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ful word, to make him plainly see his sin, then he will humble himself and reform it, 2 Sam. xii. 18; Psa. li. 12, 13. The unregenerate are not so.

4. Lastly. A regenerate man may fall one degree further, namely, he may so lose his first love, that he may, though not fall into utter apostasy, yet decline from good very far, even to a coldness and remissness in good duties, even in the exercises of religion, if not to an utter omission of them for a time. The life and vigour of his graces may suffer sensible eclipses and decay. Asa, though a good king, went apace this way, 2 Chron. xv. 17, as appears by his imprisoning the good prophet, and in oppressing the people in his latter days, and in trusting to the physicians, and not seeking to God to be cured of his disease, 2 Chron. xvi. 10, 12. And Solomon, the truly beloved of God in his youth, went further back, 2 Sam. xii. 24; Neh. xiii. 26; giving himself to all manner of vanities, Eccles. ii. and in his old age did so doat upon his many wives, that he fell to idolatry, or at least became accessary, by building them idol temples, and accompanying them to idolatrous services, insomuch that it is said, they turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father, 1 Kings xi. 3 - 20. Yet there is a wide difference between these backslidings, and the apostasies of men unregenerate. For these do not approve nor applaud themselves in those evil courses, into which they are backslidden, when, out of the heat of temptation, they do think of them; neither have the regenerate full content in them, but find vanity and vexation in them, as Solomon did even in the days of his vanity. They do not in this their declined estate, hate the good generally, which once they loved, but look back upon it with approbation; and their heart secretly inclines unto a liking of it, and of them who are, as they once were; so that in the midst of their bad estate, they have a mind to return, but that they are yet so hampered, and entangled with the snares of sin, that they cannot get out. Lastly, They in God's good time, by his