Preston - Houston-Packer Collection BX5133.P74 S2 1637

2 2 The Saints 7n firmitie . what is in the power ofwater ; it can moyften, coole,defcend,or the like : but ifyou would have water to heat,to afcend, it muff be by a fuperna- rurall power,and by a fuper -added vertue. And fo take nature,and let it be refined with more ver- tues,and common graces, and i t can doe as much as is in nature. But ifyou would have it love God, or fome fuch higher worke, it cannot doe it ; the water rifeth no higher than the fpring from whence it came : So naturali men can afcend no higher than nature; and therefore for workes of a higher reach,there mutt be firength from above to nerforme them. But what are thofe things whichnature cannot u`fi' fuperficially enable a man to doe ? An fiv, Take the be{h of the heathen,or the beft natural man and meere nature cannot enable him to doe thefe things following. x Firft,it cannot bring him to this,to prefer God before himfelfe upon this perfwafion, that his well -being doth depend more on God, than on himfelfe. Sec ondly,it cannot enable a man to fee fnne,as the greateft evill in the world, and fo to hate it, and to looke upon Chrift, as the greateft good in the world,and 16 to embrace him. 3 Thirdly, nature cannot make a man refolute, not to part with Chrift upon any tearmes, but willing rather to beare the greateft perfecutions on the one fide and to refufe the greateft offers on the other fide,than to part with his Chrift. 4 Fourthly,naturc cannot make a man love God, for

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