415 / 504
Regeneration
nota
repetition
of
a
former birth.
C.XV,
tine
and
that
in refpe&
of
the
ads of
finnei
not
the habituall
feed
and
root
of
359
them;
for
in
them
dwells no good;
that
in refpe&
of
thefe qualifications
of
In-
nocency
that
are
in
them by nature Antecedent
to any
Regeneration (all
which
are refolved-into a
Naturall impotency
of
perpetrating
finne)
they
are
accepted
in
Grace and favout
with
God, had
been
another
new
notion,
had not
Pelagius
and
socinus
before
you fallen upon
it
without Faith
it
is
impof
f
ble to
pleaf
God Heb.
I
t.
6.
And
his
wrath
abides
on
them
that
Relieve
not.
lehn
3.
36.
That
Infants have
or
may-have
Faith, and not beregenera-
ted,
will
fcarcely.be
granted
by them who believe
the
Spirit
of
Chrift
to
caufe
Regeneration where he
is
beftowed
Tit.3.
5.
And
all
Faith
to
be
the
Fruit
of
that
Spirit;
Gal
5.
26, 27.
Farther for the
qualifications
of
Infants
by
Nature; how
are they brought
cleane,
from
that
which
is
uncleane
'?
Are
they
not
conceived
in finite
and
brought
font
in
iniquity
?
Or
was
that
Da-
vid: hard
cafe
alone
?
If
they are borne
of
the
flefh,
and are
flefh,
if
they
are
uncleane,
how come
they
to
be
in
that
eflate,
upon
the
account
of
their
Qualifications accepted
in
the Love and favour
of
him, who
is
of
purer
eyes
than
to
beholdiniquity
?
If
this
be the Do&rine ofRegeneration
that
M.
G.
preaches
l
defire
the
Lord
to
blefle
them
that
belong
unto
him
,
in a
delive-
rance from attending thereunto.
Of
the
Effe
&s
of
the
death
of
Chrift,in
re-
fpe&
of
all
children
I fhall
not
now
treat;T
hat they
fhould be faved by C hrift
not
wathed
in
his
Blond,
not
fan&ifyed
by
his
Spirit, (which
to
he
is
to
be
Regenerate,)is another
new
notion
of
the
new Gofpell.
The
Countenance
which Mr
Goodwin
would begge
to
his
Do&rine, from
that of
our
Saviour
to
his
Difciples,
Except ye
be
turnedand
become
as
little
Childrenye cannot enter into the Kingdome
of
God;
reproving their ambition
and worldly thoug its from
which
they were
to
be
weaned
that
they
might
befitfor
that
Gofpell
ftate& imployment whereunto he calledthem,& where-
in they were
to
ferve him,does no
more advantage
him
nor
the
caufe
he
bath
undertaken, than
that
other
caution
of
our
Saviour
to the
fame perfons
to be
wife asferpents
&
innocent as
Doves,
woulddo him
that
fhould
undertake
to
prove
that
Chriftians
ought
to
become
pigeons
or
fnakes: Thus much then we
havelearned
of
the
mind of
M,
G.
by this digreffion;
r.
That
no
Children are
Regenerate;
2.
That
they
are
all
accepted
with
God through
Chrifl, upon
the
ac=
count
of
the
good Qualifications
that
are
in
them;
3.
That Regeneration is
a
mans returing
to
the
Mate
wherein
he
is borne;
And having
taken
out this
Lefton, which we (hallnever learne
by
heart
whiff}
we live, we may now
pro-
ceed.
I (hall only
adde to the
maitre
of
the
bnfinef e in
hand,that
fo
long
as a
man
4.49
is a
child
of
God,
he
cannot,
he heed
not to
repeat
his
Regeneration.
But.
that
one who bath been
the
child
ofGod,fhould
ceafe
to hethe
child
ofOod,
is
fomewhat
{"range.
How
can
that
be done amongft men
?
that
he fhould
ceafe
to
be
fuch
a
mans fonne,
who
was his
fonne?
Thofe
things
that
{land
in
Relation, upon
any
thing
that
is
paft,
and therefore irrevocable, cannot
havetheir
beings
continued, and their Relation diffolved; it
is
impoffible
but
that
caufe
and
effe&
muff
be related one to another;
fuch
is
the
relation
be-
tween Father and
Sonne;
The
foundation
ofit
is
an
a&
pail and irrevocable,
and therefore
the Relation it
felfe
is
indifloluble;
Is
it not
fo
with Cod and
his
Children;
when
they
once ftand
in
that
Relation
,
it cannot be
dif
olved.
But
of
thefe things
hitherto.
To
proceed with
that
place
of
Scripture which
I
laid
as
the foundation
of
4.50.
this difcourfe.
The
generall way
of
Lulls dealingwith the
foule
the
bringing
forth
o
ffn
»e,
whereof there
are
two ads
exprefïed, v.14.
the
one
of
drawing
away,
the other
inticing,
is
to
be
infìfted
on.
Upon
the firJli the
perfontempted
is