I shall now shew you how God thus appearing to us in hearing the Word does open the heart enlighten the mind and throughly perswade the will to a through closure with Christ upon Gospel Terms Naturally our hearts are shut up against the Gospel our Minds are blinded 2 Cor. 4. 4. till God shines into our hearts to give the light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ver 6. Enlightning the eyes of our Understandings Eph. 1. 17 18. Quest. What is this Light of Faith and how does it differ from the Light of Reason Answ. The Light of Reason lies in the evidence of the thing it self as it falls under a Humane Understanding arguing from the cause to the effect drawing certain conclusions from undeniable premises granted and acknowledged by all men to be Truths in Nature Upon such Concessions they build all their acquired Knowledge and do put the stamp of Truth upon all fair inferences from thence which they judge agreeable to those first principles and notions of Truth that pass for currant under that name among credulous men who do but think they know and do rather ghess than judge so great is the uncertainty of all humane Knowledge we have little cause to glory in it The light of Faith lies in the infallible certainty of Divine Testimony faith sees not the causes of things in the things themselves but in God alone to whom all things are possible faith excells all other knowledge in as much as it sees and knows all things in their first Cause God and takes hold of them by the very root from whence they first spring arguing from the Veracity of God to the Truth of all his sayings we know that God has spoken thus and thus as Ioh. 9. 29. we know the Doctrine is of God Ioh. 7. 17. and that no prophesie of the Scripture is of private Interpretation 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. under this conviction we cannot but yield the obedience of faith to every word of God I do not deny but experience may and does give Believers some Evidence of the things themselves but this belongs rather to their after Edification then to the first act of Faith in their Conversion by which they close in with Christ upon the credit of a bare word of promise from him who cannot lie Object Since these sublime supernatural Misteries of the Gospel are so much above and so seemingly contrary to humane Reason how comes it to pass that any man should own them for Truths and be brought under the power of them Answ. 'T is by a Divine Faith I call it Divine because 't is the work of God that we believe his Testimony Ioh. 6. 29. Quest. Does not this Operation of God upon the Hearts of men in working faith in us offer violence to mans Nature and force the Will to consent to that which is above the Understanding Or how can the efficacy of Gods Grace in determining Mans Will to such a Spiritual Act of Faith in Christ Jesus be consistent with the liberty of the Will. Answ. Many intricate disputes there are about this Point managed by subtil heads not without some shew and appearance of Reason who to secure the liberty of Mans Will have denied the efficacy of Gods Grace placing the power of believing in man himself to avoid the force that otherwise they think must be offered to his Will. But to clear the efficacy of Gods Grace from this imputation I need say no more but this viz. That the Grace of God enters the Soul of man as a New Nature and therefore cannot put any force upon him Nature works kindly in all by Inclination not by Violence as Nature is from Generation so the new Nature is from Regeneration one is the birth of the Flesh the other of the Spirit as we are born Men by our first birth so we are born Christians by our second birth Artificial Christians are all name without any living Nature answerable to it being not truly born of God and thereby made partakers of his Divine Nature The breathing in of this new Nature into the Soul of man by the Spirit of God is that new Creation spoken of in the Gospel 't is the first Act of God in our Conversion 't is solely the Act of God without any concurrence of ours we have only a passive obediential power to receive the impression 'T is God that makes it upon this supernatural Principle are grounded all after proceedings in bringing the Soul forward to an actual closure with Christ all the natural powers and faculties of the Soul are gathered into this supernatural Principle do act under it are moved by it and directed in all their free motions to a supernatural end which they could not of themselves tend unto and let it not seem incredible to us that God should do this he can do no evil from the perfection of his Nature and for the same reason all good must needs be in the power of his hand the greatest good that can be done to fallen Man is thus to restore him In this new Nature are wrapped up the seeds of all Grace which by the efficacy of the Spirit are drawn out into act with the free consent of Mans Will Should God determine the Will of Man to a good act whilst it is in a bad state and under a corrupt nature this would imply force and violence but to lead out a man according to his new Nature is not to put a force upon him If Sin had that efficacy upon Man in his perfect state to encline his Will to Evil why should not Grace have the like efficacy upon Man fallen to encline his Will to good Though an inclination to Evil in Man standing was possible from the liberty of his Will in which he was created yet such an actual inclination was inconsistent with his perfect state and left such an inherent crookedness in his perverted Nature that nothing but Grace can rectifie and make streight again What is a principle of Grace but liberty to Good restored to fallen man from whence an actual inclination to choose what is good do's follow of course when God calls and excites him thereunto here is no force put upon mans Will it acts freely in the choice of good and it cannot be otherwise since Grace enters as a new Nature ingenerating a powerful Principle of Holiness in the Soul that do's incline a man freely to comply which the efficacious grace of God exciting him to those acts of Holiness so agreeable to the Nature of the new Creature as Sin reigns unto Death so Grace will reign through Righteousness unto Eternal Life Rom. 5. 21. Shall not he that raises the dead be able to quicken a dead Soul but we are more sensible of that power that God puts forth upon the bodies of Men then of that which he puts forth upon their Souls that you may know that the Son of man
New creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. To have Christ formed in us Gal. 4. 19. To be quickned Ephes. 2. 1. Baptized with the Holy Ghost Mat. 3. 11. To be renewed in the spirit of our mind Ephes. 4. 23. These are Scripture-expressions of a great depth of a high signification which if well studied and pondered in our hearts seriously and often prayed over will give us more light into the Mystery of Regeneration than the tongue of Men and Angels can utter none can open these Scriptures to you but the Holy Ghost tho Ministers cannot bring down these Scripture expressions to man's Understanding yet the Spirit of God can lift up man's Understanding to some discerning of the mind of Christ in them by shining in our hearts the light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Christ. We see how much Glory and Honour is derived to us by God's being the Author of our Regeneration I will now look a little further into this Mystery Regeneration is our passing over into Christ into his Life Nature and Spirit they who are thus joined to the Lord are one Spirit Christ is their Life being united to Life it self they must needs be quickned by it it is present death to be separated from Life it self in Regeneration Life doth not so much enter into us as we into it and being once born of God we gradually enter further and further into his Life till all Mortality be swallowed up of it Thus Grace reigns through Righteousness unto Eternal Life and this Eternal Life is God there is but one Eternal Life when we are in him that is true in him that is Eternal this is life eternnl John 5. 20. Therefore to be in Christ and to be a New Creature is all one All Creatures that have breath live move and have their Being in God yet they are not so in God as the New Creature is in Christ God as a Creator bestows a Creature-life upon man distinct from his own Eternal Uncreated Life and man having this natural root of his own from the God of Nature grows up by himself with all the specifical Properties belonging to his kind whereby he is distinguished from his fellow-creatures he stands forth at some distance from God yet under the general influence of his Providence without which no creature can subsist But in Regeneration God does not only breathe the breath of life into us making us living souls but breathes his own quickning Spirit into us that we may live the very life of God in our measure 't is one thing for God to give forth something virtually from himself as he does in our first Creation another thing to give himself really unto us as in the second Creation God as a Redeemer raises up a new Creature in himself partaker of his own Divine Nature Life and Spirit this life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. and cannot in the Root and Principle of it be distinguished from God himself Christ is our Life which according to our finite capacity as Creatures we partake of the new Creature is but a Creature for all this though quite of another make constitution and original from all the first Creation and therefore called a new Creature standing in a nearer union and conjunction to God so born of him as no other creature is all Creatures are made by him non born of him but the new Creature as Christ took part of our Flesh and Blood in his Incarnation so we partake of his Divine Nature in our Regeneration as the soul is the life of the body so the spirit of Christ dwelling in us is the life of our souls acting them in a supernatural way we live the life of God which we were estranged from knew nothing of in our unregenerate state 't is not we that live but Christ living in us Gal. 2. 20. Because I live you shall live also John 14. 19. Christ in us the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Till Christ be formed in us we cannot be said to be born of God a spirit of life must first enter into us from Christ and how does this spirit enter Not as a separate Principle from Christ but in and with Christ Jesus the spirit of life in Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. Have a care of leading a separate life from Christ in the strength of your own Graces for they are but streams issuing from the Fountain of Life in Christ Jesus and will quickly dry up if not continually fed by the Fountain Branches cannot bear fruit if they abide not in the root as the life of the branches is in the root of the tree so our life as new creatures is radicated in Christ he is the root that bears us under all our deadness and dulness we should go to Christ for fresh quicknings many times we seek for life in our selves and can feel none but if we would seek for it in Christ and come up closer to him how reviving would that be animus cum sole redit so get but under this Sun of Righteousness you 'l quickly find healing your spirits will return your cold frozen hearts will grow warm the fire will burn within ere you are aware what is a state of death but a state of alienation from Christ who is our life Eph. 4. 18. Put him on then and wear him next your hearts let him but stretch himself all over your dark dead souls as the Prophet did over the dead child 1 Kings 17. 21. 2 Kings 4. 34 35. and life will return you 'l find a sudden Resurrection a fresh vigor of spirit will suddenly come upon you if ever you would be quickned it must be by Christ and with Christ who hath quickened us together with Christ Eph. 2. 5. What do you alone without Christ No wonder you are in a dead frame while you are musing upon what you are in your selves while you are in this solitary condition wandring up and down without Christ let Christ and you come once together and there will be life there will be strength there will be another Spirit in you If God be the Author of Regeneration let not the Eunuch say I am a dry tree all things are possible with God who can raise up children to Abraham of stones I would have none despair of becoming the Children of God who do sincerely desire it and long for that day New Births are sudden things I am perswaded they will be so towards the end of the world when a Nation shall be born in a day and sinners be converted by thousands as in the Apostles time Now we travel in birth a great while with one and another many pangs many throws yet they stick in the place of bringing forth we prophesie over dry bones but no ratling no coming together no spirit of life yet entring into them they stick in the place of bringing forth how many
of the Mind of God made to them in any point of Doctrine which they were not so clear in before or at least did not take so much notice of before 'T is observable how strangely the Saints are affected and that on a sudden with some old known truths which they have a long time owned and professed but never found them so warm upon their hearts before their hearts do glow and burn within them What is this but the hand of the Lord with them at such a season letting in his Word with power upon their Souls 5thly The Doctrine of Faith laid down in the Word cannot be taken into the Soul but by the Grace of Faith no other principle will admit it The things of God knoweth no man but by the spirit of God. That this living principle of the Grace of Faith in the heart may be exactly suited to the Doctrine of Faith in the Word God has ordered it that one should beget the other to prevent all strangeness between them that they may the better fall in with each other 6thly The Word as 't is the means of Regeneration is called the Word of Life Life is promised to the hearing of it 'T is therefore called the word of life because 't is the Word of Grace in distinction from the first Covenant which neither expressed nor intended any pardoning Grace to a sinner All the Words of the Bible from the 3d of Genesis to the end of the Revelations are words of Grace tho there is frequent mention of the Law of the Curse of it of fearful denunciations of wrath against sinners yet the end of all is to stir us up to accept of the Grace of the Gospel A pure Covenant of Works exclusive of all Grace is no where spoken of but in the 2d of Genesis where God places Adam under that Covenant before the formation of Eve And the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden and the Lord God commanded the man saying Of every tree thou maist freely eat thou thou c. Here was none but God and Adam at the making of this Covenant Eve was no doubt afterwards informed of it by her Husband as appears Gen. 3. 2 3. where she repeats over that Covenant to the Serpent Were not the Word of the Gospel a word of Grace there would be nothing for the Faith of a sinner to lay hold on no virtue nor power in it to beget life in a dead sinner The life we have by Grace differs from the life Adam had at his first Creation that came in with his first being this is life from the dead life given after the forfeiture of life which is an act of mere Grace To raise Man out of the dust of the earth and to make him a living reasonable creature was an act of God's Power and Soveraign good pleasure But after the fall to give him a new life after he had chosen death and sunk himself under the power of it What can this be ascribed to but those Bowels of infinite compassion in God to Man He was not willing that Man should die but live and therefore fixes him in a state of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus Since a creature-life was so uncertain God joyns Man to himself in one Spirit takes him into his own Life that he may live for ever Because I live you shall live I am resolved not to live without you my delight is among the Children of men I have chosen you from Eternity to be my Associates and Friends to be about my Throne and to have fellowship with me for ever 7thly There are as many instances of the Power of the Word in Regeneration as there are Believers now in the World who do all ascribe their New Birth to the Divine Virtue and Energy of the Word set home upon their Hearts by the Spirit of God. Application You see your Calling Brethren what outward Means God has appointed for your Conversion Means not put into your hands for you to work by and to shew your own skill in turning your own hearts but a Means that God himself will work by The reason why so few are converted by the Word is because they don't put their Conversion upon God saying with Ephraim Jer. 31. 18. Turn thou me and I shall he turned 'T is our duty to submit to the use of Means to place our selves under them waiting for the coming down of the Spirit to make the Word effectual did we thus wait upon God in a real Dependance upon him he would be found of us his Arm would be revealed we should see more of his Glory in the Sanctuary Let us come then with raised Expectations of what God only can and may do upon our Hearts praying that he would give some signal Testimony to the Word of his Grace The Word of God is either a certain Truth or a cunningly devised Fable if it be a Fable Why don't you throw away your Bibles lay aside your Profession resolve never to hear a Sermon more If it be a Truth as I doubt not you all believe it to be Why don't you follow it home make something of it 'T is a Word whereby you may be saved give God no rest day nor night till you attain that Salvation In our Saviour's time they followed him for the Miracles they saw done upon the Bodies of men the Word can do as great Miracles now upon our Souls When you are going to hear the Word think with you selves I am now going to see what further change of Heart God will work in me what Renovation of Spirit what further Enlightnings what fresh Comforts what further Increase of God I may find in my inward man Did you come in expectation of these mighty works of God in and upon your Hearts no place would be large enough to contain the comers to the word that they might have some experience of his mighty saving Power passing upon their Souls As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so we lift up Christ that you may look unto him and be healed You look unto men you judg how much of Mans Wisdom Reason and Understanding there is in a Sermon but there is not that earnest looking for the power of God unto salvation as there ought to be Many come with itching ears to hear some new Notion set off with the enticing words of Man's Wisdom as if the strength of Human Reason by a Natural Operation upon the minds of men could lead them into the belief of any thing that is said in the Pulpit without any inward efficiency of the Spirit but if this be all you look for 't is not worth your coming hither we don't pretend to any such Rhetorical Charms to any such prevailing Influence over you you may excel us in Acuteness of Wit Quickness of Apprehension you may be greater Masters of Reason than we are but let
up pure Legal Preaching under the New the Law of it self works no saving Conviction of sin in any further than the Spirit of the Gospel goes along with it We may tell men their doom according to a Covenant of Works but we are bound at the sametime to preach Christ to them and not leave them under the Law in hopes of a Preparatory work that may fit them for the Gospel The Law alone works too violently we cannot stand under the terror of it Heb. 12. 18. We are not called to Preach Damnation to sinners but Repentance Christ came not to condemn the world but to save it We do indeed preach Damnation to impenitent unbelievers but first we preach Repentance which we cannot do from the Law alone therefore something of the Grace of the Gospel must be mingled with the severity of the Law for if that alone be pressed we may drive men to utter despair I mean an absolute despair of Salvation which prepares none for the Gospel but quite alienates their minds from it as an offer made too late Indeed a despair of Salvation by the works of the law may prepare for Christ but then we must Preach Christ too I think we ought not no not for a Moment to conceal all Intimations of Gospel-Grace from convinced sinners purposely to keep them under the terrors of the law till they are as we judg sufficiently broken and humbled Some have been put into such a fright by that way of proceeding that has distracted them all their days Certainly a Gospel-Ministry is the only Ministry appointed by Christ there is law enough in that to bring us to the knowledg of sin the Gospel does hold forth the danger and the remedy too and so must the Preachers of the Gospel God is so far from expecting any preparations in Man that he calls men of all sorts which shews that Conversion is not limited to such or such antecedent qualifications in us God knows best when to begin his work in us we must leave it to his Infinite Wisdom to chuse the season wherein he will shew us this Mercy he that gives the gift knows the fittest opportunities and moments to bestow it upon us How many are surprized with a sudden Conversion in a time when they looked not for it when their Friends and Relations did little expect it when they seemed to be in a frame farthest off from it breathing out Cruelties and Threatnings as Paul but when the time comes according to the purpose of God of their effectual Calling the Work is done in an instant the heart is suddenly struck and the Sinner turn'd into another Man to the wonder of all who behold it God prevents us by his Grace turning us to himself sometimes in the height of our obstinacy and when we are without all previous Dispositions to such a Conversion Isa. 65. 1. He finds a heart of Stone in us and turns it into a heart of Flesh. Conviction of Sin is always included in Conversion 't is a part of the Call it self while a Sinner is in his way to Christ actually coming to him he comes every step he takes under a Conviction of his Sin and Misery that Mercy may be the sweeter to him this is but as the opening of a Wound when a healing Medicine is to be applied some Wounds may be longer in opening and dressing than others we must leave this to the Wisdom of our heavenly Physitian Conviction of Sin is not only necessary to our first Conversion but to all Acts of after Conversion in the Saints themselves when they have fallen into any foul sin God made David feel the burthen of his sins We must be made to know what God in justice may do against us before we come to him for Salvation he is a just God and a Saviour Mercy is most acceptable when we see our selves in misery I was brought low and the Lord helped me says David 3. The Law is of excellent use to work this Conviction that is absolutely necessary to Conversion The Law is our School-master we are under the tuition of the Law but not under the dominion of the Law not at the disposal of the Law. The Law is our Counsellor and Director but not our Lord and Master it has not power of life and death as formerly it had The Law was given after the Fall to another end than 't was before the Fall. The Law was a Covenant of Life to Adam standing declaring the justification of a Righteous Man but now 't is as loud in condemning the Sinner The Law speaks to Man according to the different state he is in of Innocency or Sin The condemning voice of the Law is kept up in the ears of sinners to provoke them to come to Christ. The Law was Four hundred and thirty years after the promise made to Abraham and could not disannul the Covenant of Grace but only serves as a School-master to lead us to Christ. The great Lesson we are now to learn is Christ faith in Christ The Law serves to evince the necessity of this the Law teaches the same thing with the Gospel but not by the same argument It argues from love not wrath 4. There is Law enough comprehended in the Gospel to work this preparatory conviction of sin we have an authentick Copy of the Law in the New Testament 't is kept there on record in terrorem Cursed is every one c. Do you not hear the Law says Paul Thus the Gospel sets life and death before us Death to all who are under the Law and Life to those who are under Grace therefore let us study the Gospel and study the Law in the Gospel 5. The Law is to be Preached but never alone by it self without any mention of Gospel Grace nothing purely legal can prepare a sinner for Conversion the Law must be Preached not legally but Evangelically as 't is in the Hand of our Mediator who knows how to use it for Conviction for Humiliation and Repentance The Law tempered with the Gospel is an excellent means for the Spirit of Christ to work by the Law is now appendant to the Gospel so much of the Law is taken into the Gospel as is sufficient to produce Conviction Humiliation and Terrour too if need be but the Law alone is not to be Preached That is not in our Commission as we are Ministers of the New Testament This Preparatory work I am speaking of is principally ascribed to the Gospel as appears by Iohn's Ministry Iohn the Baptist was the greatest Legal Preacher in all the New Testament yet a true Gospel Preacher too viz. his special business was to carry on this Preparatory work in order to conversion and how does he do this observe his method he proclaims the coming of Christ draws arguments from thence to bring them to Repentance Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand therefore
are Born of God do thus live by Faith here below they consult not with Flesh and Blood their affections are suited to the apprehensions of their Faith they are filled with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory by believing they see good days a coming when all Tears shall be wiped from their Eyes they wait patiently till then rejoycing in the hope of the Glory of God. Till we get into this frame walking in the evidence of things not seen we shall never overcome the World for the things that are seen conceive them in what shape or posture you please have their emptiness and vanity in them will never satisfy they are but finite and temporal the present Fashion of this World be it what it will passes away into something else while we are a beholding it all things here below moulder and crumble away in our hands perish in the using are always the worse for wearing which shews they cannot last long when they are in their best state they are altogether vanity the highest degree of Perfection in the Creature tends to corruption and indeed disposes to it 't is as Natural to Die as to be Born there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a turning point that stops the further growth of the Creature and makes it to decline ever after till its fading Glory be quite extinguish'd therefore labour not for the meat that perishes but for that which nourishes unto Everlasting Life Till we come to Live upon Eternal unseen things we live but meanly in the midst of our Earthly sufficiencies we are in straights still wanting something till Christ be ours and then all is ours There is no room left then for any further designs in him we have plenary satisfaction and perfect rest we shall never have true hearts ease till then But the difficulty lies in bringing over our hearts to this Newness of Life to this Noble Life of Faith that fetches all its Comforts from Heaven casting up its anchor within the Vail which is sure and stedfast Flesh and Blood cannot do this there is nothing in Nature that disposes us to it therefore we must be born again be made New Creatures before we shall favour the things of heaven and such is the power of Religion upon the minds of men where it is in truth that it always works this change in them they find it and feel it in themselves Whether it be so with us whether we have any certain experience of such a thing in our own Souls we should do well to consider that even upon our knees and give God no rest day nor night till we see some better symptoms of Eternal Life in our selves we may judge of our life whether it be Eternal or no by the things we live in and live upon they who are of the Earth are Earthly they who are born from above are heavenly to be carnally mindedis death but to be Spiritually minded is life and peace The inward frame of the mind discovers what kind of Creatures we are whether old or new flesh or spirit the issues of life are from the Heart as the pulse of your Souls beats upwards or downwards so you may judge of your state as you find your selves most concerned in things above or things below till you have got above the world and have overcome it you are not born again Fifthly Every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. That which is intended here is First Love to the Saints as such Unfeigned love of the Brethren is a sign of a pure heart and that we are indeed born again Secondly Love to all men 't is due to all Owe no man any thing but love that we owe to all every man may challenge it every man is our Neighbour in that sense to be the object of our Love we must extend it to our very Enemies 't is the fulfilling of the Law the duty of man to man prescribed in the Second Table cannot be performed without it Love is above all Illumination and Knowledge a more sure mark of Regeneration He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Love is one of the communicable Attributes of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost we are followers of God when we walk in love Common Professors have some love one to another but if you trace it up to its original you 'll find it a selfish mercenary love in which they rather respect themselves than Christ 't is not for his sake but for some outward respects of relation neighbourhood or usefulness in the common concerns of this life it may be for their agreement in opinion about some lower matters of Religion this is but the friendship of the World and may be consistent with real enmity against God and good men as such but perfect love i. e. real sincere Christian Love is for God's sake because he has so loved us and given us a new Command to love one another There is no true love among men till we are born again He exhorts those who have put off the old man and are renewed in spirit to put away all bitterness wrath c. Before Regeneration we are foolish disobedient living in malice and envy hatesul and hating one another Biting devâ—uring consuming one another It looks rather like a description of Wild Beasts than men so savage and fierce are we by nature nothing but a spirit of Regeneration will sweeten and mollify the hearts of men that which unites us to Christ unites us one to another we are all one in Christ but we shall never be all one among our selves till we are united to Christ then the Peace of God rules in our hearts to which we are called in one body There is no true good nature among men but what flows from Grace Sin hath so poysoned and sowred man's Nature that till that Serpentine Venom be purged out and a better Spirit be put into us there will be little harmony or concord among men Having put on the new man put on therefore as the elect of God c. Vide Loc. Were this mark of Regeneration more visible in our days it would be a token for good of a more effectual work of the Gospel among us than for ought I see does yet appear Hatred variance c. are reckoned up among the Works of the Flesh as directly opposite to the Fruits of the Spirit I will shew how this loving disposition arises out of Regeneration that the fundamental ground of it is our conformity to Christ which necessarily follows upon our Regeneration Christ is the express Image of his Father the Saints are in their finite capacities the express Image of Christ in whom they see the Father who as God is one with the Son whilst they behold the Son as God-man they see their humane Nature hypostatically united to the Divine they see their humane persons
stand behind the whole Creation of God and blush at the mischief he hath done the World groaning with all his fellow Creatures to be restored to the glorious Liberty of the Children of God. Serious thoughts of our lapsed estate must needs beget this self-abhorrency in us that we should thus unman our selves and become like the Beasts that perish nay worse than they because we cannot so perish as to cease to be the immortality of our Souls making us naturally capable of a miserable Eternity how should we then be consounded in our own sight and be yet more vile in our own Eyes We cannot presently take in the full sense of our wretched state the grossest sins of our Lives are not to be compared to the sins of our Nature they might pass for particular acts of folly which we were hurried into by the violence of some sudden Temptation we might hope that Nature would recover it self but that being poysoned and turned into a root of Bitterness what fruit unto Holiness can ever grow upon such evil Trees as we naturally are 'T is not any improvement of Nature by Art or Industry that will recover us there must be a real Change of Nature wrought in us and how few are convinc'd of the necessity of this A Toad may as soon complain of his Poysonous Nature as Fallen Man of his Corrupt Nature we are reconciled to every thing that is natural to us else it could not be natural whatever is a part of our selves can be no burden to us 'T is a sign the Spirit of God hath been at work in that Soul who is grown into a dislike of himself hating what he is and what he doth from a carnal Principle T is a sign there is another Spirit and Principle stirring in him 'T is impossible there should be true Grace in that Man who hath no afflicting sense of indwelling sin The flesh is flesh still even after Regeneration the New Creature is raised up in the presence of the old man they live together awhile tho' at continual variance till the fleshly part be abolished then the new creature will stand up by it self in a perfect state of Glory in the stature of a perfect Man in Christ. Sin tho it cannot hinder the Birth of the New Man yet it hinders his growth and depresses that for a season till Mortality with all that belongs to it be quite swallowed up of that Eternal Life which we derive from Christ in our Regeneration if we dye strangers to this life of God and Godliness we with all our Forms Names and specious Pretences to Religion shall be swallow'd up of Eternal Death and never see the Kingdom of God. Verily verily except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. T. C. A DISCOURSE OF Regeneration c. From IOHN iii. 3. The Introduction THE Sound of these Words at the first reading may convince any Considering Person That Christian Religion is a great Mystery the way to understand it aright is to look into the internal Parts of it not into the Words but Power of Godliness Many and various are the outward Forms by which Professors are unhappily distinguished pleasing themselves with different Superstructures upon the same supposed Foundation But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon 1 Cor. 3. 10. There is Gold Silver and Precious Stones in some Buildings and too much Wood Hay and Stubble in others Before I set fire to this by a spirit of Judgment and Burning let us all examine our Foundations and see whether the whole House is not to be pulled down and built anew we had better pull down a House weakly founded than suffer it to fall upon our heads then we perish in the ruins My Text leads me to this search I hope you will all join with me in feeling for the Rock if we find it we may with more comfort and success set upon the mending and repairing what is amiss otherwise The Text speaks of the Nativity or first Original of a Christian and derives his Descent from above from Heaven from God from the Holy Spirit this is very high we may look for something extraordinary in such a Birth which is here called Regeneration or our being Born again or a second time This is a great Mystery and cannot be understood till it is in some measure felt Regeneration is not a Notion but a Nature not a mere empty Speculation floating in the Brain but an inward living Principle rooted in the Heart I am not speaking of things without you at a distance from you that are foreign and extrinsecal to your souls but of that which is essential to the Being and Constitution of a Christian as such you are not only my Auditors this day but each of you the subject of my present Discourse I am not only speaking to you but of you 't is what you are or are not in the inward state of your souls that I am now enquiring after By comparing your selves with the word you may know how far you do or do not answer to the Character that is given there of the New-born soul the essential Properties of that Nature in which we live must needs be owned by us they are in us they are of us bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh they are our very selves no sensible considering man can be without this knowledg of himself he cannot deny his own Image which he sees with his own Eyes In a glass face answers face so 't is with the heart of a Man describe it as it is in its present Actings Motions Principles and Inclinations 't will fall in with you to a tittle I would not speak a word and I hope God will so guide me that I shall not utter any thing concerning this new Birth which falls not under the experience of the weakest Christian who is really born of God If I shoot over the heads of others 't is none of my fault we must speak of Divine Things as they are laid down in the Scriptures whether we are understood or not understood Preachers do only explain the Object they cannot enlighten the Faculty they may open the Text but they cannot open the Hearts of those that hear them to understand the Scriptures this is God's work Faith cometh by hearing therefore he that hath ears to hear let him hear I cannot bespeak your Attention by a stronger Argument than that in my Text Except a man be born again he cannot c. That which the Word of God so plainly puts as a bar to our entrance into the Kingdom of God we are all concerned to see that bar removed who have any hope of entring into that Kingdom Give me leave to reason with you out of the Scriptures about this great Point of Regeneration Some place it in that which a mere natural man may pretend unto passing over the whole Mystery of the Gospel they construe the Word
unaccountable Contingency nor can ever be brought about by any mere humane contrivance what remains but that we ascribe it as the Scripture does to the Divine Will of him to whom all things are possible beginning at the Eternal Purpose of God in Election so proceeding downwards through all the methods ways and means appointed by God for the carrying on this great work of his in the hearts of men The truth is the first breaking forth of Electing Love upon us is in our Regeneration 'till something of it appears we cannot know any thing by all that is before us of God's Eternal Love to us Our actual taking any thing up into our hands argues a previous choice that our eye was upon it before So here God has from Eternity made choise of some for Salvation his Eye was upon them from Eternity and when his Grace takes actual hold of them we may then through our present effectual Vocation see up to our Eternal Election and by these visible streams go back to the invisible Fountain of Free-grace in the heart of our Heavenly Father By what he does in time we know what he intended from Eternity Let none despair of this Grace who wait upon God for it all those who have already passed the streights of the new-birth were once under as discouraging circumstances as any now can be but God had mercy on them and so he may on thee he breathed the breath of Spiritual life into them and so he can and may into thee he is a God that raises the dead dead Souls as well as dead Bodies We may see in the eye-lids of some the very shadow of Eternal death but God can turn that shadow into the morning and cause the day-spring from on high to visit them Election alters no Man's state till it issue in Conversion then you may see your names written in the Book of Life from a sence and feeling of that life in your selves to which you were fore-ordained 'Till we are regenerated we cannot tell whether ever we shall be God knows but we do not The Election shall obtain Rom. 11. 7. Therefore all that have obtained must ascribe it to Election That the purpose of God might stand according to election Rom. 9. 11. The cause of this great change that Regeneration makes must be resolved either into the Will of God or Will of the Creature there is no medium between God and the Creature whatever is done is by one or the other Some resolve Conversion and Regeneration into Man's own power derived from that general sufficient Grace purchased by Christ for all men But if man in his perfect state fell under that general sufficient Grace which he was certainly endowed with at his first Creation How can we now suppose any such general grace to be sufficient to recover fallen Man and to keep him for ever from a relapse Therefore we must place fallen Man under some stronger influence even that of Effectual Grace which does not only shew unto Man the way of Salvation by Christ but effectually draws his heart to an actual closure with Christ joyning him to the Lord in one spirit This Effectual Grace in saving some does no injury to others they perish justly from the demerits of their own sins these are saved freely through the merits of Christ. Let us not be too curious in enquiring why God saves one and not another there is a covering upon the face of this great deep The ways of God are unsearchable and his judgments past our finding out all must be resolved into the Soveraign Will of God Why should our eye be evil because his is good who does what he will with his own and gives no account of his matters Because God has purposed from Eternity to shew mercy to some not telling us who let every own study his own Salvation and put in for his share of this Free Grace which is offered to all intended for some and why not for thee Those who embrace the Promise and believe in Jesus will never find any Decree in Heaven against them hindering their Salvation and those who refuse the Promises will not come to Christ when called shall never be saved by virtue of any mere Decree Faith and Repentance are as much under the decree of God as Salvation it self if the Decree of God bring not forth such things in you now as accompany Salvation 't will never bring forth Salvation it self The Doctrine of Election is a comfortable Doctrine if we apply it to the Means as well as to the End They who deny this Doctrine and plead so much for Man's Free-will they do and must hold a falling from Grace tho God loves them now they are not sure to continue in his love nor never will be 'till they run up all their hopes into Electing Love. When once they see that God has loved them from everlasting which they may do by resolving all the present fruits of the spirit into election as the Scripture teaches us they can strongly argue from the unchangeableness of God That he who has loved them from everlasting will love them to everlasting for whom he so loves he always loves to the end Let me make some use of this Point there may be some difficulties in it but I hope God will clear them up to your Souls If the Subjects of Regeneration be the Elect only the Elect and all the Elect Then prove your Election by your Regeneration you cannot prove Regeneration by your Election for bare Election if you know it alters no Man's state Many of the elect of God lie long in an unregenerate state Election is never in Scripture brought in as a proof of Grace in us but Grace in us is brought in as a proof of our Election To prevent mistakes in some convinced tho yet unconverted sinners ay and in some weak trembling Believers too whose convictions of sin do put them into no small fright When I say Regeneration is a good proof of your Election let not any say Then my unregenerate state is as good a proof of my Reprobation it does by no means follow for these Reasons 1st Because an unregenerate state or a state of sin and unregeneracy has not that dependance upon or relation to eternal Reprobation as Regeneration or a state of Grace has to our eternal Election A state of Grace flows from eternal Election but a state of sin and unregeneracy does not flow from eternal Reprobation but from the fall of Adam God permitting it as a means through which his electing love would effectually work for the more glorious restauration of Man. They who are regenerated are elected Rom. 8. 29 30. but those who are not yet regenerated cannot be said to be not elected or reprobated 2dly A state of sin and unregeneracy is common to all both elect and reprobates but a state of Regeneration peculiar only to the Elect. We are all born in sin all by nature the
in bitterness The sense he has of the love of God to sinners in Christ Jesus kindles love in his heart towards God which is a full evidence of real Conversion We never turn to God but we begin to love him then we grieve for sin as sin with a true godly sorrow that causeth Repentance unto Salvation 'T is the duty of Ministers to make known the mystery of the Gospel Paul was afraid he should not speak out speak plain enough and so am I. CHAP. V. Of the Time of Regeneration SOmething of this fell in under the former Heads therefore I shall say the less of it now The Time is in this life All who live with God in Heaven hereafter are born to him and of him here on Earth This whole time is called the day of Grace To day if you will hear his voice And there is a particular hour in that day wherein Saving Grace takes hold of us by God's Effectual Calling which is best known by our Obediential Hearing when we answer to the Call Lord here I am ready to comply with thy Will in all things What wouldst thou have me to do and I will do it Consult your selves about this when you first find your wills brought over to Christ write down that as the day of thy Conversion you can give no account of a real work of Grace till then your knowledg cannot prove it self Saving till it thus operate upon the Will in turning that to God So that the time of thy Regeneration is when thy heart is first drawn up to trust in Christ let it fall in what year of thy life in what hour of the day it will so the thing be done it matters not when as to the issue of it to be converted is necessary to Salvation but to know precisely the time when is not necessary provided you know the time when it was not or at least not so manifest to you as now it is It shall be done unto the last as unto the first the last and the first Converts in an Age are equally welcome to God and there is something peculiar in both that does very much set forth and signalize the freeness of God's Grace viz. That he converted the one so soon and the other so late that he came so early to one who had heard so little and that he came at all to the other who had heard so much and despised it Late Converts are very rare he that comes not in now while 't is called to day may slip his opportunity and die under a dreadful conviction that he obstinately refused a fair offer of life and pardon that was made him at such a time in such a Sermon by such a Preacher who may be called forth to witness against him at the last day Whether you believe or not believe the Word will have its effect one way or other upon you all either as a favour of life or death When the favour of the knowledg of Christ is not a sweet Savour we take offence at it Death indeed may follow that deadly scent 't is a dangerous symptome of Eternal death to be offended at Christ at the purity and strictness of his Heavenly Doctrine A distinct remembrance of the certain time means and manner of our conversion is very comfortable but tho we be at some loss here yet if we can prove the thing it self 't is enough He that does the real actions of a living Man gives sufficient proof and demonstration of his first conception and real birth into the World tho he knows not the day and hour of either CHAP. VI. The End of Regeneration 1. THAT God may raise up a Holy Seed unto himself that shall be counted for a Generation to serve him That he may have a Church and People here on Earth devoted to his fear professing his Name and keeping up his Worship All people will walk every one in the name of the Lord his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever By our first birth we are brought forth into the World Enemies to God and Godliness by our second birth we partake of the Divine Nature become a Holy people unto the Lord our God a peculiar people 2. That his Elect may be made meet for Heaven and fitted up for Glory God begins all this in Regeneration which is pursuant to Election All those Names that are written in Heaven or in the Lamb's Book of Life shall be begotten again unto that Life which in the Eternal purpose of God belongs to their Names They are a chosen Generation which is the cause and ground of their Regeneration All the rest of the World will be left in darkness in Idolatry to worship the Dragon whose Names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World. They who belong not to this chosen Generation are rejected of God never to be born again Regeneration is a sure evidence of Election God demonstrates his Eternal Love to us by this signal effect of it in our Regeneration CHAP. VII The Scripture Marks and Signs of Regeneration 1. HE doth not commit Sin. 2. He doth Righteousness 3. He believeth that Jesus is the Christ. 4. He overcometh the World. 5. He loves Christ and all the Saints 6. He desires the sincere Milk of the Word They are not my Marks but God's laid down in his own terms as 't is written in your Bibles what you find in your selves answerable thereunto I must leave to God and your own Consciences The Text tells you Vnless a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Iohn in his Epistle tells you unless these marks be found upon him he is not born again and dying in that estate is excluded Heaven for ever Iohn foreseeing what false notions of Regeneration men wouâ—â— taks up with and rest in to prevent all fraud all mistakes in so great a point lays down these infallible marks of true real Regeneration as 't is distinguished from that which is but pretended false and counterfeit For ought I see there is no more required to Regeneration in the judgment of some men than to be born in such a Country where Christianity is professed and to be Baptized according to the custom of the place this is the whole of Regeneration as some state it tho none of these marks appear in them but the quite contrary They commit Sin they don't do Righteousness they hate Christ and his Members are overcome every day by the World and the temptations of it yet these must go for Regenerate persons let the Scripture say what it will to the contrary But let us not deceive our selves God will judge us by the Word and none will be looked upon at the last day as truly regenerate in whom all these marks are not found I do
not say that all are unregenerate who see not all these marks in themselves but those who have them not to be wholly defective in any one of them overthrows our state These marks are so linked together as to the certainty of their being that they are inseparable tho as to our perceiving 'tis otherwise we may not so clearly discern some of these in our selves as we may some others I would carry it with as gentle a hand as I can I perceive these marks in the right application of them will bear hard upon us all and it may be leave us under a godly jealousy of our selves examining our state with trembling Truly this I aim at I am sure we shall suffer no loss or damage by it in the end God has put his own stamp upon his own workmanship that it may be known to be his Shew me your Regeneration under God's seal and mark and I shall rejoyce with you in it and pronounce it to be his workmanship indeed And now Brethren produce your evidences such as the Word of God calls for I shall begin with the first Mark 1. He doth not commit sin he cannot sin He sinneth not but doth righteousness Here is a Negative and a Positive Mark what he doth and what he doth not I shall first speak joyntly of them both together and then separately of each apart by themselves The sense in general of this Scripture is That he who is born of God does so far express his Image and take after his Holy Nature as to hate that which is evil and to love that which is good he has put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Escaping the corruption that is in the World through lust If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him He proves the new-born Soul to be a true Child of God because he so much resembles his Heavenly Father in Righteousness and true Holiness we cannot be partakers of his Nature but we must be also partakers of his Holiness they are inseparable But to keep to the Negative mark He commits not sin c. The common interpretation of this Text is That such who are born of God sin not with full consent and allowance they go not on in a course of sin they sin not the sin unto death c. All this is true and does belong to the interpretation of this Text yet I conceive there is something further intended as the ground of all this viz. That he who is born of God as such sins not at all He that is a new creature may sin but not as a new creature this is an absolute truth contained in the Text. Under all the distinctions limitations and soft interpretations that are given of this Scripture we must be sure to maintain the words of the Text as they are expressive of a certain absolute truth else we shall quite lose the mark here laid down by the Holy Ghost of Regeneration and therefore I shall first fix that and make it as plain as I can that we may the better judge of our state by it 't is matter of Life or Death all is now upon Tryal your eternal Interest lies at stake therefore in so great a case we had need go by sure marks and signs and none so sure as those that are in express terms laid down by the Holy Ghost of Regeneration as we must not raise them too high in contradiction to other Scriptures so neither must we sink them too low lest we lose that Characteristical difference that the Holy Ghost here puts between the Regenerate and Unregenerate the mark lies here viz. That there is in every Regenerate Soul an inward living Principle of Grace and Holiness inclining us to good but never to evil always giving check to sin never approving or allowing of it A Regenerate person may fall into acts of sin through humane Infirmity but cannot give himself over to sin in a constant habitual way he cannot go on in sin 't is against his Nature he may be surprized into an act of sin but the new Nature will quickly recover it self and cast out that sin by Repentance A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit sin is not so connatural to a Regenerate Person he can't brook it his heart rises against it from the Antipathy he has to it when he does sin he would not sin and this we say is from the Grace of Regeneration The assertors of Free will do hold That man cannot incline to good without the general assistance of the Spirit of God but they own only such an assistance as may be resisted by us and leaves it to our option whether we will do good or evil but that the will of man should be determined by God to a good act and yet act freely under that determination is that which some will not understand supposing such an overruling efficacy of Divine Grace to be inconsistent with the liberty of man's will. The prevailing efficacy of sin in fallen man is undeniable whose thoughts and imaginations are evil only evil and that continually yet those thoughts and imaginations with all outward acts proceeding from them are free so that what they deny to the efficacy of grace they allow to the efficacy of sin That it seems does not destroy the liberty of mans will but the efficacy of grace does the mistake lies in a misapprehension of the Nature of Irresistibility grace is irresistible not because it cannot be resisted but because it cannot be overcome else 't would not be effectual the efficacy of Saving Grace lies in gaining over the free consent of the will to follow its motions and inclinations God made man perfect and that he might not impose upon his rational Nature left him a free agent giving him liberty to good or evil his Perfection did not lye in having liberty to evil but in not using it in abstaining freely from evil out of choice when he fell God withdrew and left him perpetually inclined to his own first choice which nothing can draw him off from but effectual Grace not by forcing but changing his will. It was never the intent of God in our first Creation that man should exert his power both ways to do good and evil but that he should freely chuse his own way at his first setting out and be delivered up into that Power which he should first Exercise By his obedience he would have been confirmed in good never to have fallen from it so by his disobedience he was confirmed in evil never to be recovered out of it till free Grace of its own accord relieved him And this it does gradually not all at once which is the reason why the Saints in their imperfect state here do both good and evil being flesh as well as Spirit Grace has the Predominancy because it enters in