A95931:97
Words whereby we may be saved. By Thomas Vincent, sometime minister of Maudlins milk-street,…
Words whereby we may be saved. By Thomas Vincent, sometime minister of Maudlins milk-street, London
London : printed for the use of the poor, and freely given to them by some worthy benefactors, who desire their salvation, 1668
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.
5. If you would attain this grace of faith in Jesus Christ, you must labour to act it, looking up to God for help herein; endeavour to cast and roll your selves upon Christ, to apply Christ and his merits, and to rely upon him and his righteousness: It is in your endeavour that God doth work; and here you must endeavour again and again against all opposition which you find from the Devil and your own evil heart of unbelief, which will be ready to carry you away from Christ. So much for the 4th. Direction.
Direction 5. You must get a new Nature, if you would be saved: You must be made partakers of the Divine Nature, if you would be made partakers of this salvation: You have brought unholy and impure natures into the world with you, which must be changed and renewed after the Image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, before you can be in a state of salvation, and see the Kingdom ⟨p. 54⟩of God: This new nature, which is absolutely necessary unto salvation, is begun in the work of regeneration, and carried on in the work of sanctification: In regeneration the work of grace is begun, the habits of grace are infused; a new principle of spiritual life is put into the soul; and sin (which before lived, and had dominion over the man, employing all his members as instruments of unrighteousness, to make provision for the satisfaction of its affections and lusts) doth receive its deaths wound, and loseth its force and reigning power: In sanctification, the work of grace is carried on, the habits of grace are strengthened and increased; the new man doth grow, and the old man doth decline and decay; there is a vivification or quickening more and more of grace, by the influence of the Word and Spirit, and a mortification or subduing more and more of remaining iniquity. What our Saviour tells Nicodemus,