disobedience And in another place That Rom. 8. 13. those who live after the flesh shall die So that 't is for want of Peoples embracing the Means and bringing their Deeds to the Light of Christ in their Hearts and heeding the Reproofs of Instruction Prov. 6. 23. Gal. 6. 8. which is the Way of Life for want of sowing to the Spirit and by it mortifying the Deeds of the Flesh that People are lost and sentenced to Perdition and not because they were personally and inconditionally reprobated from all Eternity God who is Lord of all is 1 Tim. 2. 3 4. gracious unto all and would have all Men to be saved but they disobey the Call of God and reject his Offers and resist the Strivings of his Spirit and are deaf to those Knocks of our Saviour for Reception and Entertainment in their Rev. 3 20. Hearts and chuse and prefer the present World and will not deny themselves to follow Christ 'T is not as these Men say because Salvation was never within their reach if 't were not what must we think Were those feigned Tears then that our Saviour shed over Luke 16. 41 42. Matth. 23. 37. Jerusalem when the Day of its Visitation was over Saying also How often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathers her chickens but you would not not you could not If any Men can be so hardy as to entertain an Opinion so derogatory to the Justice Mercy Love and Paternal Care of God and repugnant to the Gospel-message we cannot but admire what should induce them to obtrude it upon others and urge it as though 't was a necessary Point to be believed in the Christian Religion for we cannot apprehend how this begets love to God increaseth Faith in Christ and raiseth our Veneration for him excites to Diligence and encourages Piety which is that which advanceth true Religion but on the contrary that it tends to the indulging some in a Security and procure in others a slight Esteem of the Death and Sacrifice of Christ as being partial and casts them into Despond and probably may encourage both to gratifie the Desires of their Minds to the full extent since nothing can alter such a supposed Decree of God one way or the other Yet we deny not the Prescience of God who fore-knows all things things past present and to come being at once present to him so that it may be said such who believe in Christ with that living active Faith that works by Love and excites to Obedience and persevere therein unto the end and so knows Salvation by him are in him in whom the Election is before the World began and that those who so believe not but reject the Tenders of his Love and by persisting in Disobedience neglects so great Salvation are condemned already Nor do we deny such a Preference as that some are made Stewards over more and some fewer Talents according to which their Improvement ought to be Where much is given much is required and where less is given less is required for God is just and equal in all his Ways he is not a hard Master that he should exact Matth. 25. 14 to the 28. or expect more than the Improvement of his own Had he that received but one Talent imploy'd it and made it two we doubt not but it had been accepted for we believe that none are from Eternity absolutely excluded without any Talent and that a Day also is afforded wherein 't is possible for them to improve it So that though the Grace may work more powerfully in some than in others yet are all left without Excuse There is yet another Opinion dependant on this which we cannot receive neither as they state it for which our Opposers think very ill of us that is once in a state of Grace and ever so that there is no total or final falling away from Grace How this Doctrine promotes true Zeal and Piety and improves Christianity we can't understand nor see no other reason why its Votaries should be so fond of it but because 't is concordant to that of Personal Election and Reprobation so that those who imbrace the one are bound to believe the other But otherwise certainly it tends rather to slacken than spur on People to that care and diligence and constant unwearied watchfulness to Prayer which our Lord so much exhorted to and the Apostles so solicitously presses the Saints every-where to be found in as of absolute necessity What else means those Promises of Reward in the Revelations to those who should overcome and hold out to the end but to ingage them to a constant Perseverance Or what needed it if 't were impossible for them to fall short who I suppose none will deny to have been in a state of Grace And the Church of Ephesus was threatned to Rev. 2. 5. 3. 16. have their Candlestick removed if they repented not and did their first works and that of Laodicea to be spewed out of his Mouth Who can say those foolish Virgins in the Parable were not once in a state of Grace whose Lamps were once lighted and burning as well as trimm'd or else they could not properly be said to be gone out Or that those were not call'd by Saving Grace Mat. 25. 8. in whose hearts the Heavenly Seed sprung up and for a time prosper'd Luke c. 8. v. 7 8 14 15. 'till the Bryars and Thorns the over-care and concern about the things of this Life choak'd it 't was not that they had no day of Visitation from God wherein they might have wrought out their Salvation had they continued to make the Kingdom of Heaven and its Righteousness their first and chiefest Choice and placed their treasure there and disentangled themselves from those unnecessary Cares the Seed that was sown and sprung up was the very same with that which in the honest heart brought forth fruit abundantly Surely Paul that Great Apostle was not of these Mens Opinion when after he had long laboured in the Gospel takes care to keep under his Body least 1 Cor. 9. 27. while he Preach'd to others he himself should be a Cast-away whom yet we doubt not but they will grant was then effectually called and in a state of Grace And the Author to the Hebrews writing in the third Chapter to those he calls holy Brethren and Partakers of the heavenly Calling Verse the 12th exhorts them to take heed lest there was in any of them an evil Heart of Unbelief in departing from the Living God And again Chap. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring his rest surely then not eternally reprobated any of you should seem to come short of it Verse 12. Let us labour therefore to enter that rest lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief Again Chap. 6. Verse 4 5 6. speaking of those who had been enlightned and had tasted of
and Injunctions to which the Christian Religion obligeth them and to qualify themselves to be rightful Inheritors of those Blessings and Promises pronounced by our Saviour as they tenaciously adhere to this as tho' 't were indeed the Sum both of Mens Duty and Enjoyments and that their Salvation turned upon this very Pin which yet People may perform while their Wills are unsubdued and Lusts unmortified But we find that Men have been apt enough to be busily employed about Mint Annis and Cummin whilst they neglect the weightier Matters to run into and cry up and maintain those exteriour parts of Religion that are reconcilable to an Unconverted State If the Professors of Christianity were less taken up about Signs and Shadows and nice and unnecessary Scrutinies and Distinctions wherewith they perplex it and more devoted to observe the weighty important and indispensable Precepts of Christ and demonstrate the Power that Christianity hath over their Minds by affording signal Instances of their being his true Disciples and righful Heirs of his Kingdom being in measure invested with his Divine Vertues and Graces we should have less Envy Variance Back-biting and Detraction which weakens the common Interest of Piety and gives our common Enemy an advantage over us and more Christian Love Peace Concord and good Neighbourhood amongst us If all that means well did but pursue Vertue love it and encourage it where-ever it appears and hate Vice and Evil in all and discountenance it every where and make these the Measure of their Christian Charity rather than Parallel Opinions in lesser Matters 't would bring us nearer together and more advance True Piety than all their contending about different Apprehensions in things far less essential God who regards not Names but Natures knows among all Nations and People who are his and the Rule he left us to know also was their Fruits their Actions being the exertion of their Wills all Mankind are either under the Power and Conduct of the Spirit of God or else of the Devil all are either Carnal or Spiritual minded and as is the spring and bent of their Desires and Affections so is their Actions each Birth have their proper Products which are contrary to each other So that let what Notions or Opinions soever possess Mens Heads they live according to that Spirit and Principle that governs their Hearts We cannot gather Grapes of Thorns nor Figs of Thistles no Fountain sends forth bitter Water and sweet at the same time 'T is an Evangelical Gal. 5. 19 20 21 22 23 24. Truth Those that live in Envy and Strife and bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh are of their Father the Eph. 5. 9. Devil and those who by the Spirit mortifies those corrupt Lusts and Affections and bring forth the Fruits of of the Spirit adorning the Doctrin of God our Saviour by a sober godly righteous Life are of God for herein 1 John 3. 10. the Children of God are manifest from the Children of the Devil Thus have we candidly though briefly exprest our real Opinion and Belief in those Points in which we apprehend our Adversaries have endeavour'd most to expose us which we hope may prove satisfactory to those who are not resolved to think ill of us but to speak fully to every critical trifling Objection were a tedious Task as well as vastly beyond the Extent of our Design We request our ferious Neighbours to hear and see for themselves and not take things upon trust from others and to judge the things they know not but condemn us by hear-say don 't be imposed upon by those whose peevish humours would have all do like themselves who either look not at all or but very coyly into the Books of those they have taken a Pet against whose Perswasion in some things differs from what they have pronounced Orthodox as tho' Truth were their peculiar inclosure which yet certainly argues either a great deal of Prejudice or a feeble and fleeting Judgment that dares not trust it self Were our Books stuft with such palpable Errors as is suggested surely 't were not so dangerous reading them Who fears to read the Alcharon But on the contrary 't is a strong indication that they contain much truth for as 't is the proper Object of the Understanding so where it appears with a clear Evidence answering to Peoples own Experience 't is very forcible and prevalent upon the Minds of those who diligently seek it for love of it and willingly deposit all preingagements of Mind in its disquisition Be then so just to us and kind to your selves as to relinquish all Prejudice and Prepossessions and impartially examine the truth of these things search the Sacred Scriptures diligently with an inclination rather to find and embrace Truth than to support a received Opinion try whether 't is so or not comparing it with your own Experiences and the Witness of God in your own Hearts Though our Belief in some of these Particulars don 't exactly quadrate to that of our Opposers it don't therefore necessarily follow 't is not agreeable to Truth and Scripture nor can they give us any infallible assurance that their Conceptions are a true Standard of Truth notwithstanding they vend their Apprehensions as the only Orthodox yes and are displeased too with those that can't be decermined by them We have no Design carrying on behind the Curtain howsoever our Sober Demeanour may be uncharitably not to say maliciously insinuated as only a Cover of Sheeps Cloating upon the Wolves Nature and our most Solemn Declaration of our Belief in several Religious Points being undeniable Truths construed and suggested by some Men as only a fair Cover wherewith we guild over our Poyson that it may pass the less suspected and be the more glibly swallowed What think you is not this the heighth of Prejudice and Envy in the abstract Would they themselves be content to be thus interpreted We have no intent to decoy and trapan People that we should walk under a disguise which Intreagues usually have interest at one end of them which can't be our case who neither give nor take Money for Preaching so that the increase of our Numbers will not fill our Coffers We have no other Interest to promote but the Advancement of True Piety and Christianity and having Love and Good-will to all People more especially to those whose Minds are awakened and Hearts warmed having true servent Desires and living Breathings towards God thirsting after a nearer and more satisfactory knowledge of and acquaintance with him than barely a profession and hear-say of him and therefore what we have found advantageous assistant and satisfactory to us in our unwearied pursuit after Peace with him that we recommend to others We call People home to the Gift of God in themselves which only can do them good that every one may know the good Shepheard and Bishop of Souls for themselves and hear and know his Voice in them from that
under the power of him that hath enthrald us and leads Captive at his will Mar. 3. 27 those who lives in the vanity of their minds to know him bind this strong man to spoil his goods and dispossess Mal. 3. 2. 3 and cast him out to know Christ to sit in the soul as a refiner to burn Luk. 3. 16 17. Ro. 15. 16. Joh. 13. 8. 1 Thes 5. 23. 1 Cor. 1. 2 Joh. 14. 23 Heb. 13. 21 up consume and destroy to purify and throughly to purge out whatsoever is contrary to him to wash us and make us clean that we may have rightto a part in him that being cleansed and sanctified he may take up his abode with us exercising his Kingly power and working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure The mind being thus disentangled and having cast off its former yoke the old things being done away all things now become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. Ezek. 36. 26. a new tender heart of flesh according to the promise new thoughts desires inclinations affections words actions this new inside producing a new outside also even throughout a new Creature Mat. 23. 26. now in Christ indeed and really entitled to those benefits that accrue to men through him that living faith that pleaseth God and gives victory Jam. 2. 18 to the end Heb. 12. 2 and is ever fruitful to him in good works being begotten and this work of Redempton and Regeneration thus wrought in the soul by Jesus Christ together with that most precious sacrifice he offer'd up when his Precious Blood Shed upon the Cross for us we believe compleats the salvation of every soul that is thus awakened and made alive and set free by the power Ro. 6. 11. 13. Joh. 8. 36 and spirit of him that is the way the truth and the life of every soul that truly lives to God to walk in that holy way of life truth and peace that was prepared of old for the ransomed Isa 35. 8 9. and redeemed to walk in And we believe that he graciously waits with exceeding great kindness and long suffering that men may repent knocking at the door of every Rev. 3. 20 mans heart freely offering but not imposing his assistance to this most Mat. 23. 37. concerning work and change in the minds of men so that in the day wherein God will judge the world by Jesus Christ and every secret thing will be made manifest God will be justified and clear of the Blood of all Men and every mouth will be stopped and every Man's Condemnation will be of himself for having rejected the day of his visitation wherein God calls to Man and offers to be reconciled to him for resisting the strivings and slighting the reproofs of his spirit Neh. 9. 20. which in matchless mercy he hath given man to instruct him and shew and lead him in the way of life and peace We believe that though the pravity of mans nature in the fall is such that the Natural or Carnal Man that is enmity against God in the state of meer nature minds only the things of the Ro. 8. 5. 7. 8. flesh and naturally brings forth the works thereof and cannot please God nor keep and observe his Laws but is prone to evil yet that those who embrace the visitation of God and are 1 Pet. 1. 23. really regenerated and born again of incorruptible seed by the word of God Heb. 4. 12. that lives and abides forever that ingrafted Jam. 1. 21 word that is quick and powerful and able to save and sanctify the Joh. 17. 17. 19. soul are born into a new life and invested with another and higher power and becomes spiritually minded and by the spirit are set at liberty to walk after Joh. 3. 6. the spirit and bring forth it's fruits and receives ability from the spirit to serve God acceptably being now led Ro. 8. 14. 15. by the spirit of God and become his Children taught of him and through the spirit of adoption receiv'd into their hearts have right to call God Father 1 Cor. â—2 3. Ro. 8. 13. 6. 6. Eph. 4. 22 23. 24. Gal. 5. 24 Col. 3. 9. 10. and Jesus Lord for having through the spirit mortified the Old Man or first Nature with his corrupt and depraved inclinations and evil deeds and put him off having crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof they put on the New and Heavenly Man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness and being renewed in the spirit of their minds they now walk in Ro. 6. 4. 7. 6. Newness of Life and are really in Christ and therefore are changed and become new Creatures and now thinks and acts under the conduct of a principal Superiour to that which formerly governed them having their minds raised to a Region above that of fallen Nature so that now the stream of their thoughts desires and actions runs in another current and the bent of their affections are after those things that are above where Christ is that eye being Col. 3. 1. 2. now open'd that sees a more transcendent beauty and desireableness in the invisible and durable treasures of him than all the transcient felicities of this world can afford And we believe that whosoever expects the blessed imputation of Christ's Ro. 13. 14. righteousness ought thus to put on the Lord Jesus and to be thus cloathed upon and covered with his righteousness and in measure have his Holy Life brought forth in and through them and and know him to enliven and influence their minds and to work in and for Isa 26. i2 Phil. 2. i3 Phil. 4. 13. Joh. i5 5. them and that without him they can do nothing but thro' him that strengthens them they can do whatsoever he commands them that as they abide living branches in him through that sap and vertue they dayly receive from him Joh. 15. 5 8. they are made able to bring forth fruits well-pleasing to God whereby he is glorified For though God the Father accepts us in Christ and for his sake yet is the New-Birth the indispensible Qualification and true distinguishing Mark of those that are really in him He 2 Cor. 5. 17. Gal. 6. i5 1 Joh. 2. 6. 30. 7. 8 9. that is in Christ is a new Creature Old things are past away behold all things are become New John says He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked We ascribe nothing to Man as having any power or ability in or of himself to please God but attribute all power to do that which Joh. 15. 4 5. is good to Christ alone in whom only the Father is well-pleased 'T is through him that men so love and fear God as to eschew evil and work that Righteousness Acts 10. 34 35. which is acceptable to him
of men but expects they should improve those talents distributed to them in not only sending forth the Son of his love to dye for their sins that they should not longer live therein but also in sending Joh. 14. i6 i7 26. i6 i3 Tit. 2. ii 12. forth his Light and Spirit of Truth into their hearts to lead and guide them into all Truth and causing his Grace that brings salvation to appear to all men to instruct and teach them to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts to forsake the Devil and all his Works the Pomps Vanities of this wicked World to rescue and save them from living in the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and help and strengthen them to return to their Obedience and live a sober righteous and godly Life to keep God's Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of their Lives Which gift from God to man the Holy Scriptures plentifully testify to under various denominations as Spirit Light Word Grace Seed Leaven Anointing c. By all which we understand that Spirit or Heavenly Talent with which Mat. 25. 14 15. God hath endowed Mankind in some degree or other that he may profit with it in the improvement whereof by a diligent Co-working therewith to the answering those holy ends for which we receive it we doubt not but to be happy in rendring a good account of our Stewardship and entring finally into the Joy of our Lord. Our opposers themselves also pretend to the spirit and grace of God or else what means their praying for its assistance and those plausible fine-spun discourses of it wherewith they sometimes entertain their Auditory We Charitably hope 't is more real than only to beautify and recommend them to the hearers as what they cannot well avoid for that the Scriptures are so full of that Language and if indeed it be real why is that a fault and error in us which is so sound and ornamental in them And we think it very strange that they should apprehend any incongruity in granting this Divine Principle to be a Divine Light to the mind since its proper Office is to teach and Instruct to manifest and point to us our duty as well as to dispose and enable us to perform it and ought to be our leader and governour If the Tit. 2. 11 12. Joh. 14. 17 24. 16. 7 8 13 14. 1 Joh. 2. 27. godly admonitions and exemplary lives of good men were rightly called lights to the world surely much more properly may this whose fountain is light and does more nearly illuminate and inform the understanding and renders those effectual justly challenge that necessary and acceptable appellation If then the Grace and Spirit of God be in the hearts of men surely 't is not wholly unactive there but will be making some attempts towards accomplishing the end for which 't is placed there 't will be at times attacking the enemies and endeavouring to supplant its contrary which being holy and pure in its nature is never reconcileable to sin and evil but ever strives against it and may as men regard it be infallibly known by the nature of its efforts And we dare appeal even to all mankind whether they find not something placed in their minds and Consciences which though perhaps not regent there yet never mingles with nor Consents to their evil deeds but always remains undefiled and testifies against them and convicts reproves and Joh. 3. 20 21. Ephes 5. 13. condemns them for it and also oft-times in the cooler temper of their spirits manifests their states to them and as 't were reasons with them discovering the evil of their ways secretly calling to them to come out of it begetting desires and inclinations sometimes to seek after God and to make their peace with him Now since man in his meer natural State is Totally dead and fallen from God that he cannot as of himself think a good thought and that God only is essentially good and as that which is truly so must needs proceed from him this principle in us that ever convicts us Joh. 16. 8 13. for vice and evil whether in thought word or deed and disposeth us to consider of our latter end and oft makes Prov. 14. 13. men sigh in the midst of laughter reminding them that for those things they must give an account that draws us heaven-ward and inclines us to vertue and goodness to do to all men as we would be done unto to be just sober merciful temperate c. Must needs be something that is not of us but is pure and immaculate and of a divine nature ever aspiring and raising the mind towards its Original Whence it cannot be a Natural Light or meer light of Nature as very many would have it who yet talk of the spirit of God being in Man for 't is an undoubted truth that no agent can act beyond its own sphere and raise its object to a state more noble than it self nor produce effects of a nature more sublime Job 21. 17. Psal 18. 28. than its own Original Besides 't is very clear and evident from Scripture that the mind of man is oft lighted by a light Superiour to that of meer reason and that man by the utmost power and extent of human reason speculation though he may arrive to implicit knowledg that there is a God yet can never attain to a true spiritual and saving knowledge of God without the Concurrence of a Divine Ro. 1. 19. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Prov. 20. 27. Luk. 24. 45. Joh. 1. 9. Ephes 5. 13 14 17. and supernatural Agent For though the mind of man as a rational Being be that Capacity or Candle that is to be Lighted yet 't is Christ that must so enlighten it as to give us a true discerning of those things that appertain to him and his Kingdom and by adhering and yielding obedience to its discoveries we shall know an Accession of more Light Psal 369 Prov. 4. 18. 1 Cor. 2. 10. to the end And the Apostle speaking of what God by his spirit had revealed to them saith expresly that the spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God and that as none knows the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him so the things of God knows no man but the spirit of God That the natural man neither knoweth nor receiveth the things of the spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned and to that end they had received the spirit which is of God The Light of Nature is occupied about natural Objects those things that are within its own Region acting within its own proper Orb but reaches not to that knowledg of God which is life eternal except our natural powers or human capacity be illuminated by the rays of divine light 1 Cor. 1. 20. for the world by humane wisdom knows not God And Christ saith very
Scripture and with what reason People have derided us for our Belief herein terming it the Quakers Christ as though his manifesting himself in our Hearts were another or distinct from Jesus Christ of Nazareth that is glorified with God the Father in Heaven which we deny For though he be ascended into Heaven and sits at Col. 1. 16. Eph. 1. 23. 3. 9. the right hand of God far above all Principalities and Powers yet is not he so circumscribed but that as by him all things were made and created he is the life and filleth all in all in his Church and People Is the Divinity and Humanity of Christ divided Is not their inseparable Union the true and intire Christ Can then his God-head be present and he who is the Heavenly Man be absent What think you of him that appear'd to John and gave him his Commission to the Seven Churches whom he describes Rev. ch 1. who saith Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the Rev. 3. 20. 2. 23. door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me The same saith I am he which searches the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works Was not this Acts 17. 31. Rom. 2. 16. John 1. 16. the true Christ the Mediator by whom God will judge the World And can he make this near Inspection into the innermost part of the Minds of Men so as no Thought can escape his notice if he be not present there What made Paul desire that our Lord Jesus Christ 1 John 4. 13. might be with Timothy's Spirit if he thought it impossible Do not all acknowledge the Spirit of Christ who is the Anointed to be in his People and is he then absent Is its being a Mystery far beyond our comprehension to conceive how it can be a sufficient Argument that therefore 't is not so Ought we not in such cases to exercise Faith and acquiess in the Testimony of the Holy Ghost exprest in the Sacred Scriptures rather than interpose with our nice and curious Subtilties prying unnecessarily into things that are too high for us remembering that Secret Things belongs to God and that those that know most here know only in part the things that are invisible 1 Cor. 13. 9 12. and see them but as through a Glass Shall Men that neither know themselves nor have any intuitive knowledge of the Essences even of the meanest things wherewith Nature every-where presents us which are obvious to our Senses yet aspire to those more abstruce and undertake to account for that which is beyond the reach of the most pregnant Wits to penetrate We hope it 's no Error to avouch the Power of Christ to be stronger than that of the Devil that he is able really to Gen. 3. 15. bind him to bruise his Head and break his Power to dispossess and cast him out to fulfil to the uttermost the end of his coming to destroy the Works of the Devil and to save those from their sins who shall have true Faith in his Name and Power Surely it 's not inconsistent with Christianity to believe that Christ can or will throughly purge his Floor that he can indeed deliver out of 1 Thes 5. 23. the Prison-house and restore Man out of the Fall to God again and give him power to forsake the Devil and all his Works c. We find it consonant to Scripture and the Gospel-dispensation to believe that those who are regenerated and Rom. 6. 6 7 11. 2 Pet. 1. 4. born again of the Spirit have through the Spirit mortified the first carnal corrupt Nature which cannot please God and if dead and slain and buried too Eph. c. 4. v. 22 23 24. Colos c. 3. v. 9. 10. surely then it no longer lives but the mind is at liberty and restored to act in a new Life to walk after the Spirit and fulfil the Righteousness of the Law the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Rom. 8. 2 4. Jesus having set them free from the Law of Sin and Death which is its Wages 'T is for want of Peoples experiencing this real Birth of the Spirit brought forth and knowing Freedom in themselves by it which no Duties or Performances in the Will of Man nor entertaining of the most resined Opinions in Religion can administer short of the Law of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts 't is for want of this that People are so very apprehensive of difficulty even to impossibility of living a Holy Righteous Life which yet is so necessary to our Salvation that without Mat. 5 8. Heb. 12. 14. it we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven nor see God Nor is the way broader or its passage less strait and difficult than they imagine nay 't is absolutely impossible for them to walk therein while they are immerc'd in their first corrupt unbridled Nature which cannot keep the Law of God while their Lusts and Passions are rampant their Affections inordinate and Wills unsubjected and follows the desires and evil inclinations of their Minds without restraint But if they come to know another Principle and Power to govern their Minds to create in them new clean Hearts to regulate and subject their Wills to subdue and tame their Passions to limit their Desires and direct their Affections and Inclinations wholly after that which is good to meliorate their Spirits throughout and make them heavenly minded having an aversion to all Evil and a great love to Vertue and Goodness Being thus perfectly transformed where is the extream difficulty now for the good Man out of the good treasure of his Mat. 12. 35. Heart to bring forth good things Will not this new well-inclin'd inside that now detests Evil and loves and delights in Righteousness as naturally follow after and bring forth that which is Good as before he did Evil Here is no force upon Peoples Natures but they are converted and throughly leavened in another Nature and are in their measures Partakers of the Divine Nature which only can work the Will 2 Pet. 4. of God We request our piously-inclined Neighbours well and seriously to weigh and consider the absolute necessity there is for every True Christian thus to know their minds moulded and Col. 1. 13 fashioned anew by the Power and Spirit of Christ working mightily in them in order to their pleasing God by a Holy Righteous Life having escaped the corruption that is in the World through Lust and considering that 't is not so soon attained as apprehended in the understanding to be necessary That with all diligence they address themselves to the performing that which is the main and proper business of our Lives Wherefore as it hath pleased the Divine Power to give us all things pertaining to Life and Godliness so let 2 Pet. 1. 3. Tit. 2. 11