A55305:552
The divine will considered in its eternal decrees, and holy execution of them. By…
The divine will considered in its eternal decrees, and holy execution of them. By Edward Polhill of Burwash in Sussex Esquire
London : printed, and are to be sold by Thomas Shelmerdine, at the sign of the Rose-Tree in Little-Britain, 1695
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
8. 32. ennobling the Will with true Liberty in the ways of God. Epaphras was in an Agony of Prayer for the Colossians, that they might be filled in all the will of God, Col. 4. 12. the more filling with God's Will, the more true Liberty in ours. St. Peter clearly asserts, that we are born again of the incorruptible seed of the word, 1 Pet. 1. 23. In which words his plain meaning is, that the Word being intimately sown in the Heart, doth under the warming influences of the ho•• spirit spring up into the new Creature; and to make this the plainer, he adds, that the word lives and abides for ever, speaking (as I take it) not of the Words living and abiding in it self, but of its living and abiding in the new Creature: As it is with natural Seed or Grain sown, the Husk or outward part passes away, but the lively or substantial part springs up into the Stalk, Blade and Ear; so it is with the Seed of the Word, the letters and syllables, the noise and sound of words pass away, but the lively and substantial Truth springs up into the ⟨p. 429⟩new Creature, and in it lives and abides for ever. God made two great Promises of Regeneration, the one, That he would write the Law in the heart, and the other, That he would give a new heart, and the latter he fulfils by the former.
In these two Instants, distinguishable at least in Nature, doth God by his Word bring forth the Principles of Grace. Now here I would conclude this point, but that I am obviated by two Objections.
The one absolutely against the Words Instrumentality.