374. Of the Nature ofRegeneration, and itsNeceffity, Vol. I r i. The bottom of all that is faid to avoid this preffing difficulty, is this; " that " this impotence and difability of Sinners is their Sin, and therefore cannot be " pleaded in their excufe, for their impenitency; but God may í1i11 juftly re- " quire that of them, which they had once a natural power todo, but wilfully " forfeited and loft it; they had this power in Adam, and forfeited it by his difobedience. To thew how flight this evafion is, I need not run into that Ar- gument, how far we are guilty of the Sin of our firft Parents. That by that firft tranfgreffìon and difobedience all Mankind fuffers, andour Natures are extreamly corrupted and depraved, cannot be denied, but the Corruption of our Natures is a thing very different from Perfonal guilt, ftrietly and properly fo call'd. will take thebufinefs much flamer, and granting that Mankind had in Adam a Natural power tohave continued obedient to the Laws ofGod, yet lince by one Man Sin enter'd into the World, and all are now Sinners, here is an obligation to Repentance, as well as toObedience, and Men [hall be Condemned for their Im- penitency. I ask now, whether in Adam we had a power toRepent ? 'Tis cer- tain Adam had not this power, and therefore I cannot fee how we could lofe it, and forfeit it in him. Adam indeed had not a Natural power not to have finned, and fo not to have needed Repentance ; but nopower to Repent in the fiate of In- nocency, becaufe in that (late Repentance was impoffible, becaufe there could be no occafion for it. He had it not after his Fall, becaufe by that he forfeited all his power to that which is fpiritually good. 'Tis laid indeed he had it in Inno- cency, but forfeited itby his Fall ; fo that he had it, when therewas no occafi- on or poffìbilityof the exercife of it, and loft it when there was occafion for it : or if he did notlofe it by his Fall, we have it (till, and then there is no need of any fupernatural, much lefs irrefsffible grace to Repentance ; fo that our impoten- cy, as to the particular Duty of Repentance, cannot be charg'd upon us as our fault, not fo much as upon the account of Original Sin. But the want of this power is the confequent and juít punithment of our fir(( Tranfgreffion. Be it fo ; but if this impotency till remain in all tltufe to whom God doth not afford his irre /iflible Grace, how comes the Grace offer'd in the Gofpel to aggravate the impenitencyof Men, and encreafe their Condemnation? For ifit be noRemedy againft this impotency, how comes it to inflame the guilt of Impenitency ? Or how is it Grace to -offer Mercy to thofe upon their Repen- tance, who are out of a poffibilityof Repenting ; and yet ro punifh them more feverely for their impenitency after this offer made to them, which they cannot accept without that Grace which God is refolved not to afford them ? If this be the Cafe, the greateft favour had been to have had no fuch offer made to them, and it had been happier for Mankind, that the grace of God had not appear'd to all Men, but only to thofe who (hall irrefíflibly be made partakers of the bene- fit ofit. Secondly, Another Do&vine grounded upon this Metaphor ofa new Creation, is, that we are meetly paJTve in the work ofConverfion, and Regeneration, and contribute nothing to it ; that God does all, and we do nothing at all ; and this follows from the former, efpecially if we allow that Metaphor as far as it will carry us. For as the firft Creation of things was by an irrefsflible a& of Divine Power, fo the things that were made, were onlypave in their Creation ; and as they could make no refrflance, fo neither could they contribute any thing to their being what they are. And this Do&rine is not only argued from the Me- taphor of a new Creation, but from feveral other Metaphors ufed in Scripture to defcribe our Natural State; as namely, darknefs, blindnefs, and our being dead in trefpafs and fins ; from whence it is inferr'd, that we contribute no more to our Renovation, than darknefs doth to the introdu&ion of light, than a blind Mancan do to the recovery ofhis fight, or a dead Man to his own Refurre&ton; but are wholly pave in this work. And to countenance this Notion, they make great advantage of the Chara&er which is given in Scripture of the meft degene- rate Heathen, taking it for granted, that their Condition is the true tandard of a Natural and unregenerate State ; and to this purpofe they infift particularly upon.
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