Berm. LV. in order to 7u/lfcationandSalvation. 3 g 5 and the Devil, than others, which are the Scripture expreflions concerning the degrees ofMens Wickednefs and Impiety. In like manner, they that are more Holy, and more like God, are more the Children of God ; and to be more aChild of God, is furely to be more regenerate, that is, more renewed after the Image ofGod, which confifts in Righteoufnefs, and true Holinefs. So that it is a meer precarious affertion, and evidently falfe to affirm, that Regeneration doth not 'admit of de- grees, and that,pne is not more Regenerate than another. 4th1y, and lastly, They ground this Conceit upon the Do&rine of `the Schools, which teach, that in Regeneration and Converfion all the Habits of Grace are infufed, fimul ds. femel, together, and at once. I confefs I have no regard, much Iris a veneration for the Do&rine of the Schools, where it differs from that of the Holy Scriptures, which fay not one word of infufed habits, which yet are much talk'd of in Divinity ; and to fpeak the truth, thefe words ferve on- ly to obfcure the thing. For to fay that in Conver/ion the habits of all Gra- ces and Virtues are infufed together and at once, is to fay, that in an Imllant Men that were vicious before in feveral kinds, are by an Omnipotent a& of God's Grace, and by a new Principle infufed into them, endued with the Ha- bits of the contrary Graces and Virtues, and, are as Chaft, and Temperate, and Juft,'and Meek, and Humble, as if by the frequent practice of thefe Virtues they had become fo. That this may be, and fometimes is, I am fo far from de- nying, , that I believe it to be fo. Some Men, by an extraordinary power of God's Grace upon their hearts, are fuddenly changed, and ftrangely reclaim- ed from a very Wicked and Vicious, to a very Religious and Virtuous Courfe of Life, and that which others attain to by flower degrees, and great confli&s with themfelves, before they can gain the upper hand of their tufts, thefe ar- rive at all on afudden, by a mighty Refolutián wrought in them by the power of God's Grace, and as it were a new byafs and inclination put upon their Souls, equal to an Habit gain'd by long ufe and cuftom. This God fometimes does, and when he does this, it may in foam fenfe be call'd the inffion of the habits of Grace and Virtue together and at once ; becaufe the Man is hereby en- dowed with a Principle of equal force and power with Habits that are acquir'd by long ufe and pra&ice. A thong and vigorous Faith is the principle and root of all Graces and Virtues, and many have fuch a powerful influence upon the Refolutions of our Minds, and the government of our A&ions, that from this Principle all Graces and Virtues may fpring and grow up by degrees into Habits ; but then this Principle is not formally but virtually, in the power and efficacy of it ; the infufion of the habits of every Grace and Virtue ; and even in thofe Perlons in whom this Change is fo fuddenly, and as it were at once, I doubt not but that the Habits of feveral Graces and Virtues are afterwards at- tained by the frequent pra&ice of them, in the virtue of this powerful Princi- ple of the Faith of the Gofpel, as I (hall (hew in the progrefsof this Difcourfe. And this I doubt was not very frequent and vifible in many of the dril Con- verts to Chriftianity ; efpecially of thofe, who from the abominable Idolatry and Impiety of Heathenifm were gained to the Chriftian Religion. The Spirit of God did then work very Miraculoufly, as well in the Cures of Spiritual as of Bodily Difeafes. But then to make this the Rule and Standard of God'sordi- nary Proceedings in the Converfion and Regenerationof Men, is equally unrea- fonable, as flill to expe& Miracles for the Cure of Difeafes ; and 'tis Certain in ex- perience, that this is not God's ordinary Method in the Converfion ofSinners, as I (hall fully thewby and by. Secondly, I (hall thew what Regeneration is, by which it will plainly appear, that there is no necefiity that it fhould be effe&ed in an infiant, and at once, but ' that it will admit of degrees. I do not deny that it may be in an inflant, and at once. The Power of God is able to do this, and fometimes does it very thoroughly, and veryfuddenly. But the queflion is, whether there be a needity it fhould be fo, and always be fo. Now Regeneration is the change of a Man'sfiate, from a flairof Sin, to afiate of Holinefs; which becaufe it is an entrance upon a new kind or D d d courte
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