A vindication of some passages in a discourse concerning communion with God from the…

The First is that of Page 131. But however Holiness is Necessary with respect to Sanctification, we have in us a New Creature, 2. Cor. 5.17. This new Creature is fed, Cherished, Nourished and kept alive, by the Fruits of Holiness, To what End hath God given us new Hearts and New Natures? Is it that we should Kill them, stifle the Creature that is formed in us, in the ⟨p. 124⟩Womb? That we should give him to the old Man to be devoured. The Phrase of this is admirable and the Reasoning unanswerable. For if Men be New Creatures they will certainly live new Lives, and this makes Holiness absolutely necessary by the same Reason that every thing necessarily is what it is, but still we enquire after a Necessary Obligation to the Practice of Holiness, and that we cannot yet discover.

The Reader will see easily how this is picked out of the whole Discourse as that which he imagined would yield some Advantage to reflect upon. For let him pretend what he please to the Contrary, he hath laid this End too open to be denied, and I am no way solicitous what will be his success therein. Had he aimed at the Discovery of Truth he ought to have examined the whole of the Discourse, and not thus have rent one piece of it from the another. As to the Phrase of Speech which I use, it is I acknowledge Metaphorical, but yet being used only in a Popular way of Instruction is sufficiently warranted from the Scripture which administers occasion and gives Countenance unto every Expression in it, the whole being ⟨p. 125⟩full well understood by those who are Exercised in the Life of God. And for the Reasoning of it, it is such as I know this man cannot Answer. For the New Creature, whatever he may fancy, is not a new Conversation nor a Living Holily, but it is the Principle and Spiritual Ability produced in Believers by the Power and Grace of the Holy Ghost, enabling them to walk in newness of Life and Holiness of Conversation. And this Principle being bestowed on us, wrought in us, for that very End, it is necessary for us unless we will neglect and despise the Grace which we have received, that we walk in Holiness and abound in the Fruits of Righteousness whereunto it leads and tends. Let him answer this if he can, and when he hath done so, answer the Apostle in like manner, or scoff not only at me but at him also.