202 THE MANNER OF CON Sect. 11.First, Under the ashes of our collapsed nature there are yet remaining certain sparks of celestial fire, consisting in inbred notices of good and evil, of re- wards and punishments, of the presence and all- seeing eye of God, of help and assistance to be had from him, with a dread of his excellencies where any thing is ap- prehended unworthy of him, or provoking unto fain. And where there are any means of instruction from supernatural revelation by theword preached, or the care of parents in private, there they are insensibly im- proved and increased. Hereby men do obtain an ob- jective distinct knowledge of what they had subjectively and radically, though very imperfectly before. These notices therefore God oftentimesexcites and quickens even in them that areyoung, so that they shall work in them some real regard of, and applications unto him. And thosegreat workings about the things of God, and towards him, which are sometimes found in children, are not mere effects of nature; for that would not so act itself, were it not by one occasion or other for that end administered by the providence of God, effectually ex- cited. And many can call over such divine visitations in their youth, which now they understand to be so. To this purpose speaks the persan mentioned_ o, Puer empi rogare te aaxilium et refugium meum, et in tu- « am invocationem rumpebam nodes linguae mete, et ., rogavi parvas non parvo affectu, ne in Schole vapu- « larem." He prayed earnestly to God as a refuge, when he was afraid to be beat at school. And this he resolves into instruction, or what he had observed in others. .a Invenimus homínesrogantes te, et didicimus « ab eis, sentientes tent poteramus esse magnum ali- « quern qui posset etiam non apparens sensibus nostris, as exaudire noset subvenire vobis," lib. 1. cap. 9. And hereunto he adds some general instruction which hehad from the word, cap. 11. And from the same princi- ples, when he was a little after surprised with a' it of sickness, he cried out, with all earnestness, that he might be baptized; that so he might, as he thought, go to heaven; for his father was not yet a Christian, whence he was not baptized in his infancy. Vidisti Domine cum adhuc puer essem, et quodam die pres. 4, sus stomachi Dolore repenterestuarem pene- moritu ., raw, vidisti Deus meus, geoniam custos meus jam eras '« quo motu animi et qua fide baptismum Christi tui, Dei et Domizil mei flagitavi," cap. 11. Such affec- VERSION EXPLAINED dons and occasional actings of soul towards God, are wrought in many by the Spirit. With the most they wear off and perish, as they did with him, who, after this, cast himself into many flagitious sins. But in some God doth in and by the use of these means, inlay their hearts with those seeds of faith and grace, which he gradually cherisheth and increased). Sect. 12.Secondly, God works upon men by his Spirit in outward means, to cause them to take some real and steady consideration of him, their own distance from him, and obnoxiousness unto his righteousness on the account of sin. It is almost incredible to apprehend, but that it is testified untoby daily experience, how men will live even where the word is read and preachedá how they will get a form of speaking ofGod, yea, and of performing some duties of religion, and yet never come to have any steady thoughts of God, or of their relation to him, or of their concernment in his will. Whatever they speak of God, he is not in all their thoughts, Psal. x. M. Whatever they do iat religion, they do it not unto him, Amos V. 25. They have nei- ther heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape, John v. 37. knowing nothing for themselves, which is their duty, Job v. 27. And yet it is hard to convince them that such is their condition. But when God is pleased to carry on his work of light and grace in them, they can call to mind and understand how it was with them in their former darkness. 'l'hen will theyacknow- ledge, that in truth they never had serious steady thoughts of God, but only such as were occasional and transient. Wheretore God begins here with them, and thereby to subduct themfrom under the absolute power of the vanityof their minds. By one means or other he fixeth in them steady thoughts concerning himself, and their relation unto hint-. And there are several ways which he proceedeth in for the effecting hereof: As, Sect. 43. -1. By some sudden amazing judgments, whereby he revealeth his wrath from heaven against the ungodliness of men, Rom. i. 16. So Waldo was affected when his companion was stricken dead as he walked with him in the fields; which proved the occa- sion of his conversion unto God. So the Psalmist de- scribes the affections and thoughts of men when they are surprised with a storm at sea, Psal. cvii. 25, 26, 27, 2E. An instance whereof we have in the mariners of Jonah's ship, chap. i. 5, 6, 7. And that Pharaoh, who
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