and holiness, proceeds from the infusedprinci- Jam divini amor Numinis, Fatrts Omnipotentis protisquebeatissima sancta communicatio; Omnipotens paraclete Spiritus; Merentium con- solator clementissime, jam cordis nei penetratibus potenti iltabere jr. tute, ettenebrosa queque taris neglecti tatibula, corusci luminis fulgore pins habitatorlwtifieu, tuique rorisabundancia,longs aniditatis marcentia squalor e, visitando fecunda. THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED IN THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. CHAP. V.I. The outward means and manner ofconversion to God, or regeneration, with the degrees ofspiritual operations on the minds ofmen and their tffects, exempted inthe conversion ofAugustine, as the account isgiven thereof ly himself.. AS amongall the doctrines of thegospel, there is none opposed with more violence and subtilty, than that con- cerning our regeneration by the immediate, powerful, yeffectual-operation of the Holy Spirit of grace; so there is not scarce any thing more despised or scorned by many in the world, than that any should profess that there bath been such-a work of God upon themselves, or on any occasion declare ought of the way and man- =ner whereby it was wrought. The very mentioning hereof is grown -a derision among some .that call them- selves Christians; and to plead an interest or concern in this grace, is to forfeit all a man's reputation with many who would be thought wise, and boast themselves to be rational. Neither is this a practice taken up of late in these declining times of the world; but seems tohave been started and followed from days of old, possibly from the beginning: yea, the enmity of Cain against Abel was but a branch of this proud and perverse -in- clination. The instance of Ishmael, in the scripture, is representative of all such as under an outward pro- fessionof the true religion, did or do scoff at those who being, as Isaac, children ofthepromise, do profess and evidence an interest in the internal power of it which they are unacquainted withal. And the same practice may be traced in succeeding ages. Hence.holy Austin, entering upon the confession of his greater sins, design- ing thereby to magnify the glory and efficacy of the grace of God in his conversion, provides against this scorn of men, which he knew he should meet withal. ti Rideant," saith he, " me arrogantes et nondum salts- " briter prostrati et elisi per. to Deus meus, ego tarnen " confiteor tibi dedecora mea, in laude tua; Confess:" lib. 4. cap. t, " Let arrogant men deride or scorn me, who were never savingly cast down nor broken in pieces by thee, my God, yet I will confess my own shame " unto thy praise." Let none be offended with these expressions of being savingly or wholesomely cast down and broken -of .God; for, in the judgment of titis great person, they are not fanatical. We may not therefore think it strange, if the same truth, the same practice and profession of it, do still meet with the same enter- tainment. Let them deride and scorn it, who were never humbled savingly, nor brokenwith a sense of sin, nor relieved by grace; the holy work of God's Spirit is to be owned, and the truth to be avowed as it is in Jesus. Sect. 2.Of theoriginal depravation of our nature, wehave treated so faras is needful unto ourpresentpur-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=