them that are bound, is proclaimed in the gospel; the Spirit of God comes to open the prison door, opens it, goes to the prisoner, and by the power of his grace makes his chains fall off; breaks the bonds of iniquity, wherewith he was held in sin, so as he could neither will nor do any thing truly good; brings him forth into a large place, "working in him both to will and to do of his good pleasure," Phil. ii. 13. Then it is that the soul, that was fixed to the earth, can move heavenward; the withered hand is restored, and can be stretched out.

2. There is wrought in the will a fixed aversion to evil. In regeneration, a man gets a "new spirit put within him," Ezek. xxxvi. 26. and that "spirit lusteth against the flesh," Gal. v. 17. The sweet morsel of sin, so greedily swallowed down, he now loathes, and would fain be rid of it; even as willingly as one, that had drunk a cup of poison, would throw it up again. When the spring is stopt, the mud lies in the well unmoved: but when once the spring is cleared, the waters springing up, will work away the mud by degrees. Even So, while a man continues in an unregenerate state, sin lies at ease in the heart: but as soon as the Lord strikes the rocky heart, with the rod of his strength, in the day of conversion, grace is "in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life," John iv. 14. working away natural corruption, and gradually "purifying the heart," Acts xv. 9. . The renewed will riseth up against sin, strikes at the root thereof, and the branches too. Lusts are now grievous, and the soul endeavours to starve them: the corrupt nature is the source of all evil; and therefore the soul will be often laying it before the great Physician. O what sorrow, shame, and self-loathing fill the heart, in the day that grace makes its triumphant entrance into it! For now the mad man is come to himself, and the remembrance of his follies cannot but cut him to the heart.

Lastly, The will is renewed with an inclination, bent, and propensity to good. In its depraved state, it lay quite another way, being prone and bent to evil only;

but now, by a pull of the omnipotent, all-conquering arm, it is drawn from evil to good; and gets another set. And as the former set was natural, so this is natural too, in respect of the new nature given in regeneration, which has its own holy lustings as well as the corrupt old nature hath its sinful lustings, Gal. V 17. The will, as renewed, inclines and points towards God and godliness. When God made man, his will, in respect of its intention, was directed towards God, as his chief end; in respect of its choice, it points towards that which God willed. When man unmade himself, his will was framed into the very reverse hereof: he made himself his chief end, and his own will his law. But when man is new made in regeneration, grace rectifies this disorder in some measure, though not perfectly indeed; because we are but renewed in part, while in this world. It brings back the sinner, out of himself, to God as his chief end truly, though not perfectly, Psal. lxxiii. 25. "Whom have 1 in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee." Phil. i. 21. "For to me to live is Christ." It makes him to deny himself; and whatever way he turns, to point habitually towards God, who is the centre of the gracious soul, its home, its "dwelling-place in all generations," Psal. xc. 1. By regenerating grace, the will is framed into a conformity to the will of God. It is conformed to his preceptive will, being endowed with holy inclinations agreeable to every one of his commands. The whole law is impressed on the gracious soul: every part of it is written over on the renewed heart. And although remaining corruption makes such blots in the writing, that oft-times the man himself cannot read it yet he that wrote it can read it at all times; it is never quite blotted out, nor can be. What he has written, he has written, it shall stand; "For this is the covenant--I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts," "Heb. viii. 10. And it is a covenant of salt, a perpetual covenant. It is also conformed to his providential will; so that the man will no more be master of his own process; nor carve out his lot for himself. He learns to say, from his heart,

"The will of the Lord be done; he shall choose our inheritance for us," Psal. xlvii. 4. Thus the will is disposed to fall in with those things, which in its depraved state could never be reconciled to.

Particularly, (1.) The soul is reconciled to the covenant of peace. The Lord God proposeth a covenant of peace to sinners; a covenant which he himself hath framed, and registered in the Bible: but they are not pleased with it. Nay, an unregenerate heart cannot be pleased with it. Were it put into their hands, to frame it according to their mind, they would blot many things out of it, which God. has put in, and put in many things God has kept out. But the renewed heart is entirely satisfied with the covenant, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. "He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; this is all my salvation, and all my desire." Though the covenant could not be brought down to their depraved will; their will is by grace brought up to the covenant: they are well pleased with it there is nothing in it they would have out; nor is there any thing left out of it, which they would have in. (2.) The will is disposed to receive Christ Jesus the Lord. The soul is content to submit to him. Regenerating grace undermines and brings down the towering imaginations of the heart, raised up against its rightful Lord: it breaks the iron sinew, which kept the sinner from bowing to him; and disposeth him to be no more "stiff-necked, but to yield himself. He is willing to take on the yoke of Christ's commands, to take up the cross, and to follow him. He is content to take Christ on any terms, Psal. xc. 3. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.

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Now the mind being savingly enlightened, and the will renewed, the sinner is thereby determined and enabled to answer the gospel-call. So the main work in regeneration is done; the fort of the heart is taken; there is room made for the Lord Jesus Christ, in the innermost parts of the soul; the inner door of the will being now opened to him, as well as the outer door of the understanding. In one word, Christ is passively received into the heart; he is come into the soul, by

his quickening Spirit, whereby spiritual life is given to the man, who, in himself, was dead in sin. And his first vital act we may conceive to be an active receiving of Jesus Christ discerned in his glorious excellencies; that is, a believing on him, a closing with him, as discerned, offered, and exhibited in the word of his grace, the glorious gospel: the immediate effect of which is union with him, John i. 12, 13. "To as many as received him, to them gave he power (or privilege) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Eph. iii. 17. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." Christ having taken the heart by storm, and triumphantly entered into it, in regeneration; the soul by faith yields itself to him, as it is expressed, 2 Chron. xxx. 8. Thus this glorious King, who came into the heart by his Spirit, dwells in it by faith. The soul being drawn, runs; and being effectually called,

comes.

Thirdly, In regeneration, there is a happy change made on the affections; they are both rectified and regulated.

1. This change rectifies the affections, placing them on suitable objects, 2 Thess. iii. 5. "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God." The regenerate man's desires are rectified; they are set on God himself, and the things above. He, who before cried with the world, "Who will shew us any good?" has changed his note, and says, "Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us," Psal. iv. 6. Sometimes he saw no beauty in Christ, for which he was to be desired; but now he is all desires, he is "altogether lovely," Cant. v. 16. The main stream of his desires is turned to run towards God; for-there is the one thing he desireth, Psal. xxvii. 4. He desires to be holy, as well as to be happy; and rather to be gracious than great. His hopes, which before were low, and staked down to things on earth, are now raised, and set on the glory which is to be revealed. He entertains the hope of eternal life, founded on the word of promise, Tit, i. 2,

"Which hope he has, as an anchor of the soul,” fixing the heart under trials, Heb. vi. 16. And it puts him upon "purifying himself, even as God is pure," John iii. 3. For he is "begotten again unto a lively hope," I Pet. i. 3. His love is raised, and set on God himself, Psal. xviii. 1. on his holy law, Psal. cxix. 97. Though it strike against his most beloved lust, he says, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good," Rom. vii. 12. He loves the ordinances of God, Psal. lxxxiv. 1. "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!" Being "passed from death unto life, he loves the brethren," (1 John iii. 14.) the people of God as they are called, 1 Pet. iii. 10. He loves God for himself, and what is God's for his sake. Yea, as being a child of God, he loves his own_enemies. His heavenly Father is compassionate and benevolent. "He maketh his sun to rise on the evil, and on the good; and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust; and therefore he is in the like manner disposed, Matt. v. 44, 45. His hatred is turned against sin, in himself and others, Psal. ci. 3. "I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me." He groans under the remains of it, and longs for deliverance, Rom. vii. 24. "Owretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" His joys and delights are in God the Lord, in the light of his countenance, in the law, and in his people, because they are like him. Sin is what he chiefly fears: it is a fountain of sorrow to him now, though formerly a spring of pleasure.

2. It regulates the affections placed on suitable objects. Our affections, when placed on the creature, are naturally exorbitant. When we joy in it, we are apt to overjoy; and when we sorrow, we are ready to sorrow overmuch: but grace bridles these affections, clips their wings, and keeps them within bounds, that they overflow not all their banks. It makes a manhate his father, and mother, and wife, and children,---yea, and his own life also," comparatively; that is, to love them less than he loves God, Luke xiv. 26. It also signifies lawful affections; bringing them