N00526:35
Unum necessarium awakenings for the unregenerate. Or, The nature and necessity of regeneration. Handled…
Unum necessarium awakenings for the unregenerate. Or, The nature and necessity of regeneration. Handled in a discourse designed for the service of any that may be thereby assisted in the grand concern of conversion unto God; but especially the rising generation. : With an addition of some other sermons relating to that important subject. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Five lines from Ezekiel]
Boston printed: printed by B.H. i.e for Duncan Campbell, 1693
Title page typeset from the transcription.
AWAKENINGS FOR THE UNREGENERATE. › Proposition 1: The First PROPOSITION.
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.
II. The Change wrought in a Regenerate man, proceeds from a Gracious PRINCIPLE, infused from on high into him. Thus we are told, for so I would now Read it, in 2 Cor. 5.17. If any man be in Christ, there is a New Creature in him. Besides, and beyond all the External Alterations undergone by a Regenerate man, there is, Aliquid intus Existens, a certain something within him, which once he was without; a certain Godly Principle, or, A Principle of Respect unto God, which the Scripture puts various Names upon. There is the NEW MAN, that is, a new posture of Spirit, in the ⟨p. 16⟩Regenerate man, opposed unto the Old man, that is, the old Habit of Sin, and Vice, which he was Born withal. The Regenerate man, has the Branches of good Opinions, and good Practices, to be observed in him: but he has in him also a gracious Principle ▪ called by Job, in Chap. 19.28. The ROOT of the Matter, for them to grow upon. The Regenerate man has the Fruits, of which the Spirit of God is the Author; even the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness; but he hath also a gracious Principle, called by John, in 1 Ep. 3.9. The SEED of God, from whence they do proceed. The Regenerate man has the Streams of much Goodness in his Conversation, whereby is made Glad the City of God, which he belongs unto; but the Source of them is a gracious Principle, which our Lord calls in Joh. 4.14. A WELL of Water springing up to Everlasting Life. The Regenerate man has the Light of those Good Works, which do so shine before men, as that the Heavenly Father is thereby Glorified: but the continual supply thereof is from the gracious Principle which our Saviour calls, in Mat. 25.4. OIL in the Vessel. There is in the Regenerate man, that which is called, in 2 Pet. 1.4. THE DIVINE NATURE; that is, a principle which is Divine for the Original of it, and by means whereof all Godly Operations ⟨p. 17⟩become Natural, or Free, Frequent, Fervent and constant with him that has it. It is not a Gilded but a Quickened Soul, that is in the Regenerate man; his Motion and Action arises from a Life within; and that Life is the Result of his Union with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Life. Poor Soul, see now whether the Spirit of Life in the Lord Jesus Christ, have thus Animated thee. Yea, or No? But a Third Conclusion is then to take hold on the Heel of the foregoing.