well unmoved; but when once the spring is cleared, the waters springing up, will work the mud away by degrees. Even so while a man continues in an unregenerate state, sin lies at ease in the heart: but as soon as the Lord strikes the rocky heart with the rod of his strength, in the day of conversion, grace is in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life," John iv. 14, working away natural corruption, and gradually purifying the heart, Acts xv. 9. The renewed Will riseth up against sin, strikes at the root thereof, and the branches too. Lusts are now grievous, and the soul endeavours to starve them; the corrupt nature is the source of all evil, and therefore the soul will be often laying it before the great Physician. O what sorrow, shame, and self-loathing fill the heart, in the day that grace makes its triumphant entrance into it! For now the madman is come to himself, and the remembrance of his follies cannot but cut him to the heart.

LASTLY, The Will is endued with an inclination, bent, and propensity to good. In its depraved state, it laid quite another way; being prone and bent to evil only: but now, by a pull of the omnipotent, all conquering arm, it is drawn from evil to good, and gets another set. And as the former set was natural, so this is natural too, in respect of the new nature given in regeneration, which has its own holy lustings, as well as the corrupt old nature hath its sinful lustings, Gal. v. 17. The Will, as renewed, inclines and points towards God and godliness. When God made man, his Will, in respect of its intention, was directed towards God as his chief end: in respect of its choice, it pointed towards that which God willed. When man unmade himself, his Will was framed into the very reverse hereof: he made himself his chief end, and his own Will his law. But when man is new-made in regeneration, grace rectifies this disorder in some measure, though not perfectly indeed; because we are but renewed in part, while in this world. It brings back the sinner, out of himself, to God as his chief end, truly, though not perfectly, Psal. lxxiii. 25, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee." Philip. i. 21. "For to me to live, is Christ." It makes him to deny himself: and whatever way he turns, to point habitually towards God, who is the centre of the gracious soul, its home, its dwelling-place in all generations, Psal. xc. 1. By regenerating grace, the Will is framed into a conformity to the Will of God. It is conformed to his perceptive Will, being endowed with holy inclinations, agreeable to every one of his commands. whole law is impressed on the gracious soul: every part of

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it is written over on the renewed heart. And although remaining corruption makes such blots in the writing, that ofttimes the man himself cannot read it; yet he who wrote it, can read it at all times: it is never quite blotted out, nor can be. What he has written, he has written it shall stand; "For this is the Covenant,-I will put my laws in their mind, and write them in their hearts," Heb. viii. 10. And it is a Covenant of Salt, a perpetual Covenant. It is also conformed to his providential Will; so that the man will no more be master of his own process; nor carve out his lot for himself. He learns to say from his heart, "The will of the Lord be done, he shall choose our inheritance for us," Psal. xlvii. 4. Thus the Will is disposed to fall in with those things which, in its depraved state, it could never be reconciled to.

Particularly, (1.) The Soul is reconciled to the Covenant of Peace. The Lord God proposeth a Covenant of Peace to sinners; a Covenant which he hath himself framed, and registered in the Bible; but they are not pleased with it: nay, an unrenewed heart cannot be pleased with it. Were it put into their hands, to frame it according to their minds, they would blot many things out of it which God has put in, and put in many things God has kept out. But the renewed heart is entirely satisfied with the Covenant, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, "He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things, and sure; this is all my salvation, and all my desire." Though the Covenant could not be brought down to their depraved Will, their Will is by grace brought up to the Covenant; they are well pleased with it: there is nothing in it they would have out; nor is any thing left out of it, which they would have in. (2.) The Will is disposed to receive Christ Jesus the Lord. The soul is content to submit to him. Regenerating grace undermines and brings down the towering imaginations of the heart, raised up against its rightful Lord: it breaks the iron sinew which kept the sinner from bowing to him, and disposeth him to be no more stiff-necked, but to yield of himself. He is willing to take on the yoke of Christ's commands; to take up the Cross, and to follow him. He is content to take Christ on any terms, Psal. cx. 3, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."

Now, the Mind being savingly enlightened, and the Will renewed, the sinner is thereby determined and enabled to answer the Gospel-call. So the main work in regeneration is done; the fort of the heart is taken; there is room made for the Lord Jesus Christ, in the innermost parts of the soul; the inner-door of the Will being now opened to him, as well as the outer-door of the Understanding. In one word, Christ is pas

sively received into the heart; he is come into the soul by his quickening spirit, whereby spiritual life is given to the man, who in himself was dead to sin. And his first vital act

we may conceive to be an active receiving of Jesus Christ, discerned in his glorious excellencies; that is a believing on him, a closing with him, as discerned, offered, and exhibited in the word of his grace, the glorious gospel: the immediate effect of which is union with him, John i. 12, 13, “To as many as received him to them gave he power (or privilege) to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name; which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of GOD." Eph. iii. 17. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." Christ having taken the heart by storm, and triumphantly entered into it, in regeneration, the soul, by faith, yields itself to him, as it is expressed, 2 Chron. xxx. 8. Thus, this glorious King, who came into the heart by his Spirit, dwells in it by faith. soul, being drawn, runs; and, being effectually called, comes. THIRDLY, In regeneration, there is a happy change made on the Affections: they are both rectified and regulated.

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1. This change rectifies the Affections, placing them on suitable objects, 2 Thess. iii. 5, "The Lord direct your hearts into the Love of God." The regenerate man's desires are rectified: they are set on God himself, and the things above. He who, before, cried with the world, "Who will show us any good?" changes his note, and says, "Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us," Psal. iv. 6. Sometimes

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he saw no beauty in Christ, for which he was to be desired: but now he is all desires, "he is altogether lovely," Cant. v. 16. The main stream of his desires is turned to run towards God: for there is "the one thing he desireth," Psal. xxvii. 4. desires to be holy, as well as to be happy: and rather to be gracious than great. His hopes, which before were low, and staked down to things on earth, are now raised and set on the glory which is to be revealed. He entertains the hope of eternal life, founded on the word of promise, Tit. i. 2. "Which hope he has, as an anchor of the soul," fixing the heart under trials, Heb. vi. 19. And it puts him upon purifying himself, even as God is pure," John iii. 3. For he is begotten again unto a "lively hope," 1 Pet. i. 3. raised, and set on God himself, Psal. xviii. 1. On his holy Law, Psal. cxix. 97. Though it strike against his most beloved lust, he says, "The Law is holy and the Commandment holy, and just, and good," Rom. vii. 12. He loves the Ordinances of God, Psal. Ixxxiv. 1, "How amiable are thy ta

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bernacles, O Lord of hosts!" Being passed from death unto life, he loves the brethren, (1 John iii. 14,) the people of God, as they are called, 1 Pet. ii. 10. He loves God for himself, and what is God's for his sake. Yea, as being a child of God, he loves his own enemies. His heavenly Father is compassionate and benevolent: "he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good: and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust:" and therefore he is in the like manner disposed, Matth. v. 44, 45. His hatred is turned against sin in himself and others, Psal. ci. 3, “I hate the work of them that turn aside: it shall not cleave to me. He groans under the remains of it, and longs for deliverance, Rom. vii. 24, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" His joys and delights are in God the Lord, in the light of his countenance, in his Law, and in his people; because they are like him. Sin is what he chiefly fears; it is a fountain of sorrow to him now, though formerly a spring of pleasure.

2. It regulates the Affections placed on suitable objects. Our Affections, when placed on the creature, are naturally exhorbitant: when we joy in it, we are apt to over-joy; and when we sorrow, we are ready to sorrow over-much: But grace bridles these Affections, clips their wings, and keeps them within bounds, that they overflow not all their banks. It makes a man hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, yea, and his own life also, comparatively; that is, to love them less than he loves God, Luke xiv. 26. It also sanctifies lawful Affections; bringing them forth from right principles, and directing them to right ends. There may be unholy desires after Christ and his grace: as when men desire Christ, not from any love to him, but merely out of love to themselves. "Give us of your oil," said the foolish virgins, "for our lamps are gone out," Matth. xxv. 8. There may be an unsanctified sorrow for sin: as when one sorroweth for it, not because it is displeasing to God, but only because of the wrath annexed to it; as did Pharaoh, Judas, and others, So a man may love his father and mother from mere natural principles, without any respect to the command of God binding him thereto. But grace sanctifies the Affections in such cases, making them to run in a new channel of love to God, respect to his commands, and regard to his glory. Again, grace screws up the Affections where they are too low. gives the chief seat in them to God; and pulls down all other rivals, whether persons or things, making them lie at his feet. Psal. lxxiii. 25, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And

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there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." loved for himself: and other persons or things, for his sake. What is lovely in them to the renewed heart, is some ray the divine goodness appearing in them; for unto gracious souls they shine only by borrowed light. This accounts for the saints loving all men, and yet hating those that hate God, and contemning the wicked as vile persons. They hate and contemn them for their wickedness: there is nothing of God in that, and therefore nothing lovely nor honourable in it. But they love them for their commendable qualities or perfections, whether natural or moral; because, in whomsoever these are, they are from God, and can be traced to him as their fountain. Finally, regenerating grace sets the Affecttions so firmly on God, that the man is disposed, at God's command, to quit his hold of every thing else, in order to keep his hold of Christ; to hate father and mother, in comparison with Christ, Luke xiv. 26. It makes even lawful enjoyments like Joseph's mantle, to hang loose about a man; that he may quit them when he is in hazard to be ensnared by holding them.

If the stream of our Affections were never thus turned, we are, doubtless, going down the stream into the pit. If the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, have the throne in our hearts, which should be possessed by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; if we never had so much love to God as to ourselves; if sin has been somewhat bitter to us, but never so bitter as suffering, never so bitter as the pain of being weaned from it: truly we are strangers to this saving change. For grace turns the Affections upside down, whenever it comes into the heart.

FOURTHLY, The conscience is renewed. Now, that a new light is set up in the soul in regeneration, conscience is enlightened, instructed, and informed. That candle of the Lord, (Prov. xx. 27,) is now snuffed and brightened; so as it shines and sends forth its light into the most retired corners of the heart; discovering sins which the soul was not aware of before: and, in a special manner, discovering the corruption or depravity of nature, that seed and spawn whence all actual sins proceed. This produces the new complaint, Rom. vii. 24, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" That conscience which laid sleeping in the man's bosom before, is now awakened, and makes its voice to be heard through the whole soul: and therefore there is no more rest for him in the sluggard's bed; he must get up and be doing, arise, haste, and escape for his life. It pow