could onely be known by God's revealing them to us and the truth of such Revelation by Miracles Prophecies and such Arguments as he opposed to those natural Demonstrations and ways of proving things which the Philosophers used And how justly might they have derided the Apostle for finding fault with them because they rejected revealed Religion for it s not being knowable by mere natural Reason if after so long a flourish about an higher and better way of demonstrating those divine Truths he spake of than from natural Principles he had concluded that no man could understand their truth and sense as they ought to be understood till God made him to understand them by an irresistible work upon his minde which is the Doctor 's sense of those words that they are spiritually discerned I put it also to the Reader to judge whether this following Paraphrase upon these words which the Doctor carps at be as he calls it a wresting of the Scripture at pleasure But such things as these matters of Divine Revelation they that are led onely by the Light of humane Reason the learned Philosophers c. do absolutely despise and so hearken not after the doctrine of the Gospel for it seems folly to them Chap. 1. vers 28. nor can they by any study of their own come to the knowledge of them for they are onely to be had by understanding the Prophecies of Scripture and other such means which depend on divine Revelation the Voice from Heaven descent of the Holy Ghost Miracles c. This is the Paraphrase of the Reverend Dr. Hammond and it fully expresseth that sense which by the Context I have proved to belong to the Text. Our Author brings it in at last to examine it by his own comment which since I have disproved I might spare my self any further trouble in defending the sense of that Paraphrase But let us see what he hath to say against it 1. He saies that the Apostle by the natural man intends not onely the learned Philosophers but every one of what sort and condition soever who hath not received the Spirit of Christ. To see what a man will say when he is set to wrangle Dr. Owen himself more than once gives his meaning of the natural man in such expressions as these One which hath the use and exercise of all his rational faculties the things of the Gospel were foolishness to the learned Philosophers of old and the wise knowing and rational made the longest opposition to them And he says himself in the very next exception The Apostle gives an account why so few wise and learned men receive the Gospel But if Dr. Owen's offence be taken that they onely are intended by Dr. Hammond this offence is unreasonably taken for the Doctor intends as his words are very plain all those of whatsoever sort they be that are led onely by the light of humane Reason i. e. who either want or reject Revelation 2. He dislikes the paraphrasing of he receiveth not by he absolutely despiseth the things of the Spirit and yet this is sometimes his own Paraphrase as where he gives the reason why the natural man doth not receive them he says the Apostle tells them the Gospel is the foolishness of God and that to cast a contempt upon the wisdom of men by whom it is despised And in divers other places he useth the same liberty But his chief exception against this part of the Paraphrase is because it doth not express the reason given by the Apostle why the natural man doth not receive c. and that reason is his disability to receive them i. e. because it doth not express that which the Apostle could not possibly intend for he that barely says that any one believes or receives not such a Doctrine will not unless he be a Fool pretend that by saying so he gives a reason why he doth not But Dr. Hammond gives a reason why the natural man receiveth not the things of God where St. Paul gives a reason who saith he doth not receive them because they are foolishness unto him and he cannot because they are spiritually discerned His fifth Objection is to the same purpose with this for he saith the proper meaning of receiveth not is given in the ensuing reason and explanation of it he cannot know them which is nonsense for not to know a Doctrine is one thing and not to be able to know it is another and therefore the latter cannot be the proper meaning of the former nor do I understand how the meaning of a Proposition can be said to be given by the reason of it for I always thought that the meaning of a Sentence must first be understood before the reason or truth of that meaning can be known It were much to be wished that though Dr. Owen takes no care to speak truth he would yet make some conscience of speaking sence 3. He says The Apostle treats not of what men could finde out by any study of their own but of what they could not do they could not receive the spiritual mysteries of the Gospel Which exception I am amazed at because neither Dr. Hammond speaks of what they could finde out but of what they could not finde out by any study of their own but says J.O. they could not do it when the Gospel was proposed declared and preached to them and so the Doctor supposes too and any man in his wits must suppose it likewise for how else could they have called the Gospel foolishness if it had never been known to them 4. The Gospel was preached to them by the testimonies of Prophecies Miracles and the like in the same way and manner as it was to those that believed What then why you may go look for he has onely left us to guess at the designe of this exception But at the end of his fifth exception he says concerning the things of the Gospel being spiritually discerned To wrest this unto the outward means of revelation which is directly designed to express the internal manner of the mindes reception of things revealed is to wrest the Scripture at pleasure I answer 1. If the word spiritually is designed to express not the means but the manner of receiving Gospel-mysteries then Dr. H. does wrest the Scripture by making it to signifie the outward means of discerning them viz. Miracles Prophecies c. But then withal Dr. Owen wrests the Scripture too by making it to signifie the inward means of discerning them viz. the irresistible Light by which he discerns them for inward means of doing a thing are opposed to the manner of doing it equally with outward means And if Dr. Owen saith that the internal manner of the mindes reception is expressed by his saying that they are discerned by irresistible Light I ask him why I may not say too that the internal manner of the mindes reception of them is expressed by Dr. Hammond's affirming that they are discerned by
ready to submit to and then I desire Dr. Hammond's interpretation may be considered But if they neither use this way nor the other nor any like it it is an absurd thing to produce those testimonies of Scripture at all to convince us by them because upon these terms it is utterly impossible they should convince us till we have received that New Light which they themselves pretend to And this is all that I can hope to bring them to viz. to confess their own impertinency in offering any testimony of Scripture for the justifying of their pretence and that when all is done they have nothing to say but the Spirit tells them this is the true sence and meaning of Scripture without enabling them to make it appear to any body else And so we are to let them go either for errant Hypocrites or rank Enthusiasts whom the State hath reason to be jealous of lest they should have some dangerous design against the Government or be prompted to Sedition and Rebellion by the heats of their own fancies or the suggestions of the Devil which by an Enthusiast may be so easily mistaken for the Impulses of the Holy Ghost If last of all it should be said that although God hath not promised this Inspiration we are speaking of yet for ought we know he may do more than he hath promised and reveal the true sence of what passages in Scripture he pleaseth to whom he pleaseth I answer that as I am no way obliged to contradict this supposition so withal I must adde 1. That supposing a man to be thus inspired he cannot prove to another that he is so otherwise than by Miracles which if he doth not neither can he justly expect to convince another that the sence revealed to him is the true sence otherwise than by such rational means as he must have used if it had not been revealed and 2. That therefore if one man hath nothing to say in conclusion for his interpretation of a place of Scripture but that the Spirit led him to it and that to put any other sence upon it is the fruit of carnal reasoning and of the wisdom of the flesh and a signe of Vnregeneracy and the state of a natural man that hath not the Spirit of God which is always Dr. Owen's last refuge and another plainly shews either by the words themselves or by the designe of the discourse to which they belong or by some other way apt to convince a rational man that the foresaid meaning does not belong to them but one that is different from it In this case I say the former is convinced to pretend falsly to Inspiration and in plain English he must be a very Fool that will prefer his interpretation before the other And so much for that matter SECT 5. 2. The principal passages of Scripture which seem to imply Assurance to be a gift bestowed upon the regenerate by the Holy Spirit are two The first I shall mention is that of St. Paul to the Ephesians Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 Now by the Believers being sealed c. some have thought that a testimony of the Spirit whereby they are absolutely assured that they shall be saved must needs be meant But first the words are fairly capable of another meaning viz. that the gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Believers were an evidence that God was now preparing them for the Kingdom of Heaven since upon their believing he had blest them with so many advantages in order thereunto and therefore that he had now a peculiar right to their obedience For this we know is one use of sealing to distinguish that which of right belongs to our selves from what is common Thus are all Believers marked out for God's portion and peculiar by the eminent advantages of the Gospel which he hath made them partakers of and therefore are they said to be sealed by the Holy Spirit because the Gospel is a divine Revelation and the ministration of the Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit Thus when it is said that God the Father hath sealed Christ John 6.27 the meaning is that by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him he owned him to be his Son that great Prophet who was to declare the will and pleasure of God to men In like manner God's giving his Holy Spirit to them that believe in Christ is as St. Chrisostome speaks excellently upon this place his marking them out to be a Royal Flock it is a token of their peculiar designation to the service and obedience of God and a pledge of that Inheritance 2 Cor. 1.22 they shall be rewarded with if they walk as becomes the Gospel But all this is very far from inferring an absolute assurance in them who are thus marked out for God's people that they shall infallibly persevere in that duty which belongs to their peculiar relation to God and the performance whereof is the condition of receiving the Inheritance And therefore such assurance cannot be proved to be spoken of in this place But 2. The words are not onely capable of that sence which I have offered but their coherence with the foregoing and following verses and the force and reason of St. Paul's Exhortation requires it Let him saith he that stole steal no more and let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth c. Let all bitterness and wrath c. be put away The Argument wherewith he enforceth these Exhortations is this that otherwise they would grieve the Holy Spirit by which they were sealed c. i. e. they would plainly contradict the end for which God had bestowed the gifts of the Spirit upon them who were thus marked out to be his Servants and Children This would be to grieve the Holy Spirit i. e. to bereave themselves of his gracious presence and to come in danger of being excluded for ever out of the Rest of God as it was with the Israelites in the Wilderness with whom God was grieved forty years and he swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest Heb. 3. And the note which the Apostle makes thereupon is this that we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end vers 14. i. e. if we hold on resolvedly and patiently in the course of a Christian life It is the like Argument which the Apostle useth more concisely to the Ephesians when he disswades them from impure and evil courses lest they grieve the Holy Spirit of God and by consequence never enter into that Rest God had designed for them But this consideration could have been of no force at all if they had been absolutely sure of their Inheritance as some from these words have pretended they were whereas it must be granted to be very prevailing on supposition that by sealing is here meant their being as it were
call this Exposition of St. Paul's Text which I have offered carnal Reasoning and the Wisdom of the Flesh and perhaps he will finde little else to say against it there will be small hope left of doing any good upon him nor is any thing to be done with him but to turn him over to the Quakers and with them at present I leave him PART 1. An Account of what we are taught in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Operations of the Holy Spirit CHAP. I. The General Subject of the following Discourse stated § 1. THrough the Assistance of that Holy Spirit whose Operations I intend to treat of I shall endeavour the performance of these two things First to lay down as clearly and methodically as I can what I finde the Holy Scriptures have taught us concerning his Operations and as I go along to remove those erroneous and as I am yet perswaded dangerous Opinions of Dr. Owen and his Brethren concerning this matter which may seem needful to be debated in order to the present clearing of the Truth and this shall be the work of the First Part. Secondly to confute some other pernicious Doctrines of his relating to the same subject the consideration whereof may be fitly enough reserved till we have concluded what the Holy Scriptures affirm in this matter and that will be my designe in the Second Part of this Discourse I shall begin the First part with stating the general Subject of my intended Discourse as plainly as I can Amongst other significations of the word Spirit that may be met with in the Scripture it will be sufficient for my present designe to take notice of these that follow 1. It is sometimes used to signifie the Minde of man as in Joh. 4.24 to worship God in Spirit is to worship him with our Souls and in Gal. 6.18 and Col. 2.5 and in divers other places This is so plain that it needs onely to be mentioned for where the word is used in that sence the Context does easily lead a man to the right understanding of it 2. It sometimes signifies the Temper and Disposition of a man's minde Thus we are to understand that spirit of Faith mentioned by St. Paul 2 Cor. 4.13 which the Christians and God's Servants also in former times had viz. the same pious temper of Minde in bearing Afflictions for Gods sake and looking for deliverance and reward from him So likewise God hath not given us the spirit of Fear but of Power of Love c. 2 Tim. 1.7 contrary to that timorous cowardly temper of being afraid to endure Persecution for Righteousness sake Hereby saith St. John we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And what that spirit is we see plainly by the former words Chap. 4. vers 12. If we love one another God dwelleth in us It is that spirit of Love that Benignity and charitableness of minde whereby we become like unto God 3. By the Spirit we are frequently to understand the Holy Spirit of God the third person in the blessed Trinity as in 1 Joh. 5.7 There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost or Spirit So also when St. Paul saith There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 we are by Spirit to understand the Holy Ghost for vers 6. he saith it is the same God which worketh all in all which compared with vers 11. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will makes it plain that by the Spirit here St. Paul understands God the Holy Ghost This is the sence wherein I understand the word Spirit when I speak of the operations of the Holy Spirit in us I mean the person of the Holy Ghost But we must observe 4. That the Holy Spirit is frequently used to signifie his Operations or those Effects which are wrought by his Operations Thus the pouring out of the Spirit mentioned Acts 2. plainly signifies his bestowing supernatural gifts in great measures upon the Apostles and Disciples of Christ. So Received ye the Spirit i. e. the gifts of the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith Gal. 3.2 Thus also are we to understand that promise made to the Apostles of sending the Holy Ghost Joh. 14.26 For this being the promise of the Father mentioned Acts 1.4 which was foretold in these words I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh Acts 2.16 17. must needs signifie the same thing with pouring out of the Spirit which phrase as Dr. Owen truely notes hath respect unto his Gifts and Graces So likewise the phrase of giving the Spirit Luke 11.13 is explained in Matth. by giving good things i. e. such good things as the Spirit of God is the Author of to Believers Indeed nothing can properly be said to be given to us but what is capable of becoming our own therefore when the Holy Spirit is said to be given some spiritual good or benefit is meant which accrues to us by the Operation of the Holy Spirit But the Doctor tells us that where the Spirit is given he is given absolutely and as to himself not more or less but his Gifts and Graces may be more plentifully and abundantly given at one time than at another to some persons than to others So that he makes two different things of having the Spirit of God given to us and our being partakers of his Gifts and Graces for according to him a man may have these limitedly That he must have absolutely These more or less That not so And this is a mystery which he hath found out in that expression of giving the Spirit Whatever he intends by this conceit it is plainly contrary to the use of that Phrase in the Scripture for John 3.34 it is said of our Saviour that God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him from whence it is evident that the Spirit may be given in measure Wherefore this Phrase doth not necessarily imply that the person of the Spirit is properly given as the Doctor pretends for he confesseth that as to himself he is not given more or less Nay those words of St. John Baptist imply that the Spirit was given to all other Prophets and Righteous men in measure and consequently the giving of the Spirit unto men cannot signifie the giving of his Person or the giving of him absolutely neither more nor less for he is alwaies given to them in measure i. e. in the same measure wherein his Gifts and Graces are communicated to them The same thing is otherwise exprest Matth. 12.18 I will put my Spirit upon him which being spoken concerning our Saviour Christ is parallel to Gods giving the Spirit to him mentioned John 3.34 Indeed there is little difference in the expressions if it be observed that the passage in St Matthew is cited out of
but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 This is the substance of what I can finde in the Scripture concerning this matter and I suppose it is sufficiently shewn that faith or a firm perswasion that Jesus is the Son of God and that his Doctrine is the Word of God is an effect of a divine Operation upon our mindes and that the first preparations within us towards Regeneration are from the Holy Spirit And consequently that the Semipelagian opinion introduced by the Massilienses upon occasion of the Pelagian controversie viz. that there is no necessity of preventing Grace though Grace be necessary to make our Faith fruitful of good works but that Faith and the first inclinations of the Will to that which is good are merely from our selves is contrary to the Scriptures SECT 2. Now when we are once perswaded that Jesus is the Son of God that which still remains to be done by us is to overcome the world and keep the Commandments of God Indeed if we believe in Jesus we have entertained into our mindes such forcible and prevailing considerations as will not easily suffer us to disobey him in any thing and they have so much power to lead our Affections after them and to govern our practices that I always thought the Semipelagians might with more appearance of reason have questioned the Doctrine of the Church concerning those divine Operations by which the Faith of a Believer is crowned with all other Christian Virtues than concerning those which are preparatory to Faith it self for of the two he is a more unreasonable man who believing God's Word is yet so mad as to go on still in his sins than he who believes it not and since the Lusts of men make them so unwilling to attend to those truths which are against them we might think it were an easier matter to keep the Faith of Christ from entring into their Hearts than to resist the power of it when it is once admitted But now as the evidence of those Reasons by which the Gospel is proved to be a divine Revelation is far from excluding all need of a divine Influence upon our mindes to create a firm Faith in us So neither does the power of those motives which are contained in our Faith render the concurrence of the Holy Spirit needless to move our Wills to that which is good and upon good principles but still our sufficiency is of God without whose Grace the temptations of the World and the lusts of our corrupt Nature which make us unwilling to entertain the truth would always suppress the force and vertue of it afterwards Thus our Saviour told his Disciples Without me ye can do nothing John 15.5 but he did not suppose that they were incapable of doing any thing with him too but that they had power to bring forth fruit unto God and that it was from him Now that this power imparted to them was not merely the effect of the Revelation of his Doctrine to them is plain from hence that they already believed the Revelations he had made Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you vers 3. and yet he tells them that without him they can do nothing which must needs imply some grace distinct from the bare revelation of the Gospel by which they had already bore some fruit and were capable of bringing forth more vers 2 3. But that all those dispositions and vertues wherein our obedience to the Gospel doth consist are as well the graces of the Holy Spirit as the effects of our Faith is clearly and fully affirmed in those words of the Apostle Phil. 2.13 It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do which being again spoken to Believers manifestly suppose a divine Operation distinct from the Revelation of the Gospel which enabled them to will and to do i. e. to perform that obedience from their very souls which would qualifie them for eternal happiness For this is the motive by which the Apostle encourageth them to work out their Salvation vers 12. by universal obedience as hitherto they had done Now because the motive extends to engage us to every part of our duty therefore God worketh in us that we may be every way so disposed in minde and will and obedient in life as to become meet for the Kingdom of Heaven Wherefore the fear and love of God and godly Sorrow and true Repentance and the hope of eternal Life together with all Christian Virtues such as Righteousness Mercy Patience Love Peace Joy Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness and Temperance are the Graces of the Spirit Wherefore Lastly our doing that which God requires and with that fear and love of him which he requires too are the effects of his Operations in us If any thing were yet wanting to satisfie us fully in this matter our being taught to pray that we may not enter into temptation and to pray always that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil would leave no room for doubting whether of our selves we need or by promise have this great encouragement to the study of Godliness and Virtue or not For these directions were unprofitable if we either needed no strength from the divine Spirit against our Temptations or if it were not to be gained by our Prayers Much less would those Prayers of St. Paul for other Christians which we so often meet withal have signified any thing to their advantage or encouragement if there were not a divine Grace obtainable by them for the producing of those effects which he so much desired to see in their conversation And these effects were no other than all kindes of Christian Virtue and Goodness as we may learn by the following places Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of Faith with power 2 Thess. 1.11 i. e. that God would make their Faith fruitful of all good works acceptable to him that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in them as he speaks in the following verse Again we do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work Col. 1.9 10. Thus in another place For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the Inner man Now that which the Apostle prays for in these and many like places is plainly this That those Christians to whom he wrote might attain all those Qualifications which the Gospel requires in Believers And from hence it follows that God hath not left the success of the Gospel to
extemporary praying and to pass for one that hath a double measure of the Spirit with them who are apt to ascribe all Heat and Eloquence in matters of Religion to a divine Principle I do not speak this to undervalue any man's abilities in this kinde but onely to shew that they may be set too high As for them that do so they may undeceive themselves by observing the very Prayers of those persons whose gifts this way are most remarkable for although these men are sometimes pleased to decry the use of Forms as not savouring of the Spirit yet it is plain enough that their own Prayers as spiritual as they look may be as purely Humane as the Prayers of a Book are by them judged to be For it is evident that they tie up themselves to those usual Topicks of Prayer and Heads of Devotion according to which Book-prayers as they call them are framed They usually begin with the Invocation of God by the acknowledgement of his Attributes and then they run through the common places of Confession Petition and Thanksgiving which are the subjects that furnish set Forms of Prayer They confess the same Sins they beg the same Graces they praise God for the same Blessings in all their Prayers Now this is that which I suppose none of them will deny and then I think they must confess that their Prayers as to the matter of them are as formal as those of the Liturgy But further as the matter of their Prayers is confined to certain Heads so for the most part they use the same expressions onely with this condition that they are laid in with such good store of them that they need not use them all at once but may keep some against another time And thus indeed they do not tie up themselves to a form of Words because they have as many Forms to use as may be made by the shifting and transposing of those Phrases which they have in stock and so many Forms they have more or fewer according as that stock increases more or less And thus as we pray out of our Books so do they out of their Memories and the difference between their way and ours for I speak now of those that do not use to talk idly and extravagantly in their extemporary Prayers is this that ours hath the advantage of Safety and theirs of Popularity and Ostentation But I am not able to divine what that is in Extemporary praying as that is distinguish'd from using a set Form which must needs be ascribed to the immediate suggestion of the Spirit The matter of such Prayers is certainly the most considerable and the knowledge of that we see may come another way which seem'd to be the minde too of the late Assembly who although they threw aside the Book of Common-prayers to make way for Extemporary Performances yet thought fit to give the Minister a Directory for the Matter without leaving him to be guided in that by the suggestion of the Holy Ghost which made some men think they might e'ne as well have prescribed a set Form unless they intended to leave the meaner office of supplying him with words to the Holy Spirit But the words and phrases as I have shewn you may come from a more familiar Principle And then there is nothing left but that shifting and changing of places with them which makes the great show of variety But this is so unworthy to be ascribed to a divine principle that I may conclude extemporary Prayers allowing them to be never so useful and profitable need not to be dictated by Inspiration and therefore no such Inspiration was promised by our Saviour when be promised the Gift of the Holy Spirit to all his Disciples Thus have I shewn that neither of these three things come under the promise in St. Luke 11.13 For they are not Gifts of that kinde which are there promised to them that ask the Spirit And I adde it may be strongly presumed that they are promised nowhere else since they do not fall under this general promise of the Spirit which comprehends all the rest But because there are some men so vehemently perswaded that the Holy Spirit is given for these purposes that they reckon it little better than Blasphemy to gainsay it I shall proceed to those places of Scripture upon which such mighty confidence is grounded to see whether they afford any reason for it SECT 4. And first as to those testimonies which are alledged out of the Bible in favour of interpreting or understanding Scripture by the immediate revelation of the Spirit I refer the Reader wholly to Dr. Hammond's Postscript concerning New Light and divine Illumination annexed to his Paraphrase c. upon the New Testament where they are all considered and shewn to infer no such thing as is desired to be concluded from them But if after all any man should say that he knows by the Light of the Spirit that Interpretation which Dr. Hammond hath given of those Texts to be nothing better than carnal Reasoning and come over with Dr. Owen's talk of the Natural Man and the impossibility of understanding the spiritual sence of Gospel-truths without the Almighty Illumination of the Spirit I confess it will prove a matter of as great difficulty to reply to such a pretender as it is to finde out a way to convince a Quaker For what success can any man promise himself by replying to a confident Enthusiast who perpetually appeals from the most evident reasons the plainest testimonies of Scripture and the most rational inferences from them to the testimony of the Spirit However this I will venture to say that if it were granted impossible to understand these Texts without that New Light which the Papists call an Infallible Spirit and Dr. Owen and his party an Almighty work of the Holy Ghost for in effect they are both the same thing then it must be granted withal that these Texts are impertinently produced to convince us who do not pretend to this Infallible Spirit that there are a sort of men upon whom God bestows that priviledge For that theirs is the true sence cannot be proved to us but by rational means i. e. either by arguing from the original words or the Context or parallel places or the like or else by some clear divine testimony proper to convince us that they in particular are inspired such as real and undoubted Miracles This latter way is pretended to onely by the Papists and though the frauds they have been deprehended in sufficiently shew those amongst them that have raised the noise of their Miracles to be Impostors yet it is to be acknowledged that they pretend to offer a rational means of Conviction that their Church interprets the Scripture by an infallible Spirit which the men I am at present speaking of do not offer in the least As for the former way of convincing us by rational evidence from the Text it self it is that which we are
the onely object of Sanctification and subject of Gospel-holiness for this one would think to be his meaning that a man must be a Believer before he can be an holy person since believing of the Gospel is an indispensible condition of obtaining that Grace by which we may obey it for I know not what we should understand by Gospel-holiness but the obedience of the Gospel But this is not that which he intends for if you examine the Chapter it self you will finde that by Believers he means Regenerate persons For he tells us that that the Spirit is promised and received as a spirit of Sanctification unto and by the Regenerate that is unto Believers and onely unto them and withal that the Qualifications of Faith and Obedience are not previously necessary to Regeneration which must needs be true if to be Regenerate be no other thing than to Believe and Obey the Gospel His meaning is that Regeneration or Faith and Obedience is previously required to sanctification which he confesseth to have some difficulty and so do I think too since no man can be regenerate who is not in some measure a sanctified or an holy person But he removes the difficulty by answering thus The same Spirit first worketh Faith and Obedience in us and then preserveth it when it is wrought So that his meaning is this Faith and Obedience are not conditions pre-required to Faith and Obedience but where they are preserved it is necessary they should be before This you will say is plain enough but the Doctor is not content to let it go so wherefore to clear the manner of it as he saith we may observe that Sanctification may be considered 1. As to the essential work of it which consists in the preservation of the principle of spiritual life and holiness communicated to us in our regeneration 2. As to those renewed actual Operations whereby it is carried on And then Faith also may be considered 1. As to its original communication infusion c. into the Soul or as to the seed principle and habit of it and thus 't is wrought as all other graces is in Regeneration 2. As to its actings in us or as unto actual believing or the exercise of Faith and the fruits of it in holy obedience Now saith he Sanctification in the first sence respects Faith also in the first i. e. the preservation of the seed principle c. of Faith belongs unto the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and so believers onely are sanctified And in the latter sence it respects Faith in the latter also that is the progress of the work of the Sanctification is accompanied with the actings and exercise of Faith i. e. the actings of Faith are pre-required to a progress in sanctification and thus Faith is both ways a necessary qualification in and unto them that are sanctified This is that which our Author calls Clearing but is in my minde confounding what was clear enough before viz. that where Faith and Holiness are preserved they must be before and that the sanctifying work of the Spirit consists in the preservation of them which is all that he means onely he has drest it up with formal distinctions and solemn phrases as men use to do that would seem to say something when in effect they say nothing at all For all this while I do not see that difficulty removed how that which he makes to be a necessary qualification of being at all sanctified should not be as necessary to Regeneration since I cannot understand how a man should be regenerated without some measure of sanctification But the worst of it is that the difficulty is impossible to be removed if Regeneration and Sanctification that namely which is the condition of obtaining eternal Life be the very same thing as I say they are and for the proof thereof I refer the Doctor to the Chapter of Regeneration Now after all our Author's designe in distinguishing thus artificially between Regeneration and Sanctification was this that he might seem to grant there were some Qualifications required to make us capable of the sanctifying Operations of the Holy Ghost which no man can deny without facing down the Word of God though all the while he granted no such thing excepting onely in this sence that the Holy Ghost will take care to keep those in a sanctified state who are sanctified or which is the same thing who are regenerated already For to Regeneration it is very plain that he makes no qualification on our part necessary at all and that I do not wrong him by saying so will appear from his own words He saith The chief and principal ends for which the Holy Spirit is promised may be reduced to four heads the three first of which are Regeneration Sanctification and Consolation And this he saith is the plain order and method of these things 1. He is promised and received as to the work of Regeneration unto the Elect 2. As to the work of Sanctification unto the Regenerate 3. As to the work of Consolation unto the Sanctified This is the Scheme of those Qualifications which he supposeth are previously required to the respective works of the Holy Spirit and it is plain that he makes no other qualification necessary to the regenerating work of the Spirit but Election which according to him signifies an absolute Decree of God that some certain persons shall be glorified and if there be any persons thus absolutely chosen I confess they need no other Qualification for the regenerating work of the Spirit But now as the Doctor very well observes this Election is no Qualification on our part but onely the secret purpose on the part of God what himself will do From whence I conclude that if Election be the onely qualification previously required to Regeneration then no Qualification on our part is necessary thereunto and further that if his Elect onely shall be regenerated then no such Qualification can be profitable to any one else nor can it make him capable of the regenerating Grace of the Holy Ghost Lastly if both these things be true then besides many other evil consequences fundamentally repugnant to the very nature and designe of the New Covenant between God and Man it unavoidably follows that the promises of Grace can never afford us a good reason to do any thing in order to our Regeneration Which inconvenience of confining Election to eternal Life first of all and then the promises of regenerating Grace to a few certain persons without any respect to what they are one needs not the Doctor 's abilities to be sensible of though I finde it requires greater than his own to remove it unless a man may be said to remove an Objection by dissembling the force of it instead of answering it For the Doctor proposes it thus May a person saith he who is yet unregenerate pray for the spirit of Regeneration to effect that work in him May he
understand our being strongly and deeply affected with divine Truths for where the Word of God dwells richly there the Spirit of God dwells too Nay I may adde further that there is no need of being curious to mark what respect was principally aimed at by the Apostle in the use of these Phrases throughout Rom. 8. and likewise Gal. 5. and other places and that because the Apostle does not seem to be curious in the use of them himself Nor was it necessary for him so to be in order to the making good of that conclusion against the Jews which he aimed at viz. that Justification was not to be had by the works of the Law but by the faith of Christ i. e. by being a true Disciple of Christ in mortifying the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts. But on the other hand his using of those Phrases of being led by and walking after the Spirit indifferently for living according to the Gospel and being governed by the motions of the Holy Spirit was very suitable to his designe of shewing that Justification was no other way to be obtained but by being a true Christian For since mortifying of the deeds of the body and being subject to the Law of God in that degree which Christianity now required were necessary to Justification the Jew who rejected the Gospel of Christ must needs be under Condemnation because the Holy Spirit whose guidance and incitations were necessary to the subduing of sin was given for that purpose to none that rejected Christianity Wherefore as long as the Jew would not submit to the Law of the Spirit of Life i. e. to the Gospel to the profession whereof the special promise of the Spirit was made he must needs be subject to the Law of Sin and of Death Of sin because he refused the necessary means of subduing the lusts of the Flesh viz. the Faith of the Gospel which was to refuse the Incitations and Grace of the Spirit Of Death because if we live after the Flesh we shall die This Observation I thought might not prove altogether unuseful to well-meaning persons that have not hit on it before for a man may well be in danger of mistaking the Apostle's designe in this and other places where the fore-mentioned Phrases are promiscuously used if he expects that every one of them should have a peculiar mystery belonging to it and a sence quite different from all the rest But that which I chiefly intended was to observe that the promiscuous use of those Phrases in the holy Scripture is extreamly agreeable to that familiar way wherein the Holy Spirit moveth the mindes of men For if we are so moved by him that we are not sensible of any operation in our mindes but that of divine Truth as it is represented to us by ordinary means and thereupon embraced by our Understandings then we cannot better express our being led and guided by the Spirit than by saying that we obey the Gospel And thus you see a further reason of the promiscuous and indifferent use of the above-mentioned Phrases and that taken from the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations as the former was from the end and designe of them I shall conclude this point with inferring from what hath been said concerning it that we resist the Holy Spirit of God many times when we think of nothing less and we do not think of it because we do not feel that supernatural impression which is made upon us and cannot discern it from the free and natural Operations of our minds And thus we quench the motions of the Spirit very often when we imagine that we onely quarrel with our own Thoughts or reject the good counsels of a Friend or the exhortations of a Minister or the rebukes of our own Conscience Now if we could hear or apprehend the Holy Spirit disswading us from any wickedness as sensibly as when a good man speaks to us we should not dare surely to entertain one thought more of going forward A temptation could no more prevail against us if we were thus admonish'd than if God should speak to us from Heaven with an audible voice in these words O do not that wicked thing which I hate But God doth not use this method upon us because we are here to live by Faith because he will prove us whether we believe his Word or not Therefore if it be plain from the holy Scriptures that when we are sinning against the clear Convictions of our duty when we are baffling any good Exhortations and Counsels and our own hopes of Heaven or our fears of Hell or the force of any seasonable good thought tending to Repentance we do then as really contradict the perswasions of the blessed Spirit as if we heard his Voice sounding in our Ears shall we not be as much afraid to do the former as we should be to do the latter For it will not be admitted in our excuse that we did not think of rebelling against the Holy Spirit for our not thinking of it is another fault since we have reason to believe that every sin we commit against the checks of Conscience has that aggravation and why should we think that one fault will excuse another Wherefore if we cannot but acknowledge that the doing of despight to the Spirit of Grace must needs adde an heavy weight to every sin which we commit presumptuously and to every neglect of improving an inclination to Repentance methinks we should tremble to do the one or to delay the other Finally the consideration of this matter if we have any due reverence of God will not fail of making all good counsels profitable to us of giving strength to all our own good purposes and making us careful to improve by all reasons that are proper to convince us by all Examples that are fit to instruct us and by all opportunities of serious reflection upon our selves For the Operations of the Holy Spirit do conspire with such familiar methods as these are to produce his Graces in us SECT 6. From all these things it follows in the last place that the Operations of the Holy Spirit in our minds are Assistances or Helps as they are generally called by Christians of all perswasions not excepting our Author and the Friends of his way But I say also they are properly so called because the Operations of the Spirit are no more than Assistances and that because his Graces are truely and properly the effects of other Causes viz. of the ministration of the Gospel of the external means of Grace and of our own endeavours with all which the Operations of the Holy Spirit conspire for the producing of those effects in us The Spirit is indeed the principal cause of these effects and therefore they are called his Graces and ascribed to him as if we did nothing our selves to gain them according to that saying of the Apostle I laboured abundantly yet not I but the grace of God which
was with me 1 Cor. 15.10 But because they are our own free acts therefore He is not the onely cause of them The Holy Spirit doth not regenerate us in that manner as to do all himself and leave nothing for us to do in order to our regeneration but we are as much concerned to use all proper means of Regeneration as if the whole matter depended upon our single endeavours as I shewed Sect. 4. and that which I say of Regeneration is equally true of every particular Grace of the Holy Ghost It is this Supposition viz. that the Operations of the Spirit are Aids and Helps to our natural Faculties which makes the ascribing of all Christian Virtues to his Grace consistent with leaving the use of our Reason and those duties which depend thereupon necessary to the attainment of them Which our Author understood so well that in his Preface where he complains so tragically of the Reproaches that are cast upon those that dare take upon them to defend the work of the Spirit he pretends to plead for nothing else but the Aids and Assistances of the Spirit very well knowing that they do not impugn the use of reason in Religion as his Phrase is and withal that this Objection is produced by his Adversaries against nothing but his opinion of the irresistible manner of the Spirit 's Operations which very wisely he says not one word of through his whole Preface The onely inconvenience saith he wherewith our Doctrine is pressed is the pretended difficulty in reconciling the nature and necessity of our Duty with the efficacy of the Grace of the Spirit and I have been so far from waving the consideration of it as that I have embraced every opportunity to examine it in all particular instances wherein it may be urged with most appearance of probability And it is I hope at length made to appear that not onely the necessity of our duty is consistent with the efficacy of God's Grace but also that as on the one hand we can perform no duty to God as we ought without its AID and ASSISTANCE nor have any encouragement to attempt a course of obedience without a just expectation thereof So on the other that the work of Grace it self is no way effectual but in our compliance with it in a way of duty onely with the leave of some persons or whether they will or no we give the Preeminence in all unto Grace and not unto our selves And now who would not believe that there are some amongst us who do not give the Pre-eminence in all unto Grace nay and think that if we cannot perform our duty as we ought without the Aid and Assistance of the Spirit that the nature of Duty and the use of Reason in it is destroyed and withal that this man has spent a Folio of railing upon us because we denied the Aids of Grace and the internal Operations of the Holy Ghost Why any man saith he should be discouraged from the exercise of that industry which God requires of him by the consideration of the AID and ASSISTANCE which he hath promised unto him I cannot understand No truely nor I neither nor any man that has common sense For is it possible that a man should be discouraged from industry because he is promised that help without which his industry would not prevail But what is the reason that we hear nothing at all now but of Aids and Assistances when the Operations of the Spirit are mentioned Did the Doctor 's Adversaries ever urge any Objections against them Was the inconvenience wherewith his Doctrine of irresistible Grace is pressed ever charged by them upon the Aids of the Spirit When and where did any of them with or without whose leave he was resolved to write his Book pretend that the Supposition of the Aids of Grace was liable to the inconvenience he promiseth to remove Or rather what can this man say to palliate so foul an Imposture Let others as he goes on do what they please I shall endeavour to comply with the Apostles advice upon the enforcement which he gives unto it Work out your own salvation c. for it is God which worketh c. By all means Sir endeavour it but do not endeavour to perswade the World that the reason why you persecute us with bitter words is because we are not like to be pleased with you for taking the Apostles reason to follow his advice Or if you continue to insinuate this belief of us and to make folks think that the principal cause and occasion of your present undertaking was the open and horrible Opposition that is made unto the Spirit of God and his work in the World since as you go on there is no concernment of his that is not by many derided exploded and blasphemed and that your Adversaries of the Church of England whom you are so angry with for saying that you make a Buz and a Noise and trouble the mindes of men with unintelligible notions are such Scoffers that if any one shall plead the necessity of the Assistance of the Spirit for the due performance of Duties he shall hardly escape from being notably derided by them I say if you go on in this manner surely you must forget all the while that there is a day coming when you must appear before the Tribunal of the Great God to give an account of your Writings But as for our selves to use your own words I shall not trouble my self about an accusation which is laden with as many Convictions of Forgery as there are persons against whom you level these your uncharitable and malicious suggestions Let any indifferent man read your Preface where you pretend to give a Summary Account of your Book and say if the principal designe of it were not to possess your Readers with an opinion that it is our blaspheming the Doctrine of the Aids of the Holy Spirit which enkindled your zeal against us and that you have bestirred your self in the Book principally to make it good against all our opposition that we cannot do the Will of God without them But now if you light upon a Reader so unfortunate to your self as will take the pains to compare you and your self together your Preface with the greatest part of your Book he will soon finde that your Preface was but the Copy of your Countenance and not of your Heart For when you come to give us your opinion concerning the Operations of Grace in good earnest it plainly appears that 't is you that deny them to be Assistances and Helps and that your true quarrel against us is because we say they are Assistances not the onely Causes of Regeneration For you labour as I shall shew you further in the second Part with abundance of words and with all your might to prove that mere Assistance how great soever is utterly insufficient to the conversion of a Sinner and that Conversion is impossible to
Diligence in using the external means of Grace His Operations in us make us capable of recovering our selves by degrees and all the while there is no sensible difference between them and the natural Operations of our mindes and yet we are sure that we have his Assistance and Help in all the good we do and without it can do nothing at all to saving purposes To affirm more particularly what is the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations in us I dare not unless I had warrant which I think I have not from the holy Scripture so to do And if this be all which the Scripture lets us know concerning it we have good reason to think that no more is needful to be known by us SECT 7. Thus I have throgh the blessing of God finished the First Part of my Undertaking and given you a plain account of that which I believe to be the true sence of the Holy Scriptures concerning those Operations of the Holy Spirit which are promised in the Gospel to all Ages of the Church I do not know that I have swerved in the least from the sence of the antient Church in any thing I have said upon this subject and I am the more perswaded that I have not done so being very confident that I have not at all departed from the Doctrine of the Church of England in this matter the judgement whereof I am prepared to leave to my Superiors I had observed that some late Writers especially have represented the Grace of the Holy Ghost under such notions as are either intricate and unintelligible or inconsistent with the great ends of Religion and of fatal consequence to the Souls of men Those of them that cannot be understood serving onely to the multiplying of idle Questions and frivolous Disputes and those that are ministring either to unreasonable Presumption or incurable Despair Therefore when the Streams were so muddy and impure I thought it was the best way to go to that Fountain of Truth the holy Word of God and to guide all my thoughts of this matter by what I could discern there And truely I found that although the Doctrine of Grace as it has been tampered withal by men that serve a Cause and as it has been debased by humane mixtures and inventions is at best a subject of unprofitable talk yet as it is represented in the holy Scriptures it is clear and plain to the understanding and likewise a most powerful motive to Godliness How nearly I have kept to the sence of Holy Writ I must leave you to judge As for the Reader who is yet in any thing otherwise perswaded than I am if he has used diligence and sincerity in examining as I know my self to have done in considering all I have written where we do not agree I hope God will pardon the errour on which side soever it lies I think it cannot be denied that I have in some measure expressed my meaning plainly easily naturally which a man needs not be ashamed to do who believes that he speaks the truth I have neither pretended to explain things that are not intelligible nor made any thing difficult to understand by affecting obscurity of expression As for the profitableness of this Discourse it cannot be better judged of than by that which should be the end of all Writings of this nature viz. the promoting of true Godliness And certainly if the true Doctrine of the Operations of the Holy Spirit be that which I have here offered to your consideration it does apparently render all wicked men inexcusable that live under the Gospel and makes highly for the encouragement of Religion This will appear by surveying the three General Heads of this Discourse for by so doing it may easily be shewn that there is nothing wanting to make the promise of the Holy Spirit as it has been explained the most powerful motive to the study of godliness and virtue that it can be supposed to be For 1. There is nothing wanting in respect of the end of this promise and of those effects for the producing of which in us the Operations of the Holy Spirit are promised For they are all Christian virtues whatsoever all sorts of qualifications that are needful to our eternal happiness And therefore we need not doubt to strive against that sin which does most easily beset us nor sit down in despair of obtaining that Grace or Virtue which is most contrary to our corrupt affections and customs for if God will give the Holy Spirit for all needful purposes he will bestow a more plentiful measure of his Grace for the subduing of that sin and the gaining of that virtue because here his assistance is most needful and he that hath promised his Spirit to answer all our needs will not deny us when we ask him to supply the greatest of all 2. There is nothing wanting in the promise of the Holy Spirit to make it such a motive in respect of those to whom the promise is made because it is made to every one that believes the Gospel to every one I say under a possible condition so that none of us can have any reason to fear that we are shut out of the Promise for I have shewn you it lies open to all and we cannot lose the benefit of it but by excluding our selves Besides the condition of obtaining special Grace from God being that of importunate asking we are hereby moved to earnest and frequent Prayers which you know is one branch of pious endeavour And then the condition of more plentiful Communications of the divine Spirit being a careful improvement of those measures of Grace which we have now obtained this also is a plain and powerful motive to every Christian that has proceeded more or less in the way of Salvation to be as fruitful as he can in every good work and to follow after holiness looking diligently lest he fail of the Grace of God 3. There is nothing wanting in this promise to make it a strong motive to the study of godliness if we consider the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations in us which as you have heard will not be effectual without our own Consideration and Care and Watchfulness because God hath promised his Spirit to assist our Endeavours but not to make us good men without them and our recovery still depends as much upon our diligence in the event as if it depended upon nothing else Wherefore in all respects the promise of the Holy Spirit as it is expressed in the Scriptures is a most prevalent motive to the study of Piety and Virtue And since it was my designe from the first to recover it to this use out of the hands of those men that had made it good for nothing I could not conclude better than with shewing you plainly wherein the force of this Promise lies to make us all careful to Work out our own Salvation O God forasmuch as without thee we are
rejected on pretence that the Author is but a natural man which concludes the Introduction p. 53. Of the Book PART 1. CHAP. 1. What significations of the Word Spirit are needful to be noted p. 56. The difference made by Dr. Owen between giving of the Spirit and giving his Graces p. 58. And what more he understands by putting on the Spirit p. 59. The subject of the discourse stated p. 61. That Dr. Owen confounds the promise of the Spirit made to the Apostles and the first Disciples onely with that which is made to Christians in all ages p. 64. And argues inconsequently from the former in favour of his own mistakes concerning the latter p. 65. That by this way of arguing he sometimes also concludes that which is true from premises that do not infer it p. 67. His designe in all this p. 68. And the disservice that is done the Truth by it p. 70. CHAP. 2. For the producing of what effects the Holy Spirit is promised to men which is the first matter of enquiry p. 72. may be discerned in great part from Luke 11.13 p. 73. To which end the scope of our Saviour's discourse there is considered p. 74. And it is from thence proved that they are onely needful purposes for which the Holy Spirit is there promised p. 76. What effects are needful p. 77. What are necessary p. 79. What are profitable p. 81. How we are to pray for needful Graces of the latter sort p. 83. Several Consectaries useful to our proceeding in the following enquiries gained from the fore-mentioned Text p. 88. An exception to this Chapter from the necessity of Regeneration p. 94. CHAP. 3. The Doctor 's loose way of talking concerning Regeneration p. 96. But at last he concludes the word is to be understood in its proper sence p. 99. That it is absurd so to understand it p. 100. That it cannot be so understood without contradicting the Scriptures p. 101. His argument that the Scripture has no metaphorical expressions of the work of the Spirit p. 106. His manner of charging his Adversaries with turning all Scripture-expressions of spiritual things into Metaphors p. 110. His scornful hints concerning Christian Virtues p. 112. That Regeneration is a metaphorical expression proved from what he saith himself where he denies it p. 113. How Dr. Owen and the Papists do alike abuse the Scriptures p. 115. What we are to understand by the state of Regeneration p. 117. The notion proved p. 119. The Doctor represents his Adversaries notion of Regeneration falsly p. 123. And that knowingly p. 125. The distinction between Grace and moral Virtue considered 126. That the Doctor rejects the true notion of Regeneration in terms that do notoriously contradict the Scriptures p. 128. That he contradicts them also by that reason which he gives for rejecting it p. 130. The charge of Pelagianism justly retorted upon Dr. Owen p. 133. Regeneration considered as an Effect p. 136. Several reasons why the state of a true Disciple of Christ is exprest by the Metaphors of Regeneration the New Creature c. p. 139. Why the expression of Regeneration is more used than the rest p. 143. The scope of our Saviour's discourse to Nicodemus shewn p. 145. A Paraphrase of that part of it which concerns Regeneration p. 149. The reddition of our Saviour's similitude of the Wind explained p. 150. A probable sence of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by our Saviour to Nicodemus p. 155. The Doctor 's Objection against the true notion of Regeneration grounded upon the rebuke given to Nicodemus answered p. 157. CHAP. 4. That Faith is an effect of a divine Operation p. 161. In what sence it is affirmed so to be p. 162. The preparation required for Faith p. 165. That all those Christian vertues which flow from Faith are also the Graces of the Holy Spirit p. 169. That our improvement in those virtues is so likewise p. 173. What is meant by God's dwelling in men p. 175. What was signified by his dwelling in the Ark p. 176. which is applied to the state of the Christian Church p. 178. That God is said to dwell onely in good men p. 181. That their progress in Christian vertue and perseverance is from the Holy Spirit p. 185. Some Consectaries from the foregoing discourse p. 186. CHAP. 5. Gifts pretended to be from the Spirit p. 189. Immediate revelation of the true sence of Scripture not promised in St. Luke p. 191. Either to the spiritual Guides or their people p. 193. Nor absolute assurance of our particular Election p. 195. Dr. Owen's way of proving such assurance profitable p. 197. What the Author understands by the full assurance of Hope mentioned Heb. 6.11 p. 199. The reason why some will not admit of comfort without assurance p. 204. Neither is it there promised that the Spirit will dictate extemporary Prayers p. 205. That in the better sort of these Prayers there is a form of matter and usually of method and that all the variety commonly lies in shifting of Words and Phrases p. 209. That these three pretended gifts are promised no where in the Scripture p. 211. What is meant by sealing to the day of Redemption p. 214. And by the witness of the Spirit p. 216. And by praying with the Spirit p. 218. And by the Spirit 's helping our infirmities p. 219. CHAP. 6. The Holy Spirit given to whom p. 233. The difference between common and special Grace p. 234. Special Grace promised upon conditions p. 237. And not to be expected but by those that perform them p. 239. Dr. Owen's mystical talk concerning the object of sanctifying Grace p. 240. That he makes no qualification on our part requisite beforehand for Regeneration p. 243. And that according to him all praying for it is unprofitable p. 244. That he shuffles off the task of proving his main principle by pretending falsly that he had proved it before p. 246. The folly of trusting to a supposed absolute Decree p. 247. The Doctor 's insincerity in changing his notion of Election to shift off the difficulty of proving his own opinion concerning it p. 250. That he makes nothing to contradict himself as his cause requires it p. 258. What that common Grace is which is given to all p. 261. The notion proved p. 262. Why the promise of common Grace is not expresly made to all p. 266. That it is not properly part of the New Covenant p. 267. That the promises of special Grace are made to all under possible conditions p. 268. CHAP. 7. Difficult to define the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations particularly p. 270. Dr. Owen peremptory and fierce in this point p. 271. His definition of it of dangerous consequence p. 274. Faith and Repentance are in that manner caused by the holy Spirit that they are still properly the effects of God's Word p. 274. That according to Dr. Owen's principles they are not the effects
is good to all his creatures who envieth no man's happiness who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth none much less I say will he deny us his Holy Spirit if we ask him From hence it is evident that the scope of our Sayiour in this Discourse is to perswade his Disciples to pray fervently for such things as are indeed needful for them and that by this Argument that God will grant such requests as these are It is also evident that our Saviour concludes with this Argument in these words God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Wherefore I conceive we have gained one note of those spiritual Effects which the Holy Spirit is promised to work in our mindes viz. that they are such as are indeed needful For it is plain that in both Similitudes the things that were asked either by the Friend or the Childe were really such as they stood in need of the one for his friend the other for himself and that this was one reason why they prevailed Now from hence our Saviour infers that God will much more give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him i. e. for such purposes as are needful otherwise the Argument will not hold For we cannot infer from this consideration that we are ready to bestow upon our Children what they need therefore our heavenly Father will give us the Holy Spirit for such ends as are needless If the demands of Children be not within the limits of Reason and Modesty if they ask not to supply their real needs but to gratifie their wanton appetites it is consistent with the goodness of a Parent to deny such desires as those and to rebuke the folly of them too And if we should ask those gifts of the Holy Ghost which are not needful for us this would be more than we are encouraged to do by the promise of Christ and the compassion of our Heavenly Father may very well consist with the refusal of such Requests as these SECT 2. But this general Rule that we are to pray for such effects of the Holy Spirit as are needful for us would be insufficient to direct us what to pray for in particular if we did not also understand what effects are needful Now to satisfie you in this matter I might presently produce those places of Scripture where the several effects of the Holy Spirit upon the mindes of Believers are mentioned which work belongs properly to the second way propounded for the resolution of the present Question But before I come to that I shall try how far we may conclude from our Saviour's promise thus This is a needful Grace therefore we are to pray for it and then I shall in due place proceed to the second Head under which those Texts are to be considered from whence we may conclude in this manner This Grace we are to pray for therefore it is needful These methods of arguing will indeed bring us to the same conclusion concerning what those effects are for which the Holy Spirit is promised in St. Luke But by so doing they will afford mutual light to each other and infer the conclusion with more strength which I hope will not be judged unprofitable in a matter of so great weight for every Christian to be well satisfied about I begin with arguing from our needs to those Graces of the Holy Spirit which we are to pray for Now because it is some good or advantage of ours that is regarded in this promise of the Holy Spirit and in respect whereof his Graces are supposed to be needful we must in the first place set that end before us by which we are to measure what effects are needful to be wrought in us by the Holy Spirit and then consider what are indeed needful to that end for so far as we understand this we shall know what Graces to pray for since we are to pray for those that are needful and the needfulness of any thing must be judged of according to that end in respect whereof it is said to be needful 1. As for the end it self if we consider that this promise of the Holy Spirit is part of the New Covenant there can be no reason to doubt but the ultimate end of this promise with regard to our Good is our eternal Salvation and Glory For that which is the last end of the whole Covenant is the last end of every part of it Now the state which Christ came to bring us to at last is that of seeing God as he is and living for ever in the enjoyment of his Love For which reason St. John tells us This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life 1 Joh. 2.25 not as if the Gospel had no other promises but because the rest are subordinate to this and consequently that of the Holy Spirit must needs be so Wherefore in that promise of his Operations to produce all needful effects in our mindes those are supposed to be such which are needful for our Eternal Salvation Now 2. We must consider what effects are needful to be wrought in us for that end The needfulness of any means to an end consists either in this that the end cannot be attained without them at all or not so well without them That which is needful in the former sense is absolutely necessary that which is needful in the latter is onely profitable Let us therefore first consider what effects are absolutely necessary to be wrought in us in order to our eternal Salvation what these are we are plainly told in the Scripture and they may be comprised under these Heads 1. Faith in Jesus or believing him to be the Son of God and so one upon whose Authority we may safely rely as to whatever Revelations he hath made of God's Will the necessity of which Faith our Saviour hath told us in those words If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins Though indeed the Holy Spirit cannot be said to be promised in this place of St. Luke for the producing of Faith in this notion it being apparently supposed that whatever is here promised is promised to the Disciples of Jesus who do already believe him to be the Christ. 2. So much knowledge of the Christian Doctrine which is Faith in another notion as is necessary to instruct us in and encourage us to that Repentance and Holiness which the Gospel requires in order to Salvation When we believe in Christ our next care must be to know what his will is and to possess our mindes with those principles of Obedience without which it is impossible to please God For if it be necessary to salvation to do the Will of Christ it is equally necessary to understand his Revelations his Laws and Promises in that measure which is necessary to the doing of his Will and therefore a Believer is encouraged by this promise of our Saviour to ask the Holy Spirit that he may
are to ask of God to give us the Holy Spirit which is done both when we use the formal Petition and when we pray for any Divine Grace or Christian Virtue And when our Souls breath after true Goodness when they hunger and thirst after Righteousness when they zealously strive against every evil desire and every evil work that we may perfect Holiness in the fear of God then do we importunately ask the Holy Spirit we do effectually invoke him and attract those Divine Aids to our selves which will make us what we desire to be the true followers of Christ and holy as he was holy in all manner of Conversation 3. And by consequence the Operations of the Holy Spirit are supposed in those places of Scripture where God is said to give or work any Grace or good Disposition in our mindes for if it be the same thing to ask any such Grace and to ask the Holy Spirit then the same thing is meant by Gods giving the one and his giving the other i. e. as Dr. Owen very often and very truely notes when God bestoweth any Blessing of this nature he doth it by his Spirit So that all those Texts which ascribe Christian Vertues to a Divine Operation and consequently those Prayers of St. Paul in behalf of the Christians that God would make them eminent in all kindes of Goodness are places pertinent to this subject and proper to inform us what we are to believe concerning those Operations of the Holy Spirit which I am now discoursing of But that which is most necessary of all to observe is this 4. That this promise of our Saviour concerning the Holy Spirit does equally regard the Church in all ages to the end of the world For those Effects which his Operations are here promised to produce are needful for all Christians and not onely for those to whom Christ spake in person Now the reason why God would give his Holy Spirit to them being this that they needed those things which he had taught them to pray for and because God was their Father it follows that upon the performance of the same condition we shall obtain the Holy Spirit for God is our Father too and those things we ask in the Lords Prayer are as needful for us and for all Believers as they could be for them to whom the Promise was made at first Therefore the gift of the Holy Ghost here promised did not determine with the age of Miracles Lastly it is not improbable that as by the latter Similitude where it is observed that Children obtain of their Parents things needful for themselves our Saviour doth encourage every one of his Disciples to ask the Holy Spirit in his own behalf So by the former Similitude where the man is said to prevail who requested of his Neighbour what was needful for his Friend we are encouraged to pray for one another that God would give us his Holy Spirit to convert us from all our sins and to encrease his Graces in us This I conceive may be one intention of our Saviour in that Similitude viz. to excite us to this â—…nd of Charity by letting us know that we fare the better for the earnest Prayers we make in each others behalf and it is the more probable because he used that Similitude immediately after he had taught his Disciples to pray for one another by prescribing to them a Form of Prayer in the use of which they could not do otherwise These things seem to be clearly implied in that place of St. Luke which we have been considering and not improper to be observed And now I should forthwith proceed to those places of Scripture which expresly mention the several Graces of the Holy Spirit and shew that those needful effects for the producing of which the Holy Spirit is here in general promised to Believers are in several of them particularly ascribed to his Operations But I am sensible that I should then leave behinde me a great Objection against what I have already said viz. that I have given a very lame account of those Qualifications which are needful to Salvation For Dr. Owen comes and tells us that there is a Qualification of quite another kinde than any I have named absolutely necessary to Salvation and that you must know is Regeneration Now indeed our Saviour saith Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God John 3.3 And this Regeneration our Saviour likewise ascribeth to the Operation of the Holy Spirit Except a man be born of the Spirit he cannot c. vers 5. Wherefore God forbid that any Christian should deny Regeneration to be needful even in the degree of necessity to qualifie us for eternal Life or to be an effect of the Holy Spirit wherever it is But I cannot think it to be so unintelligible a thing as our Author represents it who makes it to be somewhat distinct from believing and obeying the Gospel of Christ. Wherefore I shall in the next place particularly enquire into the true notion of Regeneration and because this is not onely a matter of great Consequence but the great Out-cry which has been long raised by the Doctor and his Brethren of the Separation against the present Ministers of the Church of England is this that we are not Orthodox in the point of Regeneration I shall throughly consider what the Doctor hath written Pro and Con in this Book of his concerning it CHAP. III. Of the state of Regeneration SECT I. THat we are Regenerated by the Operations of the Holy Spirit and thereby qualified for eternal Life is agreed between us but I can by no means grant our Authors notion of Regeneration to be true and I think his mistake in that may have led him into divers others To proceed therefore with the more clearness I come to shew what it is to be Regenerate or born again And here I shall be forced to consider the Doctors notion of Regeneration as far as I can understand it because if the principle upon which he goes in stating his notion be true it fundamentally overthrows that which I take to be the true Scriptural notion thereof For he contends that these Expressions to be born again to be a new creature and to have a new heart and the like do properly and literally signifie that which is intended by them I say they signifie it figuratively It must therefore be debated in the first place whether they be proper or Metaphorical expressions before we can settle the true notion of the words This must be done by inquiring whether to be born again to have a new heart and to be created anew can properly be affirmed of those that are qualified to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven If not we are next to consider what figurative sence it is in which these expressions are to be understood By determining which according to the Scriptures we shall come to the right notion of Regeneration
Literally and properly And I prove it thus 1. Because it is in it self absurd so to understand them 2. Because they cannot be so understood without contradicting the Scriptures 1. Because it is in itself absurd so to understand them The Reason is because these expressions of being Regenerated i. e. Born again and being Created do properly note divers things and yet our Author will confess that the same thing is to be understood by them when they are used to express the state of a man qualified for the Kingdom of Heaven or to note the Causes of that state wherefore to say also that they are properly to be understood is to say that the same thing is to be understood by them and not the same That they properly note divers things is plain for to be Born is one thing to be Created is another Adam by being Created could not properly be said to be Born nor when an Infant is Born can it be properly said to be Created Therefore to Create and Regenerate and to be Created and Regenerated cannot properly be understood when they are used to express the same thing as by all they are confessed to do in the case before us because properly they do not signifie one and the same but divers things This will farther appear if we consider what other expressions the Scripture useth to note our being Regenerated and Created anew It is called our being Drawn to Christ John 6.44 and our being Awakened 1 Cor. 15.34 and our being raised from the dead Col. 3.1 Ephes. 2.1 Now by the same reason as we shall see afterwards that being Regenerated and Created and having a new Heart and a new Spirit and Understanding must be properly understood all those other expressions must be properly understood too and then what monstrous absurdities do we charge upon the Scripture For no man can properly be said to be raised from the Dead that was not created before How can it then be properly said that a man is raised from the dead and created by the same act No man can be said properly to be awakened who is not alive How then is it possible that to give life and to awaken should be the same thing in the literal sence of those words Or how can all these things be properly drawing which in the literal sence is not akin to any of them But now according to a figurative use of these expressions they may be all used to express the same thing without any absurdity at all as any man may see that understands what is meant by them and which I shall ere-long endeavour to explain Wherefore to retort the Doctor 's charge upon himself which he hath laid against those who contend that these are Metaphorical expressions If it be so that they are as he saith proper expressions then our Lord Jesus was so far from bringing the Doctrine of Regeneration to more light by what he teacheth concerning it that he cast it thereby into more obscurity and darkness than ever it was delivered in before And again if all these expressions are properly to be understood the Scriptures must be granted to be obscure beyond those of any other Writers whatsoever always excepting our Author 's upon this subject 2. These expressions cannot be literally understood without contradicting the Scriptures which I thus prove If he that is regenerated be a new creature in the literal sence and hath properly a new nature then there must either be a removal of the former Nature and an introduction of a new one in the room of it or else the addition of a new Nature to the former But to affirm either of these things to be true in the proper sense is to contradict the Scriptures That the former Nature is properly renewed and another introduced into the room of it is contrary 1. To those texts which clearly affirm that the same persons who are now regenerate were once unregenerate as when St. Paul saith Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified c. 1 Cor. 6.11 that is they were the same persons though now regenerate But if in Regeneration literally and properly one nature is taken away and another given Regeneration cannot be said to be a change of the same man but the Annihilation of one man and the Creation of another for to take away one Nature and to give another to take away one Understanding and Will and to put in another is properly to put one Soul into the Body after the destruction of another 2. 'T is contrary to those Scriptures which suppose sin to remain in the Regenerate as when St. James saith In many things we offend all James 3.2 And then they are much mistaken who tell us that those words in Rom. 7.14 But I am carnal sold under sin to be spoken in the person of a regenerate man For supposing the old Nature to be taken away which is the onely Nature wherein there is a principle of sin and the new Nature given which is the Divine Nature it is impossible that Corruption and Sin should remain behinde for there is no principle from whence it should proceed None in the new Nature for that is the Divine Nature None in the old for that is taken away But this seems not to be the notion in which the Doctor owns the Literal sence but those passages of his which we have already noted would encline a man to believe that he favours the other viz. that Regeneration doth signifie the addition of a new Nature to the old For the new creature according to him hath a being and subsistence of its own in the Soul and it is superinduced into the essential faculties of the Soul So that our former Souls do remain still and if the new creature be literally to be understood then according to our Author there is a new creature added to the old And indeed this is clearly the consequence of his arguing For when he undertakes to explain that Text of St. Paul 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new creature he tells us that the new creature which he that is in Christ is hath a being and subsistence of its own in the Soul and is superinduced c. wherefore 1. The former creature remains i. e. the essential faculties of the Soul and 2. The new creature is a creature or being properly distinct from the essential faculties of the Soul i. e. from the former creature Wherefore the Regenerate man is properly two creatures he is the old creature because the essential faculties of his Soul remain he is the new creature as the Apostle himself saith i. e. according to the Doctor 's explication a creature that is superinduced into the old and hath a being and subsistence of its own Now besides the absurdity of making a regenerate man to be two creatures properly distinct from one another the Old and the New the literal sence this
way clearly contradicts what the Scripture saith concerning the state of Regeneration which is the thing I am concerned to prove for the Scripture makes the state of Regeneration to consist in having the Heart of stone taken away as well as the Heart of flesh given in putting off the Old man as well as in putting on the New and when St. Paul saith He that is in Christ is a new creature we are not to understand that he is the old creature too for he tells us all old things are pass'd away and all things are become new Now thus I argue If these expressions are to be understood literally then it is literally true that the old man the old creature is put off c. as well as the new man put on and therefore it is contrary to Scripture to affirm Regeneration to consist in the addition of a new creature literally understood to the old Lastly since the Scripture doth express the state of Regeneration by phrases which literally and properly taken do some of them signifie the addition of a new Nature to the old and others the removal of the old Nature with a substitution of the new it is impossible that the literal and proper sence should be intended Thus I have proved the literal sence of these expressions to be inconsistent with the Scriptures and having before proved the absurd consequences which understanding them in this manner is chargeable with I hope it is sufficiently proved that they are not so to be understood which was the first thing to be done The consequence of what hath been said is clear that if they are not to be understood literally and properly then are they to be understood figuratively and metaphorically and nothing can be reasonably desired for the farther clearing of this point but to answer our Author's arguments against it which was the second thing proposed SECT 3. All that he saith to the contrary which can pretend to 〈◊〉 arguing we have Sect. 7. where his Arguments against the Metaphorical use of these expressions are two though they are there jumbled together by him without any distinction whereof one lies against affirming Regeneration to be a metaphorical expression or rather such an expression of what he saith his Adversaries understand by it the other lies against the supposition of any metaphorical expressions whatsoever whereby the Scripture is said to represent the work of God's Spirit upon the Souls of men The former Argument is to this purpose If Regeneration be no more than a metaphorical expression of amendment of Life according to the rules of the Scripture then our Saviour proposed unto Nicodemus a thing which he knew perfectly well before onely under a new name and notion which he had never heard of before so to take an advantage of charging him of being ignorant of what indeed he full well knew and understood But this he saith is a blasphemous imagination therefore Regeneration is no metaphorical expression of c. The latter Argument if you will be so civil as to call it an Argument is designed against the opinion that the Scripture useth any Metaphors at all in this matter For thus he concludes Some judge the things of the Gospel to be deep and mysterious the words and expressions of it to be plain and proper Others think the words and expressions of it to be mystical and figurative but the things intended to be ordinary and obvious to the Natural Reason of every man Now that which he thinks is that the things are mysterious and the words proper His Argument to prove this is contained in these passages If there be not a secret mysterious work of the Spirit of God upon the Souls of men intended in the Writings of the New Testament they must be granted to be obscure beyond those of any other Writers whatsoever If they are the Word of God the things intended in them are clearly and properly expressed The difficulties which seem to be in them arising from the mysterious nature of the things themselves contained in them and the weakness of our minds in apprehending such things and not from any obscurity or intricacy in the declaration of them Therefore some do well to judge the things of the Gospel to be deep and mysterious and the words of it to be plain and proper If there be any coherence in this Arguing I think it would be this If there be a mysterious Work of the Spirit upon the Souls of men intended in the Scripture then the words and expressions of the Gospel concerning it are plain and proper and such a mysterious work there is otherwise the Scriptures are obscure beyond all other Writings because the words of the Gospel are proper expressions of such a mysterious work I begin with this latter Argument First of all let us consider the Doctor 's Conclusion that we may afterwards see whether it is to be found in the Premises If he concludes any thing against his Adversaries he concludes that the Scripture hath used no Metaphorical expressions at all of the things of the Gospel For he saith Herein indeed consists the main controversie whereunto things with the most are reduced viz. that he and his friends judge the things of the Gospel to be mysterious and the words and expressions proper that is ALL the words and expressions of it For if he concludes only that some or the greater part of them are proper and not figurative expressions he concludes what none of his Adversaries deny and unless he concludes universally he proves nothing Now by the way I shall convince our Author that he hath concluded amiss for himself by putting him in minde that he elsewhere acknowledgeth that very thing of the Gospel which is the subject of our Debate to be in the Scripture Metaphorically exprest The work of the Spirit is exprest there by Quickning from Death to Life it is also exprest by Turning from Darkness to Light Now as to the latter our Authors words are these The term of Darkness in this case is Metaphorical and borrowed from that which is Natural As to the former these There in is men a spiritual Death called so Metaphorically from the Analogie and proportion that it bears to Death Natural Let us see whether the Doctor 's Argument will not Vnmetaphor these expressions again If there be a secret mysterious work of the Spirit intended in these expressions then they are not Metaphorical if no such work be intended by them then are the Scriptures obscure beyond all other Writers If he can Answer his Argument for himself he can Answer it for us too and then Regeneration in particular will prove a Metaphorical expression for if Death be so then Life is so too and being Born into that Life will unavoidably be so likewise Some of the expressions of the Gospel concerning these matters the Doctor allows to be Metaphorical so that the controversie we have with him one would think should
be whether there be not more Metaphors than he allows not as he pretends here whether there be any Metaphors at all But since he will have it so he must not say hereafter that he intended only to prove all the expressions of the Gospel were not Metaphorical since his Argument concludes that they are all proper if it concludes any thing That most of them are proper we grant and 't is well that it stands not in need of being proved by him for his untoward way of proving would tempt a man to suspect the plainest truth he meddles withal if he had not better reasons of his own For Secondly What consequence is there in this Arguing If there be a secret mysterious work of the Spirit upon the Souls of men intended in the Scriptures then are all the expressions of the Gospel concerning it plain and proper otherwise the Scripture is obscure For 1. None of the expressions of it might have been proper and yet some of them plain and then the Scripture would not have been obscure in that thing for a Figurative expression may be plain enough to be understood by a man of common sense Sure our Author will grant that saying of our Saviour This is my body to be figurative and I hope he will not deny it to be plain because it is figurative So that his Argument by which he concludes all the expressions of the Scripture concerning this mysterious work to be proper doth not prove that any one is so 2. If some of the expressions be both plain and proper and others figurative some whereof are more and some less plain as the truth is and if those which are not so plain may be understood by the help of plainer then may this secret mysterious work be sufficiently understood by the expressions of it in the Scripture and consequently the Scripture far from being the obscurest Book in the world because all the expressions of it are not to be taken properly and literally But it seems our Author hath an opinion by himself that no Writer in the world ever used the liberty of Metaphorical expressions Thirdly his way of proving that there is such a mysterious work is a mere begging of the Question This we shall see by considering what he must mean by a secret mysterious work viz. such a work of the Spirit as is properly exprest by Regenerating Creating Quickning and Drawing the Soul of a man and this I grant to be a very mysterious work if these be all proper expressions of it Now he proves there is such a work by this Argument That otherwise the Scriptures are obscure Why so Because they are obscure if these be not proper expressions of the work of the Spirit so that he proves there is a mysterious work i. e. a work properly expressed by Regeneration Creation c. by this Argument that these are proper expressions of such a work which is to prove a thing by it self And he proves also that these are proper expressions because there is such a mysterious work that is a work properly expressed by them which is to beg the Question So that if you will grant the Doctor that they are proper expressions he can then prove there is a a work properly expressed by them or if you will grant there is such a work he can prove those to be proper expressions And now I understand the Doctor when he saies The Difficulties which seem to be in these things arise from their mysterious Nature and not from any obscurity in the Declaration of them and I am fully of his minde for if any one tells me that a Body may be greater than it self and lesser than it self and that Transubstantiation may be true Doctrine or that a man may be properly Regenerated Created Quickned Drawn and Awakened all at once I grant he does not obscurely declare his minde to me and that I finde no difficulty to understand the meaning of his words But the onely difficulty which seems to be in these things ariseth from the mysterious nature or rather the nonsence of the things themselves contained under these plain expressions for the more plain any nonsence is the more easily it is understood to be so This I think is a sufficient answer to that slender proof which the Doctor brings for the judgement of his party concerning the propriety of these Scripture-expressions but it will not be amiss to consider how he represents the judgement of those others whom he speaks of For he saith SECT 4. Others think the words and expressions of it to be mystical and figurative but the things intended to be ordinary and obvious to the natural Reason of every man So that if the Doctor may be believed there are some who think the effects of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts are not expressed by any proper words at all in the Scriptures but as he saith they turn all Scripture-expressions of spiritual things into Metaphors If any such senceless people there be they are I should think most likely to be found among those that separate from the Church of England for many of their Preachers if we may judge of their Sermons by their Books do so train them up to Metaphorical talking that some of them may possibly believe the Scripture affords little or nothing else But as for those who think the things intended by these expressions suppose the assistances of the Divine Spirit are ordinary and obvious to the natural Reason of every man I never heard there were any such before if by obvious the Doctor means discoverable by mere natural Reason for the knowledge of these things is by all granted to depend on divine Revelation But being revealed I would fain know what reason we are to understand them withal besides our natural Reason But if by ordinary and obvious he means plain and intelligible by an ordinary capacity I am one of those who think the things of the Gospel whereof we are speaking to be ordinary and obvious and that they are not the less but the more excellent for being so our Author must grant unless he will revoke his Argument that the expressions of these things are not Metaphorical taken from hence that otherwise the Gospel is dark and unintelligible So that we are both agreed in words at least that Perspicuity and Intelligibleness is an excellent thing But the truth is he and his Party have a notion of Intelligibleness and Perspicuity by themselves as any one would guess by their Writings For Example the Doctor here tells us that if the Gospel intends nothing but moral Duties and their observance in its Doctrine of Regeneration then it is dark and unintelligible Now this is very strange for â—f as it is confessed on all hands moral Duties are easily intelligible and if the Scripture intends 〈◊〉 more by the Doctrine of Regeneration than the performance of moral Duties then is the Scripture very intelligible in the point of
Regeneration For that which is the meaning and intendment of the Scripture therein which the practice of moral Virtue is at present supposed to be is very plain and intelligible therefore I say the Gospel in this matter must be so too in the judgement of all men but those who have been so long used to nonsence that they reckon nothing intelligible but what they do not understand and nothing unintelligible but what they do Possibly the Doctor will grant that upon this Supposition the Gospel is intelligible to those who do understand this to be the meaning of Regeneration but he will pretend that it is unintelligible how these expressions of being regenerate and created c. should be Metaphorical expressions of being good and virtuous Christians Some such thing he intimates within a few Lines after in these words Others judge that under a grandeur of words and Hyperbolical expressions things of a meaner and lower sence are intended and to be understood So that our Author seems unable to understand how such grand and lofty Phrases as being Regenerated Created and Quickened from death should come to signifie such a creeping attainment as that of being truely good and virtuous Alas to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and our Neighbour as our selves to follow the example of our Blessed Saviour and to obey the commands of the Gospel uprightly and universally these are but things of a meaner and lower sence and 't is unintelligible how they should be intended by the grandeur of such Hyperbolical expressions as Regeneration and the new Creation are Tell us then I pray what be those things of a nobler and loftier sence than those which must be understood by these grand expressions Forsooth we are to understand the proper and literal significations of these expressions viz. that men are properly created born again and raised from the dead when they are qualified for the Kingdom of Heaven These indeed are lofty things but so unfit are they to be understood by those expressions that they cannot be understood at all and that we are not so to understand those Phrases our Author hath implicitely confessed but two lines before where he saith that all things are so expressed in the Scriptures with a condescention to our capacity so as that there is still an inexpressible grandeur in many of them beyond our comprehension Now if the mystery of that work of the Spirit upon our Hearts whereby we are fitted for Heaven be so expressed by these Phrases then let him mark what follows viz. 1. That we are not required to understand these Phrases in their proper meaning for as I have shewn it is impossible they should be so understood with the least congruity therefore if the Scripture in any measure condescends to our capacity in using those expressions the literal sence of them is not intended 2. When the Scripture is said to condescend to our capacity it is always by the use of Metaphors thus God is said to have Hands and Eyes and this with condescention to our capacity but sure you will not say that we are to understand these expressions properly but that by the Hands of God we are to understand his power and by his Eyes his knowledge Now if the Scripture condescends to our capacity in representing the mentioned effects of God's Spirit by Regeneration Creation c. then by the same reason these are Metaphorical expressions too by the using of which for the expressing of those effects the Scripture condescends to our capacity Lastly he saith that there is still in these things an inexpressible grandeur beyond our comprehension If the grandeur of these things be expressed by a grandeur of words proper to the things the grandeur of these things is not inexpressible as he saith it is The proper meaning also of being born and raised from the dead he clearly comprehends I suppose how happens it then that the things properly meant by these words are beyond his comprehension That it is beyond his comprehension or any mans else that the same person should in the proper sence be Born Created and Raised from the dead all at once I do not question since it is sufficiently incomprehensible that contradictions may be true But then they are the contradictions implied in the proper acceptation of these Phrases in our present case which make the things incomprehensible for set the contradictions aside and you cannot deny the proper meaning of those words to be beyond your comprehension i. e. you could as well comprehend what it is for the same man to be properly Born Created Quickned Awakened by the same numerical act as what it is for the same man to be first Created then Born then Quickned and the like So that if our Author had marked the true reason why he might lawfully affirm the thing supposed to be properly express'd by these phrases to be beyond his comprehension he would have confessed it to be the contradictions implied in the supposition that those phrases do properly express it Had he therefore considered his own words he had presently seen that his sublime nonsence is none of those loftier things that are to be understood by Regeneration I have been the longer in confuting this pretence of these men that these Scripture-phrases are properly to be understood because it is the foundation of those wilde Doctrines concerning Grace and the Operations of the Holy Spirit and the manner of Conversion and the nature of Holiness which they have introduced into Divinity Were it not for their amusing the people with such discourses about Regeneration and the New Creature as if they were literally to be understood it were as unlikely for them to perswade the meanest of their Hearers that no man can be converted till it is impossible for him to hinder it that conversion is wrought in a moment that before that moment comes the very best actions of men are sins as it would be that the Romanists should cheat so many ignorant souls into the belief of Transubstantiation had they not a weak pretence for that Doctrine from the sound of those words This is my Body which they contend are literally and not figuratively to be understood The people of both these parties are to be pitied since they equally surrender up their understandings to their Guides and receive their interpretations of Scripture without examining them And then out of reverence to the Scriptures themselves which say This is my Body and that we are Born again and Created and Quickened c. they come to believe nonsence i. e. that these expressions are to be understood in their proper sence as their Masters teach them But how they themselves can be excused since I fear they cannot but be aware of the dishonour that is done to the Scriptures and the mischief which may happen to the Souls of men by such an absurd use of Scripture-metaphors as that I cannot understand Some of them I
the proper sence But I do not see how so learned a man as Dr. Owen can excuse himself from dishonesty for making this construction of it which must appear ridiculous to any considering man However I hope the Reader will acknowledge that I have given a plain and reasonable account of the use of these Metaphors by shewing wherein the Similitude lies between the proper and figurative significations of them And hereby I may have helped our Author to conceive it a very possible thing that the Scriptures mean nothing more by those grand and Hyperbolical expressions as he calls them of being Regenerate c. then becoming a sincere Disciple of Christ which is his Adversaries notion of a Regenerate man Thus also I have shewn how far we may argue from these Scripture metaphors If any man can go further and finde out more Similitudes between the Metaphors and that which is meant by them I shall not be his Adversary provided he keeps himself within the bounds of Sense and Reason But to argue from the proper signification of any one or all these Metaphors to conclude something parallel in the state of a Believer to every thing which can properly be affirmed of them is to run upon such wilde and absurd consequences as any wise man would be asham'd to own and any good man would be afraid to fasten upon the Scriptures How our Author argues from them we shall see hereafter In the mean time we have proceeded thus far as to state the true notion of Regeneration SECT 10. Though I have as I conceive sufficiently proved that to be born again is to become a true Disciple of Christ yet for further confirmation and because it may be of some use to the ordinary Reader I shall make it plain that this notion is agreeable to the scope and designe of our Saviour's discourse to Nicodemus Joh. 3. which is the most famous place in the whole New Testament where this phrase is used It is one of the best ways of interpreting any difficult passage in Divine or Humane Authors to observe the designe of that whole discourse to which it belongs and then to fix such a meaning upon that passage as is apparently suitable to the scope of the Author if the words will bear that meaning That the Phrase of being Regenerate will bear that sence which I have assigned to it I have shewn and that it is the true sence thereof I have proved by clear Arguments from other Scriptures wherefore if I shew also that this sence of the Phrase is consonant to the plain scope of our Saviour in that discourse where he made the first mention of it that we read of nothing can be further desired to demonstrate that this indeed is the true meaning thereof The designe of our Saviour's discourse may easily be gathered from the plain passages of it and then it will appear to be this 1. To shew that faith in Christ and obedience to him were the means by which God had appointed to bring men to eternal Happiness 2. To shew the unreasonableness of the Jews who would not believe in him The former we finde vers 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life i. e. this is the way by which God hath determined to save Mankinde viz. by faith in his Son who was to be lifted up upon the Cross as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness a rude Salvage place and so fit to be the figure of that corrupt state of the World in which Christ came to die for us that whosoever believed in him should not perish but c. vers 14 15. Now this was so great a demonstration of God's Love to man thus to give his onely begotten Son that no man could hope to escape the anger of God who should refuse the benefit of this Sacrifice For though indeed God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved vers 17. yet he that believeth not is condemned already vers 18. is in a state to which condemnation belongs and that a more severe one for refusing so gratious an opportunity of Salvation as was now offered 2. Our Saviour shews the unreasonableness of those men that believed not and that by noting 1. The Evidence of that Truth which they disbelieved 2. The true cause of their unbelief The former he admonished Nicodemus of in these words Verily verily I say unto thee We speak that we do know and testifie that we have seen and ye receive not our testimony vers 11. i. e. Ye believe not my Doctrine concerning that onely way by which you must come to see the Kingdom of God although it be evidently true for this is that very Message which I bring you from God this is that Counsel and Decree of God which I come from him to testifie unto you that there is no other way but that Now this you acknowledge that I am a Teacher come from God for no man can do those Miracles that I do except God be with him v. 2. how strangely incredulous therefore are you that yet you will not believe me delivering that Doctrine which by these Testimonies of my coming from God I confirm For I prove that I have seen and known what I testifie I prove the truth of what I say by those Arguments that convince you that I am a Teacher come from God Hence we may probably gather the meaning of those words And no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of Man which is in heaven vers 13. to be this No man hath known the secret purposes of God concerning the way of saving Mankinde viz. by the death of his Son No man hath thus ascended into Heaven but he that is come from Heaven whom God hath sent to reveal this to you even he who now speaketh to you who am in Heaven who know the purposes and intentions of my Father concerning the way of Salvation This I take to be a more probable interpretation of this difficult place than that which supposeth our Saviour to speak here of his local ascension into Heaven afterward because 1. The words themselves seem not well able to bear the notion of a future ascension 2. As Grotius hath well shewn the phrase of ascending into Heaven is in other places of Scripture to be taken in the former sence viz. of gaining knowledge from God as in Prov. 30.3 4. And 3. if thus it is understood in this place then what our Saviour saith here hath a clear connexion with vers 11. where he rebuketh the Jews for not believing his Revelations taxing them of unreasonableness for it since he delivered nothing but what he had seen and known from God and also with the precedent verse where by the heavenly things our Saviour
was in general promised by our Saviour Luke 11.13 and proved also that they are in the Scriptures severally ascribed to his Operations Now upon the whole matter we cannot but conclude that in respect of the end of this divine Grace God hath made us a very large and bountiful promise thereof and given thereby such an abundant demonstration of his good-will towards us that indeed he desireth not the death of a sinner but had rather he should turn and live as we ought to acknowledge with our utmost Thanks and Praises But after all this it will be pretended by some men that if we say the Operations of the Holy Spirit are limited to those effects we have been speaking of we confine the Promise within too narrow a compass and do in effect deny several divine Graces and works of the Holy Spirit upon the Hearts of God's people such as darting the true sence of Scripture into their mindes suggesting words and matter to them when they pray Extempore and giving them absolute assurance that they shall be saved at last Hence it is that if we take the liberty of dissenting from their sence of a place of Scripture the next thing we hear is that we want the Illumination of the Spirit and all that we can say is at once turned off for carnal reasoning If we dare not pretend to any other than a conditional assurance of our Salvation we are those that have not the testimonies of the Spirit And if we make use of pious forms of Prayer and other exercises of Devotion we do not pray by the Spirit Therefore I think my self obliged to enquire upon what grounds they pretend to these spiritual Gifts But before I do so I shall premise by way of Caution these following things 1. That those dispositions which qualifie us for a profitable understanding of the Scriptures such as Teachableness Humility Attention and Industry are the graces of the Holy Spirit and consequently that our success in endeavouring after the knowledge of divine Truths depends upon his blessing and grace 2. That it is our duty to labour after a right understanding of our spiritual estate and that this knowledge of it is a grace of the Holy Spirit 3. That those affections which make our Prayers acceptable to God such as love to God trust in him hatred of sin zeal and fervency and the like are likewise the effects of divine Grace All these things I heartily acknowledge and they are no other things than what may be concluded easily from the foregoing discourse concerning the graces of the Holy Spirit But that which I have some reason to question is this Whether we can conclude that the Spirit will convey a right understanding of the Scripture into any mans minde by an immediate revelation of the meaning of it or that he will give to some men an absolute assurance of their salvation while they live here upon their trial or that he suggests to them by Inspiration what they say in their extemporary Prayers For whatever he may do in this kinde I do not finde that he hath promised any where so to do And I think we are not to promise to our selves that divine Grace which God hath no where promised to us And that he hath not promised these things I shall shew 1. By comparing the contrary pretence with that promise of our Saviour concerning the Holy Spirit in Luke 11.13 2. By considering what ground there is for it from other places of Scripture 1. By comparing the pretence with Luke 11.13 and here I shall shew that whatever countenance it may have from other Scriptures it can have none from this which as I have already proved contains a promise of such gifts as are needful to our eternal happiness 1. As to that of coming to the sence of Scripture by inherent Revelation I say that such a Revelation is not needful for us to make us wise unto salvation because those places of Scripture which are necessary to be understood by us need no infallible Interpreter for all Truths necessary to be known are plainly delivered in the Scriptures and there is no need of a new Revelation to acquaint us with the meaning of those Texts the sence whereof is plain and obvious There are indeed many passages hard to be understood in the Scriptures but there is no necessity of an Infallible guide or of New revelation to come to the sence of them unless they were themselves necessary to be understood If you say that because all Scripture is profitable the revelation of the true meaning of those Texts at least which have the greatest difficulties belonging to them must be profitable also I answer 1. It does not follow in every particular that because such a thing is profitable therefore if I ask God will give it which you know was proved in the explication of St. Luke's Text Chap. 2. Sect. 2. Wherefore if I pray onely that God may prosper my industry in endeavouring to understand such a difficult place it does not follow from the promise in St. Luke that God will grant my request in that particular For he may give me something as good or better instead of it As I may get advantage by understanding that place so I may also get advantage by finding that after all I do not understand it which may through the grace of God be improved by me into an occasion of more Humility Modesty and Charity which if St. Paul may be believed is better than Knowledge as my trying to understand did before excite me to Prayer and Industry But much less does it follow that God will grant my request if I pray yet more particularly that the meaning of the difficult place may be revealed to me by immediate Inspiration For 2. Though that be profitable yet 't is profitable also to come to the knowledge of it by study and the industrious use of means common to learned men if I am a Teacher of others or by the help of a spiritual Guide if I am merely a Learner And if I come either of these ways to the understanding of a difficult Text God hath not been less good to me for not communicating it to me by immediate revelation Especially if it be considered 3. That if God giveth me the understanding of a difficult place by blessing my industry in Reading Hearing Conferring with others Meditating and Comparing place with place this will in all probability be more useful to others not to say to my self than if he gave it to me by immediate Illumination because the knowledge which is gained the former way may be more easily imparted to another than that which might be obtained by the latter For I can lead another into my knowledge of Scripture which comes by the way of industry and study by shewing him the reason that convinced me and discovering the method of my coming to it Now Reason you know is a thing common to you and me
opened the Eyes of him that was born blinde the Pharisees would believe never the more that he was of God and yet all the pretence they could finde against him was because this cure was wrought on the Sabbath-day vers 16. For when they had strictly examined all circumstances of the Miracle and the healed person in conclusion talked such unanswerable reason against them Herein is a marvelous thing that ye know not whence he is c. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the Eyes of one that was born blinde If this man were not of God he could do nothing i. e. he could do no such works as these they were resolved to give him the hearing no longer but first bitterly reproached him and then cast him out Now our Saviour frequently told these men that their prejudice against him arose from their Lusts How saith he can ye believe who receive honour from one another and seek not the honour that cometh from God onely John 5.44 i. e. so long as your Hearts are set upon worldly greatness and the praise of men which if you can compass you care not in the mean while whether God approves of you or not it is no wonder that ye reject my Doctrine who came not to answer your ambitious and worldly expectations although I come with testimony from God and the works that I do bear witness of me vers 36. Thus the Apostle tells us That the God of this world blindeth the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them 2 Cor. 4.4 where we have a plain reason given us by the Apostle why some believed not who had the light of the Gospel shining about them i. e. who had it preached to them with its proper evidence viz. because the God of this world had blinded their Mindes i. e. because they were blinded with the prejudices of prevailing Lust and Passion by which the Devil rules in the Children of disobedience Wherefore as Faith is necessary to that more perfect victory over our Lusts which includes the universal doing of God's Will So on the other hand our mindes must in some degree be disengaged from the power of our Lusts before we can heartily believe viz. so far as that we may be ready to yield to the truth how contrary sover it proves to our sensual and worldly affections and consequently that they shall not hinder our attention and consideration when the Word of God is offered to be made known to us Of this teachable disposition we have a remarkable instance in Acts 16.14 The Lord opened Lydia 's heart that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul where we may observe 1. That her being qualified to hear which is here expressed by the opening of her Heart is ascribed to a divine operation which prevented even her attention to what she heard 2. That the immediate effect of the Lords opening her Heart was not her believing but her attending to those things which were spoken of Paul i. e. she heard him diligently without prejudice and passion and was willing to embrace the truth This was the effect of God's Spirit and whoever is thus disposed will believe the Gospel when it is made known to him because it is indeed the Word of God This is that temper of minde which was all that our Saviour desired to finde among men in order to the convincing of them that he was the true Prophet If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Joh. 7.17 i. e. If a man be willing to do whatsoever shall appear to be the Will of God and so is not prejudiced against the truth by his Lusts such a one will easily be convinced that my Doctrine is of God And because this temper comes from the divine Spirit therefore he that is thus disposed is said to be of God For it is exactly to the same purpose what our Saviour saith John 8.47 He that is of God heareth God's Words ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God For this was the Answer he made to that Question of his own If I say the truth why do ye not believe me He gives the reason himself Because ye are not of God The meaning whereof is plain from vers 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth c. So that to be of the Devil is to be wedded to our Lusts and enraged against the truth that contradicts them And therefore the contrary state or temper to be of God is plainly to be ready to perform all duty and to believe all truth and whoever was thus disposed would hear God's Words and believe them vers 47. Thus after our Saviour had appealed to the Miracles which he wrought before his Enemies Joh. 10.25 he tells them But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep Where by Sheep cannot be meant actual Disciples for then the sence were Ye believe not because ye believe not But such as were by a teachable spirit disposed to be so and would hear his voice for such as these would follow him assoon as he called them because he was the true Shepherd Now that this preparedness of minde to embrace the truth was an effect of the divine Spirit is clearly implied in vers 29. My Father who gave them me i. e. who hath thus disposed and qualified them to hear my voice is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hands to defeat them of that eternal Life which Christ had promised v. 28. All these places being compared with John 6.37 give a clear light to the true interpretation thereof All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me i. e. will believe in me and become my Disciples and then to be given of the Father is the same thing with being resolved to do the Will of God Joh. 7.17 and being of God Joh. 8.47 and being Christ's Sheep Joh. 10.26 All which Phrases signifie that humility and teachableness of minde whereby men are prepared to believe the truth Onely the Fathers giving such persons to Christ is an expression noting that divine Grace whereby their mindes are thus disposed for which reason being brought to this temper is called vers 44. being drawn by the Father No man can come to me except the Father who hath sent me draw him i. e. unless the grace of God hath so far prevailed over his Affections as to indue him with an impartial love to the truth and his Heart be thereby opened to attend to God's Word And in this sence we may use those words of the Apostle spoken upon another occasion No man can say that Jesus is the Lord