Fruit may be so also There must be a New Nature to bring forth a New Life I have now done with the Explication of the Text and Doctrine There be two things yet remaining which if there had been time for it were proper enough to have been here discussed 1. From whence it is that this necessity of a New Birth proceeds 2. By what Power it must be wrought The first of them we have touched by the way in shewing It is not Humane Nature as God made it but Corrupt Nature that makes this work necessary For if we had not Degenerated from what God at first made us there would not have been that need of being Regenerated which now there is The latter is intimated partly by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text and partly in Christ's further Explication ver 5. Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit For that which is born of the Flesh is but Flesh 'T is that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit But these the time not permitting I must either Omit altogether or at least reserve till another season The Necessity of REGENERATION A SERMON Preached before the UNIVERSITY of OXFORD AT St. Mary's Oxon. October 9th 1681. JOHN iij. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him Verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdome of God I Have heretofore begun the handling of this Text and through God's assistance hope now to finish it By the Kingdome of God is meant all that happy estate which the Children of God those that are born of him do enjoy as well here as hereafter This the Scripture doth usually set forth by Metaphors taken from all those things which amongst men are accounted excellent or desirable either as Necessary as Pleasant as Profitable as Glorious or on what other consideration soever as being much more desirable than all these put together and amongst the rest by that of a Kingdome 'T is called here the Kingdome of God and the Kingdome of Heaven elsewhere by way of Eminence and of Contradistinction to those on Earth those of Men as much surpassing them as Heaven is high above the Earth This Kingdome is commonly distinguished into that of Grace and that of Glory And they are both here intended in the word Kingdome But especially the latter Those of Grace being included in the former words Except a man be born again except he do here attain the Kingdome of Grace he cannot hope hereafter to see that of Glory To see this Kingdome is not so to see it as the Rich Glutton saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosome Luke 16.23 to see it a far off without being the better for it But so as when Christ says Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God and Saint Paul Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord That is to see it as to Enjoy it and have a share in it And he that would thus See the Kingdome of God must the Text tells us be born again That is he must have a New Nature a new Nativity He must by Regeneration or his First Birth or a Second Birth become a Child of God a Child of Grace as by Generation or his First Birth he is a Child of Man a Child of Sin Now we are in Scripture called the Children of God in a double sense Children of God by Adoption and Children of God by Regeneration Which though they both belong to the same Persons yet in a very different Notion The one implies a change of State or Condition As when a Person who by nature is not a Son is by Adoption put into such a condition as if he were a Son and intituled to the Inheritance The other implies a change of Nature or Disposition As when a Lion becomes as a Lamb when a Fierce nature becomes Meek and Gentle when a Wicked man becomes Holy Like as 't is one thing for a Prince to Pardon a Malefactour and put him into a condition of Not-guilty Another thing to make him an Honest man and not inclinable to the like offence again The former of these relates to Justification the other to Sanctification Adoption being the compleating of Justification as Regeneration is the beginning of Sanctification And 't is the latter of these that the Text means in being born again But though the Notions be different the Things do alway go both together And so the Text tells us Except a man be Born again he cannot See the Kingdome of God We cannot expect to be the Sons of God by Adoption and so intituled to the Kingdome of God unless we be first the Sons of God by Regeneration and so made partakers of the Divine Nature And this is the Result of what we discoursed more fully the last time To shew the necessity of this Change of Nature in those who shall see the Kingdome of God There remain yet two things to be as we then said considered 1. From whence it is that this Necessity of a new Birth proceeds And 2. By what Power it must be wrought And after that to make Application As to the First of these the Ground of this Necessity We are to consider of Man in a double capacity First as God made him and secondly as he made himself God made man upright saith Solomon but he hath found out many Inventions Eccles. 7.29 God at first created man after his own Image Gen. 1.26 27. In Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4.24 Col. 3.10 Void of all Sin Habitual or Actual And had we continued in such a state as wherein God made us there would have been no necessity of this change of Nature We had then without it continued Holy and Happy Had there been no Sin there had been no need of a New-birth Had there not been a Degeneration from what God made us at first there had been no need of a Regeneration to reestate us in it But Man by Sin having lost his Holyness lost his Happiness also As by One man Sin came upon All So Death or Misery the Effect of Sin Rom. 5.12 By one man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin And Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Or as the Margin reads it in whom all have sinned And so Grotius renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per quem By whom Ver. 14. Even upon them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression That is as it is commonly understood even on Children who had not sinned by imitation or as Adam did And so Grotius etiam pueros nullius commissi reos v. 13. From whence St. Paul there infers that there is Sin even in such As without which they would not been subject to Death And David tells us of himself Psal. 51.5 I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me And St. Paul likewise Rom. 7.18 I know that
Kingdome of God Which is partly a Note of Distinction partly a Note of Eminence 'T is usual in Scripture when a word of ordinary use for Natural and Earthly things is Metaphorically applied to signifie somewhat that is Spiritual to add some Epithete for Distinction As when Christ is called the True Vine the True Shepheard the Bread of Life the Bread that came down from Heaven the Spiritual Rock c. by way of distinction from Bread a Rock a Vine a Shepheard in the proper acceptation of the words But they do withall imply an Eminency or Greater Excellency of the things so Metaphorically described then of that which the words in their proper sense do signifie For the meaning is not that Christ is Truly a Vine or Truly a Shepheard c. in the proper sense of those words But somewhat that is thereby resembled more Excellent than it That he is so Fruitfull so Pleasant so Comfortable as that the Fruitfulness of the Vine the Pleasantness of the Grape the Comfortableness of the Wine which makes glad the heart of man is but a faint Shadow and Resemblance of what he is in Truth That he is so Kind so Tender so Carefull of his as that the Kindness the Tenderness the Care of a Shepheard towards his Flock doth but faintly Resemble what he is in Truth So here The Kingdom of God or as elsewhere the Kingdome of Heaven the Heavenly Kingdome with the like expressions do import not such as what Men on Earth call a Kingdome But somewhat else thereby resembled and somewhat more Excellent which God vouchsafes to call by that name as much surpassing that of Men as Heaven is above the Earth Heb. 12.28 A Kingdome that cannot be shaken 1 Pet. 1.4 An Inheritance Incorruptible and Vndefiled and which fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us 1 Pet. 5.4 A Crown of Righteousness which fadeth not away 2 Tim. 4.8 A Crown of Righteousness laid up for us which God the Righteous Judge shall give us in that day Mat. 25.34 A Kingdome prepared for us from the beginning of the world By the Kingdome of God therefore we are to understand that Glory that Happiness that Blessed Condition whatever it is which the Children of God those that are born again do seek after and shall enjoy Partly in this life where it is called the Kingdome of Grace and partly hereafter which is the Kingdome of Glory And thus we are to understand it in Mat. 6.33 Seek first the Kingdome of God and his righteousness And 1. Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Gal. 5.19 21. The works of the flesh are manifest adultery fornication uncleanness c. with a large Catalogue of such others which concludes with this They which doe such things shall not inherit the Kingdome of God But Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of God Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdome of God Mat. 5.3 10. Now this Blessedness of the Children of God here and hereafter is called by the name of a Kingdome Not as if this did fully express the nature of it But because as the saying is Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuit prius in sensu We cannot easily apprehend Intellectual objects otherwise than by some resemblance of things to Sense And therefore there being a want of Words and of Notions too which might adequately express the nature of this Spiritual and Heavenly Happiness we are fain to make use of sensible things some way to Resemble them though not perfectly to Express them by And all those things which are looked upon here as the most Excellent the most Desirable in any kind are made use of to this purpose 'T is called Life and Life Eternal 'T is called a Treasure laid up in Heaven and Durable Riches 'T is called Fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore 'T is called a Royal Feast a Marriage Supper a Feast of fat things 'T is called a Reward a glorious Inheritance Everlasting Mansions an House not made with hands and the like 'T is called a Crown of Glory a Crown of Righteousness a Heavenly Kingdome the Kingdome of Heaven and as here the Kingdome of God Not as if any or all of those did adequately express its worth But these being the great Desirable things of the World and which our Senses are carried away with They are all made use of to represent a Condition which hath as much and more of Happiness than all that of Riches and Honours Profits and Pleasures Gladness and Feasting Houses and Lands Treasures and Inheritances Crowns and Kingdoms yea and Life it self And when we have fancy'd all that is Great and Glorious in all these Sensible Objects we must then conceive there is somewhat yet more Excellent than all that we can fancy 1 Cor. 2.9 For Eye hath not seen nor hath Ear heard nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him And such is that Kingdome of God which the Text speaks of Now what it is to see this Kingdome of God is not hard to understand It is not to see it afar off so as to have no concernment in it as the Rich Glutton Luk. 16.23 in the Parable might See Lazarus in Abrahams bosome but without any possibility of coming there But so to see as to Enjoy it and bear a part in it So to see as when Christ saith Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Or as Saint Paul 2 Cor. 3.18 So to see the Glory of God as to be changed into the same image from glory to glory Or as St. John 1 Joh. 3.2 Behold we are now the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be But when he shall appear or as the words may as well be rendered when it shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is An Operative sight not meerly Speculative So here To see it is To enjoy it or as Christ explains himself ver 5. To enter into it For what is here said He cannot See the Kingdome of God is there He cannot Enter into the Kingdome of God Or to Inherit it As 1 Cor. 15.50 Flesh and bloud cannot Inherit the Kingdome of God To See the Kingdome of God therefore is to Enjoy to Enter into and to Inherit that Glory that Happy and Blessed Condition which God hath designed for those that he makes his Children But those who are to Enjoy this Happiness must first be Born again For so we heard but now Flesh and Bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of God And as the Text hath it Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdome of God We are therefore in the second place to consider what it is To be Born again or as the Margin reads it To be Born
in our hearts that we shall not depart from him Jer. 32.40 We may well rest satisfied that he who hath said it can doe it without cavilling or nice inquiring How can these things be And the like when God threatens to harden Pharaoh's heart Exod. 4.21 and 7.3 or to make the heart of the people fat that hearing they may hear but not understand Isai. 6.9 10. and seeing they may see but not perceive Mat. 13.14 15. To wit by leaving them to their natural hardness and blindness without correcting it by his Spirit Now that which hereby we prove is this Not that God forces us to will against our wills for that in sensu composito as to the Elicite Act is impossible as implying a contradiction in the terms for as to what we will we are so far willing But that by the Spirit we are born again that is that God by his Spirit works in us a new Nativity a new Nature that is a new Habit of Grace whereby we are inclined to Love and Delight in Good as by the habitual Corruption of our Nature we are inclined to Evil. And this is the concurrent doctrine of the Schools Who I think do generally allow that our Souls are capable of Infused Habits as well as acquired And if by derivation from our first parents we be capable of habitual Corruption I see not why we should doubt but that we are alike capable of habitual Grace And of this for ought I know as early as of that For like as there may be habitual Corruption before we be in a capacity for want of the use of Reason to commit Actual Sin So may God as early put into our hearts the Seeds of Grace which may afterwards when occasion shall serve bring forth the Fruits of good living He may I say when he please not that he alwaies so doth We reade of Isaiah that he was called from the womb Isai. 49.1 and of Jeremiah Jer. 1.5 Before thou camest out of the womb I Sanctified thee and of John the Baptist that he should be filled with the holy Ghost even from his mothers womb Luk. 1.15 And our Church presumes of Infants that they be at least some of them Regenerate when Baptized And therefore For as much as all men are conceived and born in Sin and that our Saviour Jesus Christ says None can enter into the Kingdome of God except he be Regenerate and Born anew of Water and of the holy Ghost doth direct us to call upon God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ that of his bounteous mercy he will grant to this Child that thing which by Nature he cannot have And doth pray accordingly that God will Wash him and Sanctifie him with the holy Ghost And that he may receive remission of Sins by Spiritual Regeneration Nor is the Holy Ghost less able to work effectually afterwards Else why are we taught to pray to God to grant us true repentance and his holy Spirit that the things may please him which we doe at present and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy That all our doings may be ordered by his Government to doe alwaies that which is righteous in his sight And for the King's Majesty That God will replenish him with the grace of his Spirit that he may alwaies incline to God's will and walk in his waies and to endue him plenteously with heavenly Gifts And for the Royal Family That God will endue them with his holy Spirit and enrich them with his heavenly Grace And for the Clergy That God will send upon our Bishops and Curates and all Congregations committed to their charge the healthfull Spirit of his Grace And for our selves That being Regenerate and made his Children by Adoption and Grace we may be daily renewed by his holy Spirit That as by his special Grace Preventing us he puts into our minds good Desires so by his continual Help we may bring the same to good Effect That by his holy Inspiration we may Think those things that be good and by his mercifull Guiding we may Perform the same That God who did teach the hearts of his faithfull people by sending them the light of his holy Spirit will grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things That because by the weakness of our mortal nature we can doe no good thing without him he will grant us the help of his Grace that in keeping his commandments we may please him both in Will and Deed. That God who is the Author and Giver of all good things will graft in our heart the Love of his Name That he will Grant us the Spirit to Think and Doe alwaies such things as be rightfull that we who cannot doe any thing without him may by him be enabled to live according to his will That because the frailty of Man without him cannot but fall he will keep us ever by his help That his Grace may alwaies Prevent and Follow us and make us continually to be given to all good works That Almighty God will cleanse the Thoughts of our Hearts by the inspiration of his holy Spirit that we may perfectly love him and worthily magnify his holy Name With much more in the Prayers of our Church to the same purpose All which implies that there is a power in God to work in our Souls by his Spirit such a gracious frame and temper of Heart inclining it to Good as before it was to Evil as without it would not have been And truly if we do allow that the Wisdome of man by moral Arguments and rational Discourse may without doing violence to his Will perswade another to Think otherwise than before he did and to Doe what otherwise he would not have done which yet when he doth he doth Freely Nay more if a Glass of Wine though taken moderately and without excess may give a man that Life Vigour and Alacrity as to make him almost another man to Speak Think and Doe what else he would not or at least not in such a Manner and to such a Degree Surely we may allow the Wisdome of God and the Efficacy of his Spirit without intrenching upon our Freedome to doe as much or more than so And either without or in concurrence with such moral Swasions to put that Warmth into our hearts as to act beyond what without it we should have done Nor is there any reason to fear that such Inclination to Good from the Spirit of God should prejudice the Freedome of our Will any more if so much as the Inclination to Evil from our own Corruption or the Temptations of Sathan Especially since that the Blessed Angels and the Glorified Saints in Heaven where Sorrow and Sin shall be no more shall as Freely Love God and Praise him as we on Earth can do Notwithstanding that they shall be
little more at present than to Repeat these words of Christ Joh. 3.3 5. Except a man be born again of Water and of the Spirit He cannot enter into the Kingdome of God And that of the Apostle Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord. A Wicked Life will never bring us to Heaven And then what is like to be their condition themselves may judge The other Enemy to this Doctrine is the Papist For though they talk much of Good Works yea Works of Supererogation Works better than they need to be Yet are they no friends to the doctrine of Sanctification and a holy Life Their first Artifice is to confound Justification and Sanctification For so they doe when they tell us we are Justified by Inherent Righteousness Now what is Inherent Righteousness but Holiness and a Good Life Next this Holiness or Inherent Righteousness doth silently pass into the term of Good Works And here the Opus operatum as they call it shall serve the turn without much troubling themselves about the Habite of Grace or Holiness from whence these Good Works should proceed and without which our Church tells us Good Works Works materially good cannot be acceptable unto God And 't is craftily done to annex Justification to Good Works Else there would be no need for those who have no Good Works of their own to purchase out of the Churches treasury the Good Works of other men and so the Market of Indulgences would fail Next these Good Works are Signally though not only to be understood of Alms-deeds And these principally to the Church that is to their Priests or other Ecclesiasticks as they be contradistinguished from the Laicks or to some of their Religious Orders For Alms-deeds will hardly pass for meritorious unless to some of these Then these Good Works are to be commuted for Penance and the Priests Absolution For though they have nothing of Good Works at all nay though they be guilty of very great Immoralities Yet if they Confess to a Priest and receive Absolution which may be had at an easy rate they are then declared as Innocent as the Child that is New-born Especially if they perform the Penance imposed that is for the most part if they say so many Pater-nosters and so many Ave-Maries or if it be for a great Offence say over the seven Penetential Psalms for that is a great Penance or at least get some body to say it for them Nor is it necessary to this Absolution that they should be Contrite or heartily sorry For Attrition with Auricular Confession shall pass in stead of Contrition That is in effect if they be but sorry for the Penance though they be not sorry for the Sin Or if all this should fail it is but being at the charge of an Indulgence or Popes Pardon That is to purchase so many penyworth of other mens Merits having none of their own out of that Surplusage which those others have had to spare more than to serve their own turn which remain Stored up in the Churches Treasury to be dispensed at the Popes pleasure to those who will give so much Money for them Or lastly if they leave a Legacy at their Death or their Friends will be at that Charge when they are gone to purchase so many Masses to be said for them as shall be thought necessary to deliver their Souls out of Purgatory And in case they purchase more than are necessary for that occasion the Surplusage shall remain in the Churches Treasury for the Benefit of others to be dispensed as was aforesaid And this is what they require by way of Commutation in stead of Regeneration Sanctification Holiness and a Godly Life But I shall leave them And Exhort those of our Own Communion who desire truly to please God to seek after real Holiness in their Hearts and the Practice of it in their Lives First I say Real Holiness in the Heart Mat. 7.16 Men do not gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles Ver. 18. A good Tree cannot bring forth Evil fruit nor a corrupt Tree Good fruit Mat. 12.33 Therefore make the Tree good that the Fruit may be good also Ver. 34. O generation of Vipers saith Christ how can ye being Evil speak Good things For out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh 'T is not enough to lop off some of the Branches in practice so long as there remains a Root of Bitterness in the Heart Heb. 12.15 My Son give me thy Heart saith Solomon Pro. 23.26 And 't is out of the good treasure of the Heart that the Good man bringeth forth Good things Mat. 12.35 'T was Hezekiah's great Comfort that he had walked before God in Truth and with a perfect Heart 2 King 20.3 And contrariwise a Blemish on Amaziah's Good Actions that he did what was Right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect Heart 2 Chron. 25.2 Without which Bodily exercise profiteth little 1 Tim. 4.8 'T was for want of this that God complains of the Solemn Services of his own people Isai. 1.11 To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices I am full of your Burnt-offerings of Rams and the Fat of fed Beasts I delight not in the bloud of Bullocks or of Lambs or of Hee goats Ver. 13. Bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an Abomination to me Ver. 14. Your New Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth They are a Trouble to me I am Weary to bear them Because though these were Good Things they were Ill done And God will not accept of Outward Services in lieu of Holiness I know 't is a Fancy that some have taken up That of those before Christ God required only Outward Services And therefore promised only Temporal Rewards Whereas say they if he had required Spiritual Services the Rewards promised would have been sutable thereunto But sure as to the Services David was of another mind Psal. 51.16 Thou delightest not in Sacrifice else would I give it Thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings that is comparatively Ver. 17. But the Sacrifices of God are a Broken Spirit A Broken and a Contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise Ver. 19. Then shalt thou be pleased with Sacrifices of Righteousness with Burnt-Offering and whole Burnt-Offering But not till then And as to the Rewards promised our Church is positive in her Seventh Article The Old Testament is not contrary to the New For both in the Old and New Testament Everlasting Life is offered to Mankind by Christ who is the onely Mediator between God and Man being both God and Man Wherefore they are not to be heard who feign that the Old Fathers looked only for Transitory Promises And truely they might as well say That when God Threatens In the day that thou Eatest thereof thou shalt Dye the Death Gen. 2.17 't was meant only of a Temporal Death and how comes he then to Punish with Hell As That when he Promiseth The