An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…

An unregenerate man,¹ let him go never so far, do never so much; yet, as long as he is in his old Sphere, in corrupt unregenerate nature, he lives in some one sin or other; in an unregenerate heart, while such, Gods throne is not, cannot be, and therefore sins must be there: Such an heart, as yet not elevated by Grace to the true and immense goodness which is above, hunts after an happiness in the lower Sphere of its self and the world, embracing some vain Image or Shadow instead of a Deity: The young man in the Gospel, for all his smooth, innocent life, had yet a regnant World within. Trajan and Antoninus the Philosopher, as fair Moralists as they were, were yet enemies to Christianity: But a regenerate man, however he groan under the indwelling sin, doth not indulge his lusts; his heart, having found out God the true centre of Blessedness, ⟨p. 563⟩rests no where else: But, saith Mr. Shepherd, an unregenerate man cannot be poor in spirit, and so carried out of all duties to Christ. Upon which, saith the Author, if an unregenerate man do good, he is conscious to himself that he doth it; if he have a good heart, he feels it: And is it so indeed? If an unregenerate man may have a good heart, and do that which is truly spiritually good; Regeneration is altogether useless, internal and supernatural principles of Grace are to no purpose: Nature, though lame and lapsed, may do its own work: But I suppose rather, that all this in the unregenerate, is but pride and presumption; his feeling a good heart in himself, but a lye and imposture. But, saith the Author, the regenerate man is either to have no good in himself, or to think he hath none, either of which is an odd sign of Grace. To which, I answer; To be a regenerate Man, and to have no good in himself, is not possible, to think he hath none, if he know he hath some, is as little possible as the other: The regenerated man hath a Divine Life and Principle in him; yet, by reason of inherent corruptness, sees little or nothing in himself; and is ever in dependence upon the treasures ⟨p. 564⟩of Grace in Christ. An unregenerate man may come to Christ in Profession or Ordinances, but not in believing: He takes not up his rest in Christ: He would, saith Mr. Shepherd, like Judas, have Christ and the bag too: Or, as the young man, have Christ and the world too: He would live in his Lusts;