A new impulse–a nobler bent!

A new impulse–a nobler bent!

(Hannah More, “Practical Piety“)

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In salvation, the Holy Spirit operates on the human character to produce a new heart and a new life. By this operation the affections and faculties of the man receive a new impulse . . .
   his dark understanding is illuminated,
   his rebellious will is subdued,
   his irregular desires are rectified,
   his warped judgment is informed,
   his vile imagination is chastened,
   his sinful inclinations are sanctified, and
   his hopes and fears are directed to their true and adequate end.
Heaven becomes the object of his hopes–and eternal separation from God becomes the object of his fears.

His love of the world, is transformed into the love of God.

Thelower faculties are pressed into the new service.

The senses have a higher direction.

The whole internal frame and constitution receive a nobler bent . . .
  his intents and purposes of the mind acquire a sublimer aim;
  his aspirations gain a loftier flight;
  his vacillating desires find a fixed object;
  his vagrant purposes attain a settled home;
  his disappointed heart has a certain refuge.

That heart, no longer the worshiper of the world, now struggles to overcome it.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!
 Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

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We have published the puritan Thomas Vincent’s powerful article, “The Vain Securities of the Wicked!“

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