cause thee to blossom and bud and ripen in the fruits of holiness There is mercy with thee that thou mayst be feared Psal 130.4 Why doth he send the nipping winter of adversity but to kill the hurtful weeds of thy lusts This is his end in afflicting even the taking avay of sin Isa 27.9 He useth the flail that the huskes may flie off when one key will not open the door of thy heart he will try another Why doth he interweave mercy and affliction that his providences towards the children of men are chequer-work white and black black and white mercy and affliction affliction and mercy but because his infinite wisdom seeth that this mixture will suit best with his ends the purifying and renewing his creature If all the year were summer the sap of the trees would be quite exhausted if all were winter it would be quite buried If thou hadst nothing in thy body but natural heat it would burn thee up if nothing but moisture it would drown thee therefore thy radical moisture allayeth thy natural heat and thy natural heat giveth bounds to thy radical moisture and each well tempered make an excellent constitution of body If thou hadst nothing but mercy thou wouldst be wanton and conceited if nothing but misery thou wouldst be too much dejected therefore God sendeth mercy to make thee cheerful and misery to keep thee awful The good Physician tempers his drugs wisely and weigheth them exactly and so prescribes and gives them as they may best conduce to the carrying on of his own end the spiritual health of his Patients Fifthly Regeneration will appear to be excellent in that it is the special work of God himself Grace is the immediate creatue of God man can ruine but not renew himself Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God John 1.13 Man may lay some claim though there also God is the principal to the fatherhood of our fleshly beings but God onely can lay claim to the fatherhood of our spiritual beings Holiness is a beam of light darted forth from none but the Sun of righteousness We are his workmanship Ephes 2.10 His workmanship both by way of efficiency and excellency How beautiful is that structure which hath such a Builder what a rare work must that be which hath such a workman Surely that is a choice plant which is of Gods own planting O who would not be in love with so fair a child for the fathers sake The creation of our outward beings as we are men Iob 10.8 1.10 is the work of God Thy hands have made me and fashioned me Psal 119.77 God makes every man as well as the first man Nature and natural causes are nothing but the order in which and the tools with which he is pleased to work Now this work of God is excellent it is the Master-piece of the visible Creation Man is the fair workmanship of a wise Artificer saith one Heathen The bold attempt of daring nature saith another One of the Ancients calleth man The Miracle of miracles Another The measure of all things A third The worlds Epitome The world in a small volume The body which is the worst half of man Psal 1 â—9 14.15 is curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth and made in secret as curious workmen when they have some choice piece in hand they perfect it in private and then bring it forth to the light for men to gaze on In thy book were all my members written Psal 139.14 15. A skilful Architect who is to set up some stately building will draw a model of it in his book or upon a table before he will adventure to set it up to be sure that it shall be done exactly So to shew what an exact piece the body of man is God is said to work it by the book But the soul which is Gods work too is a more exquisite piece the body is as it were the sheath Dan. 7.15 the soul is the glittering sword the body is but the cabinet this is the jewel 't is by this that man claims kindred with the Angels in Heaven and surpasseth all creatures on Earth Consider then if this work of Gods hands this visible Creation be so excellent how excellent is the invisible Creation the creating man in Christ unto good works Surely that is curious work workmanship indeed The Tables of stone hewed immediately by the hand of God and on which he had with his own fingers written the Law was such a piece that mortal eyes could not behold it without astonishment and admiration What a rare Manuscript was that where the book the matter the writing were all of Gods own making and doing But the writing of the Law in the fleshly tables of the heart by the Spirit of God is much more glorious I am very willing Friend to convince thee of the excellency of Regeneration and therefore would speak more to this head Think of what thou pleasest which thin eunderstanding can judge excellent and thou shalt finde the image of God far more excellent Is wealth excellent Luk. 16.11 1 Tim. 6 7. Mat 6.19 â—0 Prov. 8.18 this is the true riches others are but the shadow this is the substance other riches are but for a short time these are for ever durable riches and righteousness Other riches will go only as brass farthings in some particular places in this beggarly low world of earth but these like gold and silver go in all countries are currant coyn even in the higher world of Heaven Is wisdom excellent this is wisdom the fear of the Lord is the beginning the word fignifieth the apex the top the perfection of wisdom Prov. 1.7 Job 28.2 The pious man is the prudent man He alone can judge rightly of things set a due price upon things propound to himself the noblest ends and use the best means therefore he is called by way of eminency A man of wisdom Mic. 6.9 The knowing subtle Pharisees for want of this were but learned fools Matth. 23.17 Sinner and Fool are Synonima's in Scripture The English word Fool is thought to come from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth wicked Is beauty excellent Grace is the greatest beauty the beauty of holiness Psal 110.5 O how comely is the new creature never any saw it but fell in love with it The Spouse of Christ is the fairest among women Thou art all fair my love thou art all fair Cant. 4.1 Godliness is such a beauty that as I have said before God himself is taken with it Sin is a spot a defilement this beauty is inward it sits upon the face of the most noble part of man the Soul and thereby is the more comely its lasting not liable to the rage of a disease or wrinckles of old age but always increasing whilst here to a greater perfection Is pleasure excellent Godliness is
themselves godly men must be like candles which being lighted kindle others Grace is compared to oil which is of a diffusive spreading nature Matth. 25.4 and it doth like the oil in the widows barrel increase by pouring out the oil never ceased running till she ceased pouring The more thou improvest thy little stock of Grace the more thy master will trust thee with Peter Martyr speaketh of some mountains of salt in Cumana which whilst they lay common for the good of many never wasted though Merchants carried away in abundance but when they were once ingrossed to one mans use they consumed away He that hath greatest layings out for God shall have greatest comings in from God The loaves increased not whilst they were whole in the basket but whilst they were breaking and distributing to others Womens milk increaseth by drawing if the brest be not drawn it will dry up Prov. 11.14 15. He that soweth liberally shall reap liberally Believe it Friend the onely way to make thy one pound ten pounds is by trading with it I speak not of thy intruding into the Ministers calling but of dealing faithfully with the souls of thy friends and relations in thy place and station Truly one would think that every time thou considerest the dreadful danger of poor sinners thine heart should almost bleed within thee Jesus Christ groaned and wept for dead Lazarus How did David mourn for dead Absolom At a funeral though there be much cost yet there is no chear because one is dead What bowels of pity shouldst thou have towards them that are dead spiritually nay dying eternally Dost thou not remember there was a time when no eye pitied thee when God passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood yea when thou wast in thy blood he said unto thee Live behold that time was the time of love to thy soul canst thou now behold others wallowing in their pollutions weltring in their soul blood and thine eyes not affect thine heart with pity to them Especially we that are parents should use all means for the Regeneration of our children and relations We have a little sister that hath no breasts what shall we do for her said the Jews Cant. 8.8 Have not we little Children that have no Christ no hope no grace O what shall we do for them in the day that they shall be spoken for When Samson had found honey in the carcass of the lyon he did not onely eat himself but carryed some to his father and mother thou hast found hony and sweetness in the carcass of the Lyon of the tribe of Judah in a crucified Christ wilt thou not endeavour that thy relations and friends may share with thee Friend canst thou think without trembling on the unnaturalness of most fathers and mothers towards their children All their care is to get earth enough for them but never mind the instating them in heaven the Ostrich leaves her eggs in the earth Iob 39.14 15 and warmeth them in the dust where the foot crusheth them and the wild beast breaks them thus worldly men warm the fruit of their bodies in the earth are diligent to leave them dust enough but consider not that the foot of Gods fury will crush them and the roaring Lion devoure them if they be not Regenerated O the many soul murders which worldly parents commitâ— but if thou art born again I am perswaded nay I am confident of better things of thee thou darest not but teach thy sons Gods ways and labour that thy servants may be converted to him Christianity doth not diminish but rectify thy natural affection it causeth thee to love thy relations not less but better then thou didst before grace makes thy love to run out towards their souls and their spiritual and eternal good O what an honour and priviledge is it that thou mayst be instrumental for the saving of souls Jam. 5.2 ult which that thou mayst be take these three words for thine help First Be sure that thou set them a good pattern let thy life be so exact that others may write after thy copy with credit Look on thy self as new born for this end that thou mightest adorn the Doctrine of God thy Saviour Parents and Masters are often authentick patterns to all their inferiours their zeal will provoke many and if they fall as tall cedars they beat down many shrubs O therefore do nothing of which thou mayst not say to thy family and neighbours as Gideon to his souldiers Iudg 7.17 Look on me and do likewise It is reported of the Hares of Scythia that they teach their young ones to leap from bank to bank from rock to rock by leaping before them which otherwise they would never learn and by this means when they are hunted no beasts can overtake them Do thou set others a pattern in the performance of duties and in the exercise of graces that others learning by thine example may thereby be secured from Satan the great destroyer The morall is good of the fable The old crab bid the young one got forward Shew me the way saith the young crab the mother goeth backward and sideling the daughter followeth her saying Lo I go just as you do Truly thus thy little ones will quickly imitate thy doings Be careful therefore how thou livest walk circumspectly consider of every expression and action not onely whether it be lawful but also whether it be expedient and exemplary Thy religious pattern may do more good then the Ministers preaching they preach with their lips one day in a weak but thou by thy life preachest all the week long 1 Pet. 2.12 Have thy conservation honest among others that they may glorifie God in the day of their visitation 1 Pet. 2.12 Secondly Let thy prayers be constant and instant for their Regeneration How can I see the death of my childe said Hagar Alas how canst thou see the eternal death of thy dear children When thou kneelest to prayer with thy wife children and servants and considerest that death will shortly break up thy house and then heaven and hell will claim their due The Regenerate shall go to heaven the unregenerate to hell Thou and they who live together are likely to be parted asunder for ever Good Lord How shouldst thou pray for them with what fervency with what importunity Thou art new born and knowest that hell and heaven are no jesting matters Iohn 4.23 doth not thine heart ake to think that any of thine should dwell in everlasting burnings O go to Christ as the Centurion for his sick child Sir come down ere my child die Lord come down ere my poor children die for ever And as the woman of Canaan Have mercy on me O Lord thou Son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil Lord help me If thou canst do any thing help them Lord pitie poor children and form thy dear Son in them thus carry thy little children
shall inherit the earth Matth. 5.5 If heaven can make thee blessed thou shouldst be blessed Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5.3 If all things could make thee blessed thou shouldst be blessed Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3. two last verses Reader I shall do my utmost so to set forth the felicity of the regenerate which no pen can fully that thou mayst admire it How goodly are thy tents O. Jacob and thy tabernacles O Israel Numb 24.5 and not only as Balaam desire their deaths Let me die the death of the righteous and let my latter end be like his Numb 23 10. but also endeavour to live their lives and to have thy conversation like theirs While thou continuest in this world thou shouldst be a blessed soul and when thou entrest into the other world thou shouldst be a glorions Saint In this world thou shouldst be a blessed soul in every condition into which thou couldst come in every relation in which thou dost stand at all times and in all places whatsoever All the Providences of God should be profitable to thee If Gods hand were enlarged in mercy thy heart should be enlarged in duty If God should prosper thee in temporals the streams of his bounty should lead thee as the water course either upward to the spring or downward to the ocean to the source and fountain of all thy happiness Thy heart would still be in heaven where thy best things were even then when thy body were busied among earthly good things 1 Cor. 7 29 30 Phil. 3.19 Some observe of the seed called Henbane that it killeth all birds save sparrows and to them it is nourishing food and they give this reason because their veines are so narrow that the fumes of the seed cannot passe through them to their hearts truly thus t would be with thee though thou sands of others are poisond with their worldly portions because the fumes thereof penetrate into their vitals but if riches increase thou shouldst not set thine heart upon them nay thou shouldst get nourishment from them As Jehosaphat the more honour and wealth thou hadst the more thy heart would be lifted up in the ways of God 2 Chro. 17.5 6. If thine estate were but little yet t would be perfumed with love and that lump of sugar in thy cup would make the liquor sweet be it never so small As the waters which flow from the hils of some of the Islands of Molacca taste of the Cinamon and Cloves which grow there so should thy guift though it were but water taste of the good will and special grace of the giver Thy little with the fear of the Lord would be better then the riches of many wicked men Psal 37 15. As a little ring with a very costly Diamond in it is far more worth then many great ones without it so thy estate though it were but a penny should be joyned with the pretious jewel of that love which is better then life and enjoyed by special promise and thereby be infinitely more worth then the thousands and millions of others bestowed meerly from common bounty and enjoyed onely by a generall providence If the black frost of adversity overtake thee thou shouldst as Conies thrive the better thy soul being hail thou wouldst become thereby the more healthy By affliction thou shouldst be partaker of Gods holiness Heb. 12.10 The waters of affliction should wash out the diri of thy corruption and the more they increased they would raise thee as the flood the Arke higher above the earth and mount thee nearer to heaven Torches burn the better for beating Spices smell the sweeter for pounding Vines bear the more for bleeding and the more thy soul were kept down by those weights like the Palm-tree the more thou shouldst grow That scouring and rubbing which fretteth others should make thee shine the brighter Psal 94.12 Divine corrections should make thee learn thy sacred lessons It is said of the Lacedemonians that when all other people were undone by war they onely grew rich Truly thus when ungodly ones are the worse for outward miseryes and wants like Ahaz in their distress they sin more against the Lord thou shouldst thrive the better grow the richer in grace and good works The diminution of thy temporal should be an addition to thy spiritual estate Job 36.9 10. As spring-water smoaketh when other waters are dried up because that is living and these are dead nay t is observed waters arising from deep springs are hotter in winter then in summer the outward cold keeping in and doul â—â—g the inward heat So the waters of thy graces should not onely continue having a living principle when the Sun of calamity scorcheth and drieth up the dead ponds of unregenerate professors Mat. 13.21 but also increase in spiritual heat Job 17.8 9. Philip. 1.14 If the Devil assaulted thee with temptations they should never be for thy perdition but probation Rev. 2.10 The Captain of thy Salvation would so strengthen thy soul with the Shield of Faith and Sword of the Spirit that thou shouldst not onely defend thy soul from all deadly wounds but offend thine Enemy and be more then a Conqueror over Principalities and Powers through him that loveth thee It would possibly be grievous and terrible to thee to be tempted but if God did not see it needful he would not suffer it nay if he could not make it useful he would not send it by those thorns of the flesh he would prick the vein and let out the ranck blood of thy spirit It is said of Telephus that he had his impostume opened by the dart of an Enemy which intended his hurt Truly so God would make to thee the fiery darts of the Devil though they were intentionally mortal to be eventually medicinal 1 John 5.18 The evil one should not touch thee that is with a mortal or deadly touch As a sound tree shaken with the winde thou shouldest not fall but root thy self the â—â—â—ter thou shouldest like Sampson fetch meat out of the Eater and out of the Strong sweetness thou shouldst get honey even out of this roaring Lion thy Regeneration like Pollium would be a special preservative against the poyson of that croocked Serpent Nay when thou shouldest fall into the evil of sin even that should turn to thy good God no thanks to thee like the skilful Apothecary would make wholsom treacle of such poisonus drugs If thy corruption should at any time get the mastery and break out in thy life thou shouldst be so well purged by the Physician of souls with the bitter Aloes of Repentance that as those who have had ill humors of their bodies getting head and breaking out in the small-pox and do well thou shouldst be the healthier in thy soul
flesh it is lost service but when In dentures are sealed in Regeneration that the man is bound to God by an hearty dedication of himself to his service and Christ hath given a considerable sum with him and undertaken for his faithfulness then the foul fals to Gods business with hand and heart and God esteems it as service and resolves to teach him the trade of pleasing God on earth that he may be fit to do it in heaven All the Ordinances of God should be for thy good If thou wert but born again and alive spiritually thou shouldst find the Word Prayer Singing Sacraments Sabbaths communion of Saints to be both refreshing and nourishing food to thy soul though now thou canst relish them no more then the white of an egg and receive no more good from them then from a dry chip then they would be as pipes to convey the water of life to chear and satisfie thy thirsty spirit If thou wert a child weak in grace Ordinances would be milk to thee if a strong man they would be strong meat though thy spiritual strength were never so small thou shouldest find they would increase it The father of eternity would take care so to nurse and feed thee that thou shouldst thrive 1 Pet. 2.2 As the head doth by the organs of sinews or nerves convey the animal spirits into the whole body and with them both sence and motion so thy head Christ Jesus would by those organs of Ordinances convey spiritual life sense and motion to thee his member Thou mightest hear the Word with much spiritual hunger and that being thy sauce would make thee both fall to and relish thy food When thou shouldst hear Christ speaking to thee and opening the Scriptures thine heart would burn within thee and as mettal melted be ready for any mould which God would cast thee into The Precepts of the word would be a light to thy feet and a lanthorn to thy paths thou wouldst love them for their purity find them to be exceeding pleasant and turn thy feet into those ways of peace Thine heart would in part answer Gods holy Law as the Counterpain the original Deed and thou shouldst so behold the face of the Lord in the glass of his Word that thou shouldst be changed into his image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 The threatnings of the word though they portend and speak dreadful thing as Nebuchadnezzars dream yet those fearful faithful dreams would belong to thine enemies and the interpretation of them to them that hate thee Those doleful threatnings of Gods wrath the delivering up of souls to go on in sin and the eternal torments of Hell like drones would buz about thine ears to keep thee wakeful but could not sting thee to make thee woful wert thou but alive in Christ thou shouldst be dead to the Law and all its curses Rom. 7.4 The promises would be precious also to thee if thou wert converted thou wouldst have the mouth of Faith with which thou shouldst suck much warm heart-cheering milk from those brests of consolation Isa 66.11 To thee the Promises would be encouragements to service the threatnings affrightments from sin the precepts directions to sanctity if thy heart were sorrowful the promises would enliven it if secure the threatnings would awaken it if full of doubts the precepts would counsel and advise it Of the Promises more in the next Head At a Sacrament Christ would sweetly feast thy soul bring thee into his Banqueting house and cause his Banner over thee to be love when others feed onely upon Elements thou shouldest feed on the Sacrament and finde his flesh to be meat indeed and his blood to be drink indeed when others stood at the door and are put off with some poor scraps as much as they came for thou shouldst be called in sit at his own table feasted with the fat things of his house drink of the rivers of his own pleasures continue under his shadow with great delight and know his fruit sweet unto thy taste when thou sawest with the eye of faith the board spred and richly furnished with variety of dainties all the Cordials and sweet-meats of the Gospel among the rest with that love which is better then wine thou shouldst hear a voice from the Spirit within thee Eat O Freind drink abundantly O Beloved which how ravishing it would be to thine ears and how refreshing to thine heart no tongue can tell O Reader hadst thou ever found at a Sacrament what it is to sup with Christ and Christ with thee thou wouldst scorn the life of an Emperor for the life of a new Creature In Prayer God and thy soul would sweetly converse together Thy petitions would ascend up to him and his righthand-kindnesses would descend on thee In this duty thou wouldst call turning his precepts into prayers and he would answer by turning his promises into performances Many many a blessing shouldst thou obtain kneeling This vessel would never return though somtimes it might seem to tarry long but richly laden The crop of Gods answer would be far greater then the seed of thy prayer out of which it grew The Prodigal desired but the liberty of a servant but the Father bestowed on him the dignity of a son the King asked life and thou gavest it him yea a length of days for ever and ever his glory is great in thy Salvation honour and majesty hast thou put upon him Ps 21.4 5. As a merchant in a morning will get Five hundred or a Thousand pound by a bargain truly thou shouldst by a duty in a morning or evening get thousands nay millions at a clap increase of grace a supply of thy spiritual wants the subduing of thy secret wickedness peace of conscience communion with God joy in the spirit which are more worth then the whole earth In brief Christ would be thy Shepherd feed thee in green pastures lead thee by the still waters and take care that thou be fat and flourishing As the root sendeth up its sap through the bark to all its living branches whereby they continue living and bring forth fruit so if thou wert but regenerated and a living branch thou shouldst derive the sap of grace through ordinances from Christ thy root whereby thou shouldst persevere in spiritual life and glorify God by bringing forth much fruit All the promises of God should be thy portion Reader thou art not able to conceive the unsearchable riches which are laid up in the promises Well may the Apostle call them exceeding great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1.4 The promises are the great Charter containing all the priviledges which were purchased by Christ like an apothecaries shop they are full of various salves for every sore of precious remedies for every malady of choice cordials to enliven thee with spiritual consolation in the saddest condition One promise is of unspeakable worth As every precious stone so every
wanting but it may be made up by this blessing If thou dost hearken unto the voyce of the Lord thy God blessed shalt thou be in the city and in the field blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattel Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out and blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in Deut. 28.1 to 14. verse Thou wouldst be a blessing to thy neighbours as a conduite yield clear water for others comfort If they were prophane they might be brought to mind piety by thy precepts and pattern If they were good they would rejoyce at thy conversion to God and like Abraham make a feast at the weaning of thee a child of the promise from the breasts of the creatures Thou shouldst be blessed in thy name The memory of the just is blessed Prov. 10.7 Thy name would be heir to thy life as soon as ever thy nature were religious thy name would be reverend and when thou diest thou wouldst go out of this world like some sweet perfume leaving a fragrant savour behind thee O Reader how many sheets might I write in relating thy felicity How honourable shouldst thou be having blood royal running in thy veins and being heir apparent to a Kingdom of glory How rich having a key to Gods treasury and being interested in the covenant of grace which hath more wealth in it then heaven and earth How comfortable having the promises for thy cordials and being garrisond within with that peace of God which passeth all understanding How beautiful having the robes of the righteousness of God to adorn thee which is infinitely more comly then the unspotted innocency either of Adam or Angels The infinite God would be thy God blessed Angels thy guardians beautiful Saints thy companions durable riches thy portion the flesh of Christ thy food his own robes thy raiment and his own mansion house thine everlasting home Thou couldst not cast an eye but it would see matter of mirth nor send forth a thought but it would return with a report of mercy Whether thou lookest up to thy father in heaven and his glorious attendants there or lookest down to his creatures on earth and the signs of his manifold wisdom and mighty power here or whether thou lookest into conscience or Scriptures every thing all things would yeild thee cause of comfort and give thee occasion of inward exaltation In all conditions be they never so sad thy soul would be safe and thine everlasting estate secure The vails are incertain but the standing wages are certain What ballast is to a ship that regeneration would be to thy spirit If the vessel be sound and well ballasted though it may be tossed and rocked with windes and waves yet it shall not be ruined So if thine heart were stablished with grace thou shouldst be steady in the greatest storm nay though thou wert naked in deep waters in the mighty Sea yet Christ thine head being ever above water thou couldst not possibly sink When thou shouldst come to die and to throw thy last cast for Eternity thou mightest walk in the valley of the shadow of death and fear none ill for God would be with thee Psal 23. When pale-faced death knocks at the door of thine house of clay by the hand of some mortal sickness thou needst not be daunted at his grim looks but mightest boldly open to him and bid that Messenger heartily welcom as knowing that he comes from a God in Covenant to give thee a passage into fulness of joy and everlasting pleasures It s reported of Godfry Duke of Bulloign in his expedition to the Holy-Land that when his Army came within view of Jerusalem beholding the high Turrets and fair Fronts which were the skelitons of far more glorious bodies they were so transported with joy that they gave such a shout that the very earth was said to ring again How might thine heart leap with joy when thou upon thy death-bed shouldst with the eye of faith behold the stately Turrets and pearly gates of the New and Eternal Jerusalem Thou mightest contentedly leave thine earthly habitation for the Fathers house and joyfully bid adieu to thy corruptible silver and airy honors for an enduring substance and an eternal weight of glory How cheerfully mightest thou forsake thy meat and drink and all thy carnal comforts to eat bread in the Kingdom of Heaven and to bathe thy soul in angelical delights With what courage mightest thou bid farewel to thy stately dwelling dearest wife most lovely children all thy kindred and acquaintance to go to mount Sion and to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant Hebr. 12.22 23 24. Thou shouldst comfortably think of thy bodies being laid in the grave to sleep there till the morning of the Resurrection for that bed would be sweet to thee being perfumed with the precious body of thy Saviour for thee And with what joy mightest thou think of the day of Judgement when thy body should be awaken out of its sleep united to thy soul fashioned like unto the glorious body of Christ and both soul and body made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity O the felicity of the regenerate How blessed are they whom God chooseth and causeth by Regeneration to approach unto him Friend Friend Can the world do half this for thee Why then dost thou spend thy strength for what is not bread and thy labour for what will not satisfie Will not God do all this and much much more for thee Why then dost thou forsake the fountain of living waters and hew unto thy self broken cisterns that can hold no waters Ah didst thou but know the gift of God and who it is that offereth these things to thee thou wouldest ask of him and he would give thee living waters John 4.10 Reader what sayest thou to these things Is there not infinite reason why thou shouldst speedily give a Bill of divorce to thy most beloved lusts and strike an hearty Covenant with the Lord Jesus Art not thou fully convinced of the matchless gain of godliness Let conscience speak one would think such powerful arguments could not be denied that so many and such costly Loadstones should draw thee towards Heaven though thine heart were as hard as iron or steel If thou art for profit man here is profit indeed and to purpose Thus whilst thou continuest in this world thou shouldst be a blessed soul The Felicity of the Regenerate in the other World THough in what I have already offered in the Name of the blessed God I have unspeakably out-bid Devil World and Flesh yet to manifest
Cor. 3.8 Rom. 1.12 Gal. 3.2 As that word of God to Abraham Sarah thy wife shall have a Son Gen. 18.10 That word I say gave birth and being to Isaac when there was no likelyhood or possibility of his being from his parents so the word of God give a spiritual birth and being to men and women when there is no likelyhood or possibility in nature yea when their natures are in flat opposition and contrariety to it The word discovereth our diseases Rom. 7.7 Jam. 2.9 makes us feel our sickness Rom. 7.9 applyeth the medicine for our cure Mat. 11.28 Isa 55.1 Rom. 10.14 The word killeth sin casteth down Satan enliveneth the soul Eph. 6.15 Jer. 23.29 Rev. 12.11 Joh. 5.24 Joh. 17.17 Isa 11.6 7 8 9. Rom. 1.16 1 Cor. 1.18 Jam. 1.18 Thus thou seest that the Physitian of souls hath several meanes for the cure of thy malady do not thou neglect any neither reading nor hearing neither fasting nor praying neither meditation nor godly conference neither secret nor private nor publike duties for thou knowest not which may do the deed Christ may wait at that very door which thou keepest shut at that ordinance which thou omittest to enter into thy soul If thou desirest that he should meet thee in any duty do thou meet him in every duty How foolish art thou to take any one horse out of the team when the load is so weighty even thine endless welfare and all little little enough to draw thine untoward heart towards heaven The Husbandman that hath a piece of ground which lyeth at the end of his fallow still balked before will be sure to plough that up and expecteth a better crop out of that then out of any such quantity of ground in the field Reader if thou hast balked any of the forementioned duties for thy souls sake set upon it speedily for undoubtedly thou mayst reap a greater harvest by it then thou imaginest Friend have a care of secret private publike duties for all must be minded by them that would be new-moulded How many thousands among us do wilfully murder their souls some poison them by crying enormities others starve them by the omission of duties It was a pitiful equivocatiof the Duke D' Alva before Harlem that promised the Souldiers their lives and afterwards kild them with hunger saying That though he promised them their lives yet he did not promise that they should have food Art not thou a cheater and murderer of thy foul in promising it spiritual life when thou denyest it the means of life As ever thou wouldst have an harvest of grace do thou plough up and sow the ground of thine heart with all the means which God hath ordained for that end Thirdly be thou serious in thine attendance on the ordinances of God Be in earnest when thou art about soul affairs consider when thou art praying or hearing or reading or conferring with Christians it is for thy life it is for thy soul it is for eternity and do whatsoever the Lord calleth thee to do for the quickening thy dying soul with all thine heart with all thy might for there is no doing it in the grave whither thou art hastening When Samson would destroy the enemies of God He bowed himself with all his might Judg. 16.30 When David was waiting upon the Ark of God He danced before the Lord with all his might 2 Sam. 6.14 So when thou hearest for the death of thy sins thou shouldst hear with all thy might Ezek 40.4 When thou prayest for the life of thy soul thou shouldst pray with all thy might 1 Thes 5.17 Ah how should they hear and read and pray for regeneration that have but a few days nay hours possibly to do it in between whom and eternal burnings there is but a little airy breath and if they be not Regenerated before they die they are ruined they are damned for ever A childe may handle the mothers brest and play with it and kisse it but all this while he gets no good till at last he layeth his mouth to the breast gets the Nipple fast sucks with his might and strength and then he draweth nourishment Reader it may be thou hast minded duties and frequented ordinances yet possibly hast got no good by them 't is likely then that thou dost but play with them dally about them doing them as if thou didst them not if ever therefore thou wouldst get good by them thou must be serious and in earnest about them do them with all thy soul with all thy strength knowing that they are of infinite weight and endless concernment to thee considering that if God do not now hear thee in thy day of grace he will never never hear thee and if thou do not now hear him thou shalt shortly never never more have such an offer I doubt not friend but thou art serious about toys and trifles thou canst rise early and go to bed late and work hard all day and have thy mind stedfastly occupied about these foolish things of the world from which within a short time thou shalt be parted for ever How busie are vain men like a company of Ants to increase their heap of earth O think of it is it not pity such a plant should grow in Egypt which would thrive so well in Canaan How fitly how finely would that seriousness and fervency which thou usest about earth become and sute with heaven Ah t would be worth the while to be most covetous and sedulous about the things of God and Christ thy soul and Eternity Fourthly Be constant in the use of the means of Grace pray and wait hear and wait read and wait watch and wait In the morning sow thy seed in the evening with-hold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good Eccles 11.6 in every morning sow thy seed pray read meditate in the evening with-hold not thine hand do the same for thou knowest not which shall prosper at which the Spirit of God will give thee a gracious effectual meeting for thy conversion or salvation or whether both shall conduce equally to thy spiritual and eternal advantage Do not expect like the Hyperboreans to sow and reap in a day allow some distance between seed time and harvest Physick doth not work immediately when it s taken into the body be confident thou shalt reap in time if thou dost not faint Suppose thou wert sick of some mortal painful disease a dead man in thy own and others thoughts and an able faithful Physitian should warrant thy cure in time upon condition that thou wouldst follow his advice and diet thy self all the while wouldst thou not use all that he prescribed and wait and long to be recovered Thou wast wounded in a moment but art not so soon recovered 't is good to wait Gods leisure what Christ said in regard of his coming in Judgement I say in regard of
was to make me an oratour not to make me a Christian I am confident many a child bemoans that now he is damned in hell which the Father did when he was converted on earth I cannot condemn the education of children according to the quality of their parents nor their bringing up to particular callings this latter I am sure is a duty but that which is first should be last and that which is last should be first Your greatest care and that in the first place should be to seek the Kingdom of God for your selves and children and then other things shall be added to you Caleb gave his daughter the upper and the neather springs O labour that yours may with Jacob have the dews of heaven as well as the fatness of the earth Elisha wept when he saw Hazael 2 Kings 3.12 13. and foresaw that he would slay young men and dash the children against the wall do nor some of you give far far greater occasion of weeping if possible teares of blood in slaying and murdering the souls of your dear children teaching them by your patterns to live like Heathens and Atheists Believe it God committeth the charge of and will account with you for all the souls in your families Gen. 4.3 10 11. When Cain had flain his brother Abel God called to him Where is thy Brother Abel And Cain said I know not am I my Brothers keeper And the Lord said What hast thou done the voice of thy brothers blood cryeth unto me from the ground And now thou art cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother blood at thine hand So suppose God should whisper one of you in the eare Cruel Father Careless Master Where is thy child or servant that dyed so many months or years ago You may possibly think what Cain spake Lord I know not whether in heaven or hell Holy Greenham saith that many mens children shall follow them up and down in hell cursing them and crying out of them for neglecting to instruct them Was I their keeper O think of it with speed and reform May not God reply very truly Cursed sinner vile wretch What hast thou done The voice of thy child of thy servants soul-blood cryeth to me from hell And now thou art cursed from hell which hath opened her mouth to receive thy sons thy servants soul at thine hand Friends Friends what will you do when God shall thus deal with you for your neglect of relative duties Possibly ye may think I deal too sharply but truly the reason is because I know that sin will not deal mildly either with you or yours And should I not give you warning the blood of your own and childrens souls would be required at my hands Good Lord that ye did but believe what it is to be guilty of others blood Heathens and Infidels provide for the body and temporall well-being of their children and what do many of you more Bears that bring forth mishapen whelps will by licking them bring them to a better form Your Children are brought forth enemies to God and are by nature children of wrath and heirs of eternal death doth it not behove you to strive that by religious nurture they may become children of the promise and heirs of eternal life Thirdly Make sure of Regeneration be never satisfyed till ye can upon Scripture grounds affirme that your natures are regenerated This this is the one thing necessary Your All hangs upon this hinge If this be not done ye are undone undone eternally All your profession civility priviledges guifts duties are cyphers and signify nothing unless Regeneration be the figure put before them It is Regeneration that will make you the sons of God the members of Christ the temples of the Spirit that will give you an holy improvement of all providences a right to all the promises and at last the purchased possession It is Regeneration that will teach you to live like men like Christians like Angels in the love and fruition of the infinitely blessed God O the price of this pearl is not known in this beggerly world A grave and wise Counsellour of France being desirous in his old age to retire himself was intreated by the King to write down some directions and leave with him for the more prosperous government of his Realm The Counsellour took some paper and wrote on the top Moderation in the middle Moderation at the bottom Moderation Demosthenes being asked what was the chief thing in an Oratour answered Elocution and being demanded the same question three times what made an Oratour he still gave the same answer Aug. â—pist 56. ad Di osc Augustine being demanded what was the greatest requisite of a Christian What was the first second and third still answered Humility Humility Humility Truly what the Counsellour said of Moderation the Grecian of Elocution and the Father of Humility I shall say of Regeneration If you ask me what is the chiefest thing in the world for a man to mind What is that which is worthy of all his time and strength and thoughts and words and actions I answer Regeneration If you demand What is that which is of greatest necessity and excellency that bringeth in the greatest profit delight and happiness I answer Regeneration He that hath this hath all that is worth having the having of this is heaven He that wanteth this hath nothing the whole world cannot make up the want of this the want of this is hell O Sirs your everlasting making or marring dependeth upon your sincerity or hypocrisie in this Of what infinite consequence is it therefore to you in whatsoever ye come short to make sure here Alas when ye come to throw your last cast for eternity how will the stoutest of you do to look death in the face without Regeneration in your hearts God hath in an hundred texts of Scripture devoted all unregenerate ones to the unquenchable fire and can any of you think to make him a lyer Believe it as soon as death landeth you at the other world you will have other thoughts of God and his Truths then now ye have For your help in this work which is of such absolute indispensable necessity unto your never dying souls I commend to you this Treatise beseeching the blessed God to make it serviceable unto your salvations Ignatius when he heard a clock strike would say I have one hour more to answer for I must tell you that ye have eighteen hours eighteen Sermons more to answer for When they were preached they had from some of you a favourable attention now they are printed it is not unknown what providence brought them to the press I wish they may have within you all an effectual operation that both the Author and his labors may appear to your joy at that great and terrible day These things being signified Act. 20.32 I commend you to God and to the word of
is wanting as severall things will be are added So when this new building of Regeneration is erected the Spirit of God makes use of the old substantial materials the soul and its faculties the body and its members which were in man before onely polisheth and purifieth them and squareth them according to the rule of Gods word it hews off what is unsound and sinfull and bestoweth that grace and holiness which is needfull He taketh not away our beings but the wickedness and crookedness of our beings and addeth a new gracious beauty which we had not before We put off the rags of the old man and put on the Robes of the new man and continue in regard of substance the same men Again I call it a renewing partly because of the great change which is wrought in a man converted New things differ much from old for the better O how wonderfully doth the new born soul differ from his former self As Saul when he received the spirit of courage became another man 1 Sam. 10.6 so doth the Christian when he receiveth the spirit of grace He is not in some sense the same man he was before he liveth a new life he walketh in a new way he steereth his course by a new compass and towards a new coast His Principle is new his Pattern is new his Practices are new his Projects are new all is new He ravels out all he had wove before and employeth himself wholly about another work What a change is there when the blind see the deaf hear the dumb speak the lame walk the dead live when the Lion is turned into a Lamb darkness into light sickness into health why all this and more is done in Regeneration when a sinner is changed into a Saint It is therefore most fitly called Conversion Acts 15.3 which is a term borrowed from travellers who being out of their way turn about and so get into it leaving the way in which they were and taking another if need be quite contrary to it The sinner is born with his heart and face towards the flesh the world and hell and with his back towards God holiness and heaven and so he goeth on a many years possibly till God convert him and turn him about then his back is towards the former his face and heart towards the latter his whole life before was a departure every action being a step from God his whole life now is a drawing nigh every duty being a nearer approach to God A man and a beast differ much in their lives but a natural and regenerate person differ far more even as so far as the Spirit of God which is the principle of a Christian life differeth from the rational spirit of a man Extraordinary and strange things are called new Acts 17.19 Jer. 31.22 Well may the Convert be called a new creature the work of Conversion making such a wonderful alteration that carnall men admire it They think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excesse of riot 1 Pet. 4.3 4. nay those that are thus renewed wonder at themselves Being called out of darknesse into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 Wofull darknesse makes it wonderfull light As a man that hath been all his dayes kept in a dark prison and never beheld the Sun when he cometh to be set at liberty and see the light he stands amazed wondering at it 2 The Subject I call it a renewing of the whole man As in our fist birth not one part or member is born but every one so in our second birth the whole man is new born By our first birth the whole man is polluted and therefore by our second birth the whole man must be purified Original sin defileth the whole man from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet and Regeneration refineth the whole man soul body and spirit Rom. 3.13 14. 1 Thes 5.23 The plaister must be as broad as the sore the leaven of grace doth season the whole lump Old things passe away and behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 The water of life within is not like a Spring which ariseth in some parcel of ground and terminateth in the same but like the Ocean which compasseth about the whole little world of man As when Gods laws were written in Tables of stone The Tables wâ—re written on both their sides on the one side on the other were they written Exod. 32.15 the Tables were written all over they were full of the Law so the spiritual Tables have the Law the image of God written on every side body and soul every part of each an inward conformity in the heart an outward correspondency in the life In the new creature though every part be not throughout sanctified yet he is sanctified in every part throughout he hath a perfection of parts though not of degrees Regeneration like the Sun goeth through the twelve signs of the Zodiack there is nothing hid from the heat thereof it moveth in and worketh upon every faculty of the soul and every member of the body but the image of God is principally in the soul or the inner man Heb. 8.10 Rom. 7.22 Eph. 4.23 As the heart being the forge of the spirits is the chief seat of a natural so also of a spiritual life The Kings Daughter is most glorious within though her cloathing without be likewise of wrought gold there Satan before had his Throne it was as a childs pocket full of trash or as a ditch full of mud and dirt but now Christ will make â—hat place the sâ—at of his Empire and fill it like a Cabinet with precious jewels and indeed the soul being spiritual is principally â—apable of his image who is a spirit I shall shew how the soul in its faculties and the body in its members are both renewed In the soul I shall cousider 1 The Understanding to which the spirit of God makes its approach in the first place inlightning it in the knowledge of sin and the Saviour Eph. 4.23 The understanding to a man is as a window to an house which before being continually shut and little light appearing 't was no wonder that the heart lay so sluttishly and was so full of the deeds of darknesse but now God reneweth the soul in knowledge after the image of him that created him Col. 3.10 before the god of this world had blinded the mind that it could see neither the emptinesse of the world nor the preciousnesse of the word nor the lothsomness of sin nor the loveliness of the Saviour nor the vanity of the creature nor the excellency of the Divine nature but whereas the man was blind before now he seeth being made spiritual he judgeth all things 1 Cor. 2.14.15 He judgeth the things of heaven to be far better then the things of earth the concernments of his soul much more worth then the concernments of his body and the affairs of eternity far more
gifts from God who never have the gift of God John 4.10 The Raven was an unclean creature yet she was serviceable to zealous Elijah Gifts may be in their eminency where sin is in its predominancy the Toad hath a pearl say some in its head when the whole body is poisonous The Devil can speak excellently We know thee O thou art the holy one of God and these are the servants of the most high God for natural parts and gifts questionless he surpasseth all the men on earth and yet he is a devil still The Panthar hath a sweet-sented breath but a rotten heart It is possible to pray like a Saint to preach like an Angel and yet to practice like a Devil The course of thy life will speak much more for thee then the discourse of thy lips Though thy gifts be never so great and thy parts never so glorious though thou speakest with the tongue of men and Angels and hast not grace this new birth thou art like sounding brass and a tinckling cymbal Thy parts may flow from Nature not from Saving-grace men indeed as blades are all made of the same mettal yet differ much by means of temper some are more soft and smooth more keen and sharp others more dull and blunt more stiff and stuborn for though it be confest the soul of Solomon as created and infused differeth nothing from the soul of Nabal yet being to work by bodily organs her actions resemble her instruments a man cannot make such good letters with a blotting scragged as with a good pen the better the tool is the better the work is done with it Some children take more after their parents then others Though Nature hath little to give yet she deals more bountifully with some then with others Now what a gross mistake is this for thee to take the crabs which grow in the common hedge-rows of Nature to be fruits of the Spirit as if they grew in Gods own nursery Knowest thou not that the false Prophets were admired by men for their parts and abhorred by God for their impiety Friend thou mayst like the ten Spies go over the promised land in thy contemplations view the Country taste the fruit and commend it highly to others tell them that the land is good it floweth with milk and honey and for all this never enjoy one foot of it Parts and piety differ specifically gifts like the moon have some glimmering borrowed light but no enlivening heat when Grace like the Sun hath a clearer native light and a quickening refreshing heat Men indeed like the true mother may have the dead child of gifts put into their arms whilst they are asleep in the night of this life and think that they have the living child of grace but when they awake in the morning of death they will find the contrary For though thy gifts glister like gloworms in the dark night of this world yet if separated from grace in the day of the other world they will all vanish and disappear oh then 't will be known that one dram of grace is more worth then a world of gifts Fifthly Thy sacred performances are not a sufficient evidence for heaven Observe Reader I shall not condemne nay I do highly commend thy external obedience to the divine precepts though thou shouldest be unregenerate because few come so far Athanasius wished That all were hypocrites and that there were none but such as at least resembled Saints It is good to wait at the Pool Christ may come as he did to the Cripple and heal thy diseased soul It may be as much worth as thine eternal weal to ly as the blind man did in Christs way he may speak and begin such aspiritual sight in thee as may end in seeing God as he is But I am now telling thee that 't is ill trusting to bare duties as signes of thy salvation for thou mayst mind personall relative secret family publike duties and yet be unregenerate and perish He that doth not these things is certainly not good but he that doth them cannot thence conclude his estate to be gracious Thou must do all as to the outside which a Saint can do or thou canst not be an hypocrite for an hypocrite is the perfect picture of a godly person now because an hypocrite which is unregenerate may go so far therefore these things are not sure signs of saving grace The Pharisees gave alms made long prayers fasted and some of them twice in a week and yet you know what Christ saith That except our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we should not inherit the Kingdome of God Matth 5.20 They were some especially so frequent at their duties towards God so righteous in their dealings with men to the eyes of others that the Jews had a common saying That if but two in the world were saved the one should be a Scribe the other a Pharisee and yet if thou wilt believe the Lord Jesus he that goes not beyond them both shall come short of heaven And the reason is plain because they were not regenerated Their practices were seemingly good but their principles really bad The tree was corrupt and therefore could not bring forth good fruit Mat. 7.17 The Israelites did seek God daily saith the Prophet they delighted to know his wayes they asked of him the Ordinances of Justice and they delighted in approaching to him Isa 58.2 they there heard and prayed and both with seeming delight nay they joyned fasting to prayer verse 3. farther they adde mourning to fasting Zac. 7.4 5. and yet all this was but the face the shell the appearance of Religion and thereby of no acceptance with God If any beast were sacrificed by heathens without an heart 't was accounted ominous to the person for whom it was offered as in the case of Julian now all the sacrifices of hypocrites are without an heart Isa 29.30 It is recorded that in a certain Island to the Southward of Celebes night by night among the trees do shew themselves swarms of fiery worms which make a shew and give such light as if all the twigs of the trees were lighted candles and the place the starry sphere and yet all this is but an appearance truly thus formal persons may seem by their duties both lightsome and fiery and yet be but a semblance and flourish Low moorish grounds bring forth some course grass but 't is from springs from below when the high meadows bring forth fine grass being fed with the clouds from above The hypocrite may bring forth some course fruit as Egypt from the overflowing of Nilus from the earthly springs and the overflowing of a natural conscience which will be by no means pacified when duties are omitted but the Regenerate man bringeth forth better fruits like Canaan he floweth with milk and honey being fed with the showrs of heaven and watered with the dews of Divine grace Thou mayest imitate the actions of
him he esteemeth the word of Gods mouth more then his appointed food Job 23.12 Mark not then varieties or superfluous fare but then daily necessary food the former might be spared but this for the preservation of life is necessarily required but Gods word was before this Spiritual dainties are most delightful to them that have special grace And truly 't is no wonder that the childe doth so exceedingly long for and love that which is as it were his father I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast quickened me Psal 119.93 Some men say they shall never forget such a friend the longest day that they have to live What 's the reason they will tell us they were nigh death either by fire or water or some disease and under God such men saved their lives so saith David I le never forget Gods Law the longest day I shall live why what 's the matter Alas I was nigh death next door to eternal damnation there was but a thin paper-wall of life between me and everlasting wo and under God the Word helped me it saved my soul I will never forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickened me If Alexander could say That he was more bound to his Tutor Aristotle then to his Father Philip because he had only his being from the latter when he had his well-being from the former and therefore he prized him so much How much therefore doth the true Christian value that word which is instrumental to his being in Christ here and his everlasting wel-being with Christ hereafter So for prayer the regenerate person cannot live without it and fellowship with God in it He is like a full vessel his heart filled with complaints against sin with longings after Christ and his likeness if you will not give it vent 't will burst Prayer is his breathing Godward without breathing the body could not live it would be inflamed and burnt up with the heat of its own entrails no more could the soul unless the Saint should breath often towards heaven crying Abba Father Spiritual breath was the first sign of Pauls spiritual birth Behold he prayeth Act. 9.11 So I might speak of other Ordinances of God for there is a constant trade driven between the Convert and heaven which is carried on by several commodities and if this commerce were broken off he could not subsist He findeth the means of grace as needful to keep grace and soul together as meat to keep life and soul together his heart though fired with this spiritual life is like green wood which will burn no longer then it s blown with the bellows of Ordinances Reader How dost thou find thine appetite unto the bread and water of life dost thou hunger after the Word Prayer Sacraments Commonion of Saints and the Lords day canst thou feed on them with delight dost thou rise from Table with an appetite longing to sit down again Canst thou lay as the Psalmist I watch and am as the Sparrow upon the house top Psal 102.7 Observe the Sparrow upon the top of an house looketh on this side and that side of the house it looketh this way and that way and round about if he can spy any corn and food and when it can see any it flieth to that place and pecks it up so dost thou watch for and resort to the Ordinances of God which are the food of thy soul what sayst thou It may be thou art for high language oratorical expressions such Sermons only are pleasing to thee the dish must be set out with many flowers on which thou lookest more then at the meat Believe it as there is no greater sign of a foul stomack then to loath solid meat and to pick sallats or feed on ashes so there is hardlier a greater sign of an unsanctified heart then to loath the solid food of the word and to pick the flowers of mans wisdom in a Sermon or to feed on the world Or possibly thou art one of the new-fangled opinionists of our unhappy times that are above Ordinances I must tell thee That to live above Ordinances is to live below a Saint He that doth not reckon the means of Grace his greatest priviledge on this side the place of Glory may well question whether ever he enjoyed God in them methinks the begger should know that door again at which he had a large alms a full bait James 1.18 19. 1 Pet. 2.2 3 4. A childe indeed may forbear his meat either in a fit of sullenness or under some disease but if he be a childe his dogged fit will be over he will get the mastery of his distemper and fall to his food again Secondly The new-born creature groweth in Grace the picture of a childe groweth not but a living childe doth After generation followeth augmentation the same word which breeds the new man feeds him and enables him to grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 As the same blood of which the babe is bred in the womb strikes up into the mothers breasts and by a further concoction becometh milk and so nourisheth it The good seed of the word falling into the foil of an honest heart makes it abundant in the work of the Lord Common Grace sometimes like Joshua's Sun standeth still but usually like the dial of Ahaz it goeth ten degrees backward when special grace like the morning light shineth brighter and brighter to perfect day Prov. 4.18 First the blade next the ear then the full corn first they who are begotten of God become little children next young men then old men and fathers 1 Joh. 2.1 12 13 14. The unfound Christian is like the Manna for the Israelites daily use which did corrupt and putrifie or like a pond of water which quickly drieth up when true Christianity as the Manna in the Ark doth keep sweet and as the waters of the Sanctuary is up first to the ankles then to the knees then to the loyns and at last became a River so deep that none could pass over it Ezek. 47.3 4 5. If Grace be true there is a natural tendency in it to growth as there is in seed cast into the earth There is vertually in a little plant the bigness and height of a great tree towards which it is putting forth it self with more and more strength every day So there is in that seed of Grace planted in the soul at conversion vertually that perfection of grace which Christ hath appointed that man unto towards which its putting it self forth every day He that hath clean hands groweth stronger and stronger Job 17.9 They go from strength to strength till they appear before God in Sion Psal 84. This River of living waters runneth along notwithstanding many turnings and windings till it empty it self into the Ocean and grace commence glory The grain of mustard-seed groweth into a tree and the smoaking flax is blown into a flame The least spark of true holiness cannot be put out
the difference between party and party next they hear the evidence and proofs on both sides After that they are shut up together and have neither fire nor candle nor bread nor drink allowed them till they are agreed on their verdict which when they have done they bring it into the Court and there 't is entred and recorded Go thou and do likewise when thou art got into thy chamber first make thine heart to engage and promise before the Judge of the whole earth that it will through the strength of Christ be true and faithful in determining this weighty controversie between God and thy soul Whether the land of promise belong to thee or not next let conscience be called which is as ten thousand witnesses and speak what it knoweth of thy right and title to that estate according to the known Laws of the Lord and if thou lovest the life of thy soul do not wink upon that witness or fee him underhand to make him to mince the matter and be partial in his testimony Foolish pity here is soul-damning cruelty but tell him he is upon his oath and in the presence of the infinite God and charge him to speak the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth O do but give conscience leave to be faithful at this time and t will be thy friend to eternity When the evidence is thus examined let nothing hinder a verdict call upon thy heart again and again whether it be resolved for thee or against thee till this be done give thy self no rest if one day will not serve take two never give over till it come to an issue one way or other Of what infinite concernment is this to thee when all that thou art worth for the other world dependeth on it When thou art agreed of a verdict let it be entred and ingrossed in the Court of Conscience namely that such a day thy title to the inheritance of the Saints in light was tried before the Judge of quick and dead and upon a full hearing of evidence on both sides such or such a verdict was brought in If thy heart find for thee how may this fill thee with joy that thy name is written in the book of life it may keep thee steddy in the greatest storm that thou art an undoubted heir to the eternal weight of glory When the waters of affliction overtake thee and the Devil throws his stones into them to trouble them and make them muddy that thou mayst doubt and distrust thine eternal felicity how quickly may the remembrance of such a verdict upon full evidence settle them again and how clearly mayst thousee thy sincerity like a true diamond sparkling gloriously at the bottom of those waters thou mightest gather Once in Christ and ever in Christ and I was once in him therefore I can never be out of him O Friend thy priviledges are high and unspeakable and therefore thy practices should be holy and answerable But I cannot stay to speak farther to thee here my work groweth in my hands already much beyond my thoughts yet I shall speak to thy dignity and happiness in the second subject of consideration under the first Use of Exhortation and to thy duty and holiness in the second Use of Exhortation if the book swell not too big But Reader if thine heart find against thee that thou art not born again what canst thou say for thy self why sentence of eternal death should not be awarded and executed upon thee according to Law yea according to the Gospel Hast thou read the reasons of the Doctrine and the first use of Information and dost thou not see the absolute indisponsable necessity of Regeneration in all that would be saved Hath not the God of truth as it were confirmed it with an oath Verily verily I say unto thee that except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Canst thou think to make the author of this Text a liar by getting to heaven in an unregenerate condition Dost thou believe that the thoughts of his heart stand for ever and the counsels of his majesty be established to all generations Suppose thou shouldst dye this day Alas how many diseases attend thee the feet of those that carried others to their long homes are ready to carry thee also Good Lord what will become of thee for ever ever ever Art thou able to dwell in everlasting burnings canst thou endure unquenchable flames For the sake of thy precious soul hasten out of this Sodom this natural estate which will undoubtedly be punished with fire and brimstone For thine help herein I have written the next Vse which I earnestly beseech thee as thou wouldest leave this world with comfort and look into the other world with courage that thou give it the reading thou knowest not what an hour may bring forth and the Lord give it his blessing THirdly This doctrine may be useful by way of exhortation and that to two sorts of persons 1. To the unregenerate If without regeneration men and women can never obtain salvation then it exhorteth thee Reader if in a state of nature to minde and labor for this second birth as ever thou wouldst escape the second death Dost thou not perceive by the word the living God That except thou art converted thou canst in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God! Matth. 18.3 Alas what then is like to be thy case shouldst thou die in this condition Assure thy self that all thy Friends and Lands honors and pleasures yea all the help which this whole world can afford thee cannot keep thee one quarter of an hour out of Hell This Law this standing Law of Heaven That except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God is like the Law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered By their Law That which was written in the Kings Name and sealed with the Kings seal might no man reverse Esth 8.8 Friend is not this written not onely in the name but with the very hand of the King of Kings I say unto thee and sealed with his own seal Verily verily and doest thou think poor worm to reverse it to turn the truth of the Eternal God into a lie I tell thee and I would speak it with reverence to the highest Majesty that God himself cannot do it 'T is his perfection that it is impossible for him to lye Tit. 1.2 His hand cannot but make good what his mouth hath spoken His will and word have joyned regegeration and salvation together and his faithfulness and truth will not suffer them to be parted asunder Therefore think of it timely and turn to God truly otherwise there is a necessity of thy perishing everlastingly Thou doest not know as strong and lusty as thou art how soon death may come behinde thee and throw thee and O 't will be thine eternal overthrow though as on Sodom thy morning be Sunshiny yet thou canst not tell
a cursed sianer that roll of curses twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad is thy right Zach 5.4 Thou art a breaker of the Law and out of Christ and therefore an heir of the curse and wrath of the Lord. The curse of God hangs every moment over thine head like a Blood-hound it followeth thee where ever thou goest as thy shadow it accompanieth thee whatever thou dost thou art continually under the dropings and spouts of the Almighty Gods indignation and canst as soon slye from thy self as from it till thou art regenerated Thou art cursed in all thou hast whether they are natural civil or spiritual enjoyments they are all cursed to thee For thy natural parts thy wit memory knowledge head heart are all cursed to thee They are employed in the service of Satan and with them thou fightest against God and thy soul As Jehu against his Master so thou marchest furiously against thy Maker with his own Soldiers Thy Memory is Satans treasury thy Will an agent for hell thy carnal mind enmity against God the Handmaids of thy affections like Hagar crow over their Mistris and make even thy Reason a slave and Lacquey to thy sensual lusts all thy natural endowments are Satans ornaments and as the more sharp and keen the weapon is the more mischief the murderer doth with it so the more witty thou art the more wicked thou art thy wisdom being from below earthly sensual devilish Jam. 3.15 For thy civil advantages Thy wealth credit house-delights friends are all cursed to thee Thy riches make thee the greater rebel and thereby further thine eternal ruine Thy fulness breeds forgetfulness Where the richest Mines are the earth is most barren Thy wealth is like fuel to feed thy wantonness Thine Honor like wind puffeth up the bladder of thine empty heart with pride The more God lifteth thee up the more thou casteth him down the respectful breath of thy neighbours doth but blow the vessel of thy soul towards Hell Thy pleasures are prejudicial to thy precious soul like the wasp thou drownest thy self in those pots of honey and as the silly fish swimmest merily down the silver streams of Jordan till thou fallest into the dead sea and perishest Thy Relations and friends if wicked are cursed to thee they breathe on thee and thou takest the infection wanting this preservative of regeneration They are actually what Michal was to David intentionally in regard of Saul snares unto thee Thy house is cursed The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked Prov. 3.33 what ever cost be there there can be no true cheer for there is Gods curse which mars all this will either rot the timber and pull it down or undermine the foundation and blow it up Possibly there may be in thine house a loving wife lovely children many servants stately rooms costly furniture dainty fare great earthly delights But man The curse of God is there A spoonful of this like Copris will turn all thy wine into ink thy sea of honey into gall and wormwood How can thy sweetest dish be savoury when the curse of God is thy sauce Or thy most sugared cup be pleasant when the curse of God lieth like a toad swel'd at the bottom or thy finest rayment delight thee when in every suit there is the curse of God like a plague sore or how can thy most beautiful building content thee when this curse of God on thee for thy wickedness turns it into a prison to keep thee who art in the bond of iniquity till the hour of death the time of thine execution There is a place which some speak of in the West-Indies where there is extraordinary luscious fruit growing but the inhabitants are so scorched with the heat of the Sun by day and multitude of gnats stinging them by night that they cannot either eat or digest their sweet meats with any comfort for which cause the Spaniards call the place Comfits in hell Reader what delight canst thou take in thy table though it be spread with various earthly enjoyments when every dish is served in with the scorching wrath of God and stingings of a guilty conscience As a feast to him that sate under a naked sword as wine to a condemned malefactor as Dives dishes followed with the unquenchable fire so are all the comforts of this inferiour creation to an unregenerate person Thou art a curse to thy children its ill to have relation to thee who art under the indignation of God The seed of evil doers shall never be renowned Isa 14.20 so Job 5.3 4. If thy children are good thou art their grief if wicked thou wilt make them worse The best of them may smart temporally for thine iniquities When the body of the tree faleth the branches fall with it Exod. 20.5 and O how much more is it to be feared that thou wilt draw them after thee both to sin and Hell It is not safe to be thy neighbour if it be ill to dwell near him whose house is on fire surely 't is not good to be nigh him who is under Gods fury When an overflowing storm sweepeth away the wicked the tayle of it may dash at their best neighbours Though they shall not perish with thee yet they may smart for thee Thy name is cursed The name of the the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 Thou mayst be honorable in the esteem of thy graceless neighbours but thou art contemptible in the account of Christ and his members and when ever thou diest thou wilt go out like a candle leaving behinde thee a stinking savour in the nostrils of the Saints Thy calling what ever it be is cursed thine eathly imployment proves an heavenly impediment Thou art cursed in the City and cursed in the field cursed in thy basket and cursed in thy store cursed in the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land and increase of thy kine and flocks of thy sheep cursed when thou comest in and cursed when thou goest out The Lord will send upon thee cursing vexation and rebuke in all that thou settest thine hand unto until thou be destroyed and perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken the Lord Deut. 28. init per tot As thy natural parts and civil advantages so also thy spiritual priviledges are cursed to thee till thou turnest from sin â—hou enjoyest Sermons Sacraments Sabbaths seasons of Grace and like the Spider suckest poison out of those sweet flowers Roses some say kill horse-flies Is it not sad that those precious mercies should hasten and increase thy misery Thine unregeneracy like some desperate disease turneth those medicines which are administred to cure it into the nourishment and confirmation of the sickness it self the word of God is the savour of death unto death unto thee â— Cor. 2.18 Thou surfeitest of that bread of life then which no surfeit is more dangerous thou growest black and wanzy in the
shall not so much as taste of Thou mayst see a Cherubim there with a flaming sword to guard that tree of life and keep thee out of that pleasant Paradise Nay thou mayest behold there the plagues and judgements the pain and punishments which the righteous God threatneth against and will execute upon thee and all in thy condition In a word thou mayst as it were find thy very self mentioned in the forlorn hope for Hell 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Rev. 21.6 7. While thou livest thou art fed like a beast by a common providence and art a meer stranger to all the saving promises If at any time thou fingerest the unsearchable riches in Christ like the riches which Solomon speaks of they make themselves wings and flye away from thee thou goest every day without thy guard being turned naked into the wide world amongst legions of Devils and soul-damning lusts to be rent and torn in pieces like a silly Hare amongst a pack of Hounds and none to shelter thee or call thee off Many dangers attend thee every day many miseries every moment when thou goest out or comest in liest down or risest up still are those frightful hel-hounds watching for thee and waiting only for leave from God O that his long-suffering might be unto thee salvation to drag thy soul into the lake of fire There is but an hairs breadth as it were between thee and hell And O when thou diest man what wilt thou then do as soon as that Captain death strikes the first stroak whole Armies of woes will fall upon thee Reader I have told thee somewhat of thy lamentable portion in this life though none can give thee a full Inventory of thy personal wretched estate One would think that every line under this head should be as a dagger stabbing thee at the heart and that if there were nothing else but these small guns I call them so comparatively of miseries in this world the fear of them should cause thee to flie as the distressed dove to the clifts of the rock the wounds of a crucified Christ But this is not all the murdering-piece the great Ordnance is yet behind I must hasten to write of thy misery in the other world which thou poor wretch though now without fear yet art hastning to feel As while thou livest thou art a cursed sinner so when thou diest thou art a damned creature Here I confess I shall fail much more then before for no pen can describe no pencil can delineate though both did it in blood to the utmost of humane wit and Art the thousand thousandth part of that pain which thou shalt there undergo I have read of a Court where it was made death to mention death Surely the word Death must needs sound dreadfully in thine ears because when it comes it will strike and that home 't will both kill thee and damn thee 't will part thy body and soul for a time and God and the soul to eternity 't will send thy body to the grave and thy soul to hell Thy condition now is lamentable and dangerous but then O then 't will be irrecoverable and desperate Thy deaths-day will be thy dooms-day wherein the guilty prisoner of the soul shall be fetched out of the noisom goal of the body and appear before the Judge of the whole earth and from him receive a sentence of eternal death and then be hurried by frightful Devils to execution It is storied of Charls King of Sweden a great enemy of the Jesuites that when he took any of their Colledges he would put the younger sort of them into his Mines saying That since they had wrought hard above ground he would now make trial how well they could work under ground Truly thus Satan will serve thee when thou hast wrought hard for him on earth he will pay thee thy wages in the dark vaults of hell and make trial how well thou canst work there Ah who would serve such a Master Look to it and remember that thou wast warned of it For if thou diest naturally before thou livest spiritually thou diest eternally Austins prayer was Hack me hew me burn me HERE but spare me HEREAFTER Spare me hereafter Alas what will thy condition be Thou art in hell upon earth for thou livest without God whose gracious presence is heaven and in hell after death thou shalt never be spared here nor hereafter now thou art a cursed sinner and then thou shalt be a damned creature thy best is past and thy worst to come though thy best portion is a poor pittance a few brutish pleasures I come now to thy misery in the other world ETernal death will teach thee six lessons though now neither mercy nor misery neither fair means nor foul means can prevail with thee to learn them First It will teach thee the vanity of this world Thou now seest it written with the finger of God in his word in capital letters Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity Eccles â— 3 yet thou wilt not believe it As 't is reported of a Gentlewoman that being told so answered 'T is true Solomon said so but he tried the world first and so will I Thou wilt try the world also before thou wilt trust the Word But be confident in the other world thou wilt find God true to thy cost when thine honor which now is but the breath of thy neighbor a thin cabinet of air which every one hath a key to but thy self shall be blown away when thy wealth which hath great eagles wings to flie from thee here shall not have so much as a small Sparrows wings to follow after thee there and when all thine earthly comforts for which thou sellest thy soul and thy Saviour shall as the Pharisees did Judas leave thee in the greatest extremity and bid thee look to thy self Then possibly thou wilt say as Cardinal Wolsey when he was out of favour with his Prince and left by him to the rage of his enemies If I had served my God as faithfully as I have served my King he would not have served me thus So thou wilt think If I had served my God as faithfully as I have served the world he would not have served me thus to leave me in my greatest need to the rage of scorching flames to the fury of roaring lions and tormenting devils if I had served my Saviour as faithfully as I have served my sins I should have received other manner of pay But for all thy faithful service to the world and thy flesh they will forsake thee Thou mayst then cry to the things of this world which have so much of thy time and heart and trust and which are indeed thy god as those Idolaters did to their Idolgod O Baal hear us O riches hear me O friends hear me O pleasures hear me O merry-meetings hear me O relations hear me yea if thou shouldst continue crying never so long thou couldst not have the least help Were
pleasant â—rov 3.17 Regeneration brings the soul to its centre in which it must needs rest The very work of serving God is a reward in it self in the keeping of them meaning Gods commandments there is great reward Observe Pâ—â— 9 1â— in keeping of them The service of God affords such satisfaction that Gods servants would not leave it for all this world though they were to receive no recompence in the other world The Precepts of God are sweeter then the honey how sweet then are his Promises Is life excellent This is the true life Eternal life saith Augustine is the true life This is the seed the beginning of eternal life Joh. 17.3 All unregenerate men are dead are but walking ghosts or moving carcasses their souls are but like salt to keep their bodies from putrifaction for a season The Heathen said of a vicious man that lived to be old Multum jactatus est noâ—multum nâ—vi gavit Sâ—n ad Panlin alluding to Mariners He was much tossed â—p and down but sailed not at all All the time of thy natural life till thou art converted is lost Paul dates his life from his regeneration We count not a tree living for standing in a garden if it bring not forth fruit Is honor excellent Holiness is honorable Holiness becometh thy house O Lord of Hosts Psal 93.5 It 's more honor to be a Member of Christ then to be Monarch of Christendom Godliness is the honorable livery which Christ purchased for and bestowed on the society of Christians He gave himself for his Church that he might present it to himself a GLORIOVS CHVRCH without spot or wrinkle Ephes 5.25 27. In a word holiness is the honor and excellency of God himself Exod. 15.11 He is said to be glorious in holiness he is called rich in mercy Ephes 2.3 but glorious in holiness his Mercy is his treasure but his Holiness is his honor He sweareth by his holiness Psal 89.35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David Great persons though sinfully will swear by their titles by their honors by that which they glory most inthese are their oathes that are most binding with them The great God in whom is no iniquity sweareth by his holiness as his crown glory his great excellency He is above thirty times called The Holy one of Israel This is the excellency which Angels and perfect spirits in heaven and Saints on earth do so much admire him for Is 6.3 Rev. 4.8 Nay as gold Exod 24. â—0 â—5 â—â—v 6. â—◠〈◊〉 16 23. Ps 105.42 Isz 5â— 10 Pr. 1â—5 17 because 't is the most excellent mettal is laid not only over pâ—uter and brass but also over silver it self so because holiness is the excellency the perfection of God it s laid not onely over his Servants his Sanctuary his Services his Word his Works his Sabbath his Temple and every thing that belongs to him but also over all his other choyce Attributes his Power is holy power his Mercy is holy mercy his Wisdom is holy wisdom Holiness is the perfection of all his excellent Attributes For were it possible which is high blasphemy for any to imagine for those Attributes to be separated from his holiness they would degenerate his Wisdom into craft Gurn. Ar. par 2. p. 2.9 his Justice into cruelty his Mercy into foolish pity and his Soveraignty into tyranny t is the Holiness of God which poiseth every one O the excellency the excellency of holiness who knoweth its worth Reader what dost thou think of this third subject of consideration The excellency of regeneration and holiness which God requireth of thee for the avoiding of hell and attaining of heaven Tell me doth God require any thing to thy wrong If God required of thee to live a thousand years on earth and to spend all that time in hunger cold nakedness disgrace paines and imprisonment or otherwise thou shouldst not escape unquenchable burnings and enjoy eternal life thou wert worse then mad if thou didst not accept of and obey such a command How hearty and thankful then should thy acceptance be of Jesus Christ to be thy Lord and Savionr of dying to sin and living to and delighting thy self in his blessed Majesty which is all he desireth of thee O do not refuse when thou art so well offered Is it possible that thou canst read so much of the excellency of regeneration how t is the image of the glorious God the destruction of the evil of evils the fruit of the death of Jesus Christ the end which infinite wisdome propounds in his workings the special workmanship of Gods own hands the high honour and perfection of the mighty possessour of heaven and earth and thy soul not be in love with it nor breath after it O that I were regenerated O that my soul had those true treasures those spiritual pleasures that wisdom that life that honour that beauty that excellency which no tongue can commend sufficiently O that the pure image of God were imprinted on me O that Christ might see the travail of his soul upon me and be satisfied I have read that when Zeuxis the famous painter had drawn his masterpeece the picture of Helena Nicostratus the Athemian painter beholding it stood amazed at its rareness and admired the exquisiteness of it There stands by a rich ignorant wretch who would needs know what Nicostratus discovered in it worthy of so much wonder O Friend saith he hadst thou my eyes thou wouldst not ask such a question but rather admire it as I do It may be Reader when thou seest the Saints admiring the beauty of holiness ravished with the excellency of Gods image so extreamly taken with it that they read hear watch fast pray mourn weep suffer any thing all things to enjoy more of it thou art ready to wonder what they see in holiness worthy of such admiration and such diligent endeavours but I tell thee Hadst thou their eyes instead of wondring at them thou wouldst wonder with them I and work with them too and that hard for holiness The fourth Subject of consideration The necessity of Regeneration FOurthly Consider the absolute necessity of Regeneration if it were not so excellent yet it is a thing of absolute necessity and therefore must not be neglected It is not a work of indifferency which may be done or may not be done but a worke of indispensable necessity which must be done or thou art undone for ever Reader here is an argument which neither the flesh nor world nor devil can answer and therefore it must not be denied It is indeed so fruitful a blessing that if thou hast this thou needst no more every thing that is worth ought is in the womb of it but it is so needful that if thou hast not this thou hast nothing the whole world cannot make up the want of this There are many things about which possibly thou spendest much
Affections by sanctification and his Life by reformation he can never obtain Salvation He cannot see that is enjoy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drusâ—animad lib. 2. cap 2. he cannot have his portion in it or ever attain the enjoyment of it Videre est frui Vision in Scripture is frequently put for fruition as Psa 27.13 Heb. 12.14 Isa â—3 11 Psa 34.12 Matth. 5.8 The Kingdom of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Kingdom is twofold 1. The Kingdom of Grace here Rom. 14.17 The kingdom of God is not meat aâ—â— drink but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Matth. 6.33 2 The Kingdom of Glory hereafter 1 Thess 2.12 Now except a man be born again he can have no right to the priviledges of the Kingdom of Grace nor to the possession of the Kingdom of Glory The Text being thus briefly explained I shall glean some few ears by the way before I come to the full sheaf which will afford through the blessing of God much spiritual food to our souls 1. Observe That Christ is very willing to instruct them that come to him notwithstanding their many weaknesses Nicodemus was short in his confession of Christ and faulty in his coming to him only by night yet the meek Master overlooketh this and presently falls upon teaching his untoward Schollar The tender Father doth not turn his weak childe out of doors but lends him his helping hand wherby he might be enabled to go As when a soul is in him he doth not refuse its gold because it wanteth some grains nor its honey though it be mingled with wax Cant 5.1 so when a soul is in the way to him he doth not reject it for its imperfections nor twit it with its corruptions as those flies that love to feed on sores but as the loving parent beholdeth the Prodigal while he is afar off runneth more then half way to meet him and as the true Turtle chirpeth sweetly that he may cluck sinners nearer to himself 2. Observe A man may be a noble knowing person and yet ignorant of and a stranger to regeneration Nicodemus was a Ruler of the Jews either one of the Sanhedrim or great Council or one of the Rulers of their Synagogue one that taught others and yet was himself untaught in this rudiment this A B C of Christianity how childishly doth he talk of this weighty truth vers 4. How can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his mothers womb and be born How deep may a man dive into the mysteries of Nature how sharp-sighted may he be there and yet as blind at a Mole in the things of Grace Nature may in some men be dung'd with industry art education and example and thereby shew fair spread far and overtop others but yet manured to the utmost it is but Nature still Its grapes will be the grapes of Sodom and its clusters the clusters of Gomorrah The natural man like Zacheus is too low of stature to see Jesus he discerneth not the things of God neither indeed can he for they are spiritually discerned Cor. 2.14 The wisest Philosophers that could cunningly pick the lock of Natures Cabinet and behold much of her riches and treasure were meer Ideots and fools in the things of the Spirit and understood no more of these mysteries of Divinity then a Cowherd doth of the darkest precepts of Astonomy Water riseth no higher then its fountain the light within us or Nature is but a rush candle and cannot enable us to see the Sun of Righteousness the light without us or Scripture is the star to the wise men leading us to the place where the Babe of Bethlehem lieth As the eye without the optick vertue is but a dead member so all humane wisdom without divine inspiration is but learned folly and elaborate wickedness 3 Observe That regeneration is one principal thing which Pastors ought to instruct their people in Jesus Christ though the wind of Nicodemus words verse 2 seemed to blow towards some other coast yet he waves all other discourse and speaks directly and home to this as the one doctrine necessary for his unregenerate Disciple to learn Regeneration and Salvation by Christ are the two substantial dishes which the faithful Stewards of God set constantly before the Families committed to their charges Those that preach notions instead of such doctrines do cursedly cozen their guests with flowers instead of meat which may fill the eye of the wanton but not the heart of the hungry soul Oh what a blessed pattern have we here for our practices when our Parishoners come to us or we go to them what more weighty subject can we treat of then their Conversion without which they must be punished with everlasting destruction Alas how boundless and endless is that wrath to which they are liable though their hearts are insensible therefore though their mouths do not call yet their miserie doth cry aloud to us to instruct them in Regeneration as ever we desire they should escape Damnation BUt the Doctrine which I principally intend is this Doctrine That without Regeneration men and women can never obtain Salvation Verily Verily I say unto thee Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God He or she that is not experimentally acquainted with the Second Birth cannot possibly escape the Second Death Make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye dye O house of Israel Ezek. 18.31 The old heart will unquestionably carry thee to hell the place of the old Serpent He must have a new spirit that will go to the new Jerusalem Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of God Matth. 18.3 There must be a change from Nature to Grace before there can be a change from Grace to Glory Heaven is the Fathers house Joh. 14.2 provided for none but his children such as are born of him a man must be taken out of the wilderness of Nature and planted in Eden the Garden of the Lord before he can be transplanted into the true Paradise For the illustration of this truth I shall shew first what this Regeneration or New Birth is and then give you the Reasons why none can avoid the Second Death unless they are acquainted with the Second Birth For the first Regeneration is a work of Gods Spirit whereby he doth out of his meer good pleasure for his own glory and the salvation of his Elect at first renew the whole man after his own image by the Ministry of the Word I shall explain this definition by taking it in piece and observing in it the several causes of Regeneration When Arras hangings are opened and unfolded their richness will appear First I call it a work of Gods Spirit here is the efficient principal cause of it The Babe of Grace in this respect calleth none on earth Father It is by the Spirits overshadowing
the soul that this New creature is conceived and brought forth godliness is not natural but adventitious to man not by propagation but by donation Man cannot generate himself naturally much less regenerate himself spiritually they which are born of the flesh contribute nothing to their own beings neither do they which are born of the Spirit bring any thing to their new beings unless it be a passive receptiveness as they are reasonable creatures Some read the Text and not unfitly for the original will fully bear it Except a man be born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from above or from heaven and therefore in the fifth verse of this third Chapter of John Christ telleth us Except a man be born of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God and in Tit. 3.5 it is called a renewing of the holy Ghost so 1 Joh. 12.13 Jer. 31.18 19.2 Cor. 3.5 1 Pet 1.1 2 3. Ephes 2.10 1 Pet. 2.9 10. This work is somtimes called a transplanting out of the natural wilde olive-tree and ingraffing it contrary to nature into a true good Olive-tree Rom. 11.24 out of the first into the second Adam now the Cions cannot transplant or ingraff it self It is termed a new creation 2 Cor. 5.17 To create or bring something out of nothing is beyond the power of the strongest creature it is above the strength of all men and Angels to create the least pile of grass God challengeth this as his prerogative royal Isa 40 26. As the old heaven and earth were the work of his hands Gen. 1.1 so are the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness Isa 65.17 Austin said truly To convert the little world Man is more then to create the great world It is further stiled a Resurrection from the dead Ephes 5.14 and 2.5 It is a great work to recover a dying body a far greater to restore one that is dead to life but the greatest of all to enliven a dead soul in the former there is no opposition in this there is much In spight of man and devils to pull down the ugly rotten frame of sin and set up the lovely lasting Fabrick of sanctity requireth no less strength then Omnipotency The Almighty God putteth forth the exceeding greatness of his power in forming the New creature Ephes 1.19 20. nay the same power which he did in raising up Iesus Christ from the dead who had beside the watch of Romans and the malice of hell such an heavy weight as the sins of the world to keep him down Repentance and Faith are the two chief ingredients in this rare composition and neither of them are such drugs as grow in Natures Garden no they are fetched from far It is God that giveth to the Gentiles repentance unto life Acts 11.18 2 Tim 2.25 The stones will as soon weep as mans heart of stone unless he that smote the rock force water out of it by turning it into a heart of flesh for Faith also it is the gift of God Ephes 2.8 Phil. 1.29 None come to the Son but such as are drawn by the Father Joh. 6.44 He alone that caused iron to swim 2 King 6.6 can keep the humbled sinner that is pressed down with the burden of innumerable iniquities from sinking in the gulf of desperation To part a man from his dearest carnal self and to make him diligently seek the destruction of what before he sought the preservation to make him cut off his right hand and pluck out his right eye hate father mother wife childe name house land u◠do all he had done go backward every step he had gone see things with a new light understand things with another heart and in the whole course of his life to swim against the stream and tide of nature and winds of example to bring a soul to this I say which is all done and much more in conversion requireth the infinite God's operation Flesh and blood can neither reveal these things to a man nor work these things in a man but the Father which is in heaven The Minister like the Prophets servant Instrumentum non movet nisi moveatur may lay his staff on the dead childe but he cannot raise it to life till the Master cometh Paul may plant and Apollo water but God only can give the increase Cor. 3.6 Without him we can do nothing John 15.3 We may preach out our hearts unless God affords his help our people will never be holy As Protogenes when he saw a picture in a shop curiously drawn cryed out None but Apelles could do this So when thou seest the beautiful image of the blessed God lively portrayed on the soul thou mayst say This is the finger of God None but a God could do this Secondly I say Whereby God out of his meer good pleasure here is the impulsive or moving cause of Regeneration Of his own will begat he us again by the word of truth Jam. 1.18 Gods good will is the highest moving cause of this gracious work 't was not any fore-sight of Faith or good works not any thing without him that turned the scale of his thoughts for thy purity and peace but only his own good pleasure and pity Ezek. 36.21 22. therefore he is said to give a new heart verse 26 27. because he bestoweth it freely not for mans merit but from his own mercy The gift of grace is meerly of grace For we our selves saith the Apostle were sometimes disobedient foolish serving divers lusts and pleasures But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost Titus 3.3 4 5. so Ephes 2.1 to 6. verse If you would know the grand reason why some are taken by the net of the Word let down in the sea of the world when others are left why some like wax are melted before this fire of Scripture when others like clay are hardned why some have the light side of this glorious pillar towards them when others have the dark side of it why the same path of the red sea is salvation to some when it is destruction to others why the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to babes when they are hid from the wise and prudent I must give you the same reason which Christ himself doth Even so Father because it seemeth good in thy sight Matth. 11.27 his will and mercy are the cause of all our felicity Rom 9.18 1 Pet 1.3 Deut 7.7 8. Grace chuseth thee Rom 11.5 There is a remnant according to the election of Grace so Ephes 1.5 Grace calleth 2 Tim 1.9 Who hath called us according to his purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began so Gal 1.15 Grace distinguisheth and differenceth thee from others By the grace of God I am what I am 1