357 / 504
A
new
principle
ofObedience bellowed
on Believers,
C.XII.
(as
habits do
to
fuitable a&ings,)
hut
withal/
that
this
principle
is
not
3o1
regulated
and dire&ed
as
our Obedience to God
by
a
Rule, and ftirred
up
to
exert
it
felfè,
and they
in whom it
is,
provoked
by
Rdtionall
and
Confcienti-
ous
conliderations,
to the performance
of
their duty,
in
that
Obedience,
is
fo
contrary to the experience
I
fuppofe
of
all
tharers
with us
in
our
Mortality,
that
it
will
hardly beadmitted into debate.
But
Secondly,the
worn part
of
this
story
lyes
in
the middle
ofit,in
the
exclufi-
on
of
any fuch
Spirituall
principle in Believers,
as
thould carry them
out unto
Obedience,
at
leaf}
to
any fuch
as
is
not begotten
in
their
minds
by Ràt,onall
confiderations ;
What
ever
may
be granted
of
acquired habites
of
Grace
(which
that
the
firft
should
be,
that
a
Spirituals
habit
thould be
acquired
by
natural/
a&ings,
is
a mot}
ridiculous
fi
&ion,)
all infufed
Habits
of
Grace
that
fhould
imprint upon
the
foule
a
new naturall inclination
to
Obedience,
that
fhould
fathion
and frame the hearts
of
men
into
a
(fate
and Condition fuited for,and
carry them
out unto
Spirituali
Obedience, are here
decryed
; All
it
feemes
that
the Scripture bath told
us
of
our
utter
Infix
f
ciency, Deadnef/e,
Difibility
& indifpofedneffe
to
any
thing
that
is
good,without
a m
Life
and
principle,
all
that
we
have apprehended, and
Believed
concerning the
neiv
Heart, and Spirit given us,
the
new
Nature,
asW
Creature,divine Nature,
inward
man,
Grace
in
the
Heart,
making
the Roote
good
that
the Fruit may he
fo
:
All
that
the
Saints
have expreflèd concerning
their
Delight
in
God,
Love
to
God upon the account
of
his
writing
his Laws
in their
hearts
and
Spirits,
is
a
meere
delufon.
There
is no principle
of
any
Heavenly,
Spiritual! Life,
no
new
Nature
with
its
bent
and
inf?cin&
lying
towards God and Obedience
to
him wrought
in
the
Saints,
orbefiowed
on
them
by
the
Hay
Spirit
ofGrace;
If
this be
fo we
may even fairely
Phut
our
Bibles,
and go learne
this new
Gof-
pell
of
fuch
as
are able
to
inflru&
us
therein;
Wherefore!
fa
y
Thirdly, that
as in
Children
there
is
an
inflinc`l,
an inclination
of
nature,
to
induce
theta
and carry them
out to
Obedience to their naturall Parents,
which yet
is
direaed,
regulated, provoked, and flirted
up, and
they
thereby,
to that Obedince,
by Motivesand
Confederations fuited
to
worke upon
their
Minds
and
Confciences,
to
prevailewith them thereunto,fo alto
in
Believers;
the Children
of
God
who
are
begotten
of
the
will
of
God
;of
the
Word
o
fTruth,
and
borne
againe not
of
the Will
of
the
flefh
but
Of
the
Will
of
God,
there
is a
new
Spiritual)principle,a
conflitreting
principle
of
their SpirituallLives wrought &
implanted
in
thé by the
Spirit
of
God:a
principle
of
Faith,Love,enabling
thé
for,fuiting them
unto,&
inciting them
to that
Obedience
which
is
acceptable
and
well pleafing
to their Father
which
is
in
Heaven:
In
which
Obedience, as
they are regulated by the
Word,
fo
they are
flirted
up
unto
it
by
all
thole
motives,
which
the Lord
in
his
infinite wifdome
hath fitted
tó
prevaile
on
per
-
fonsindued with
fuch
a
principle from himfelfe,
as
they
are
It
is
not
incum-
bent
on
me
to enter
upon
the
proofe and demonffration
of
a
Title
to
a
Tr
uth,
which
the
Saints
of
God have held
fo
long in unqueffioñable
poffeflìon,
no-
thing
at
all
being
brought to invalidate it,
but
obey
a
bare
infinuation
that
it
is
not
fo.
Then
Fourthly,
I deny
not
but that
the
Saints
of
God are
flirted
up
to
Obedi
ence,by all
theCoii1derations and indutements
which
God
layés
before
them,
and
propofeth
to them,
for
that
end &
purpofe,And
as
he bath fpread
a
principle
ofobedience over
their
whole
foules,all
their
Facultyes
& Affe&i-
ons,fo he
bath provided
in
his
Word;motives
&
inducements
to
the Obedience
he
requires,
which
are fuited unto,
& fit
to worke upön
all
that
is
within
them
(as the
Prophet
fpeakes)
to
live
to
him;
Their
Love,Feare,Hope, Deliresare
all
managed within,
and provoked without
to that
end and pnrpofé.
But
how
Q.
9
3
it