dirt and clay which will quickly fail them and lay their honour in the dust Though they have golden beginnings and prosperous and succesfull proceedings long and strong continuance yet these great bodies are mortall too they goe the same way as small ones doe onely they make a greater noise in their rise and fall They have their beginning and ending their infancy youth and age as those great Monarchies had prefigured in that great Image For God sets them their bounds as he doth to the sea which they cannot pass and saith to them as to that Hitherto shalt thou come and no further here will I stop thy proud waves But in this new Birth this Birth from above of which my Text treats we are begotten from above by a Father to an Inheritance immortall and undefiled which fades not away and to a Kingdom which cannot be shaken as all worldly Kingdomes are 6. In the 12. verse the Apostle shews the happy and blessed Ver. 12. condition of affliction patiently born they terminate and end in happyness In much suffâ—rance is ease and the Cross leads to the Crown Affliction and Blessedness do often meet in the same person an afflicted man is a blessed man if he despise not the chastening and correction of the Lord but patiently and willingly welcome it with the words of Jerem. It is my sorrow and I will bear it Blessed is the man c. The 13 14 15 16 verses set forth unto us the true Father of a false child The child is sin the father with some is in some controversis For as notorious and common Strumpets doe some times lay their Bastards at the Church door so there are some prophane and Atheistical persons which lay their sin and iniquity at heaven gates and would make God the author of sin Which the Apostle takes away in the four former mentioned verses Let no man when he is tempted say I am tempted of God for God tempts no man to evill neither is tempted But every man is tempted c. God is no wayes to be thought the Parent of such a base brat For as Fulgentius surely Deus non potest esse illius author cujus est ultor God cannot be the author of that which he is the revenger To make a hell and to cast into that hell stands not with the Nature Wisdome and Mercy of God This false and erroneous opinion the Apostle takes away in the 16 verse Erre not dear brethren We should be dear to one another though divided Dear and Brethren in affection though divided in opinion For It is a good and joyfull thing for c. But howsoever Psal 13 3. you erre in other things let not this damnable error so far possess you as to make God the author of sin Mistake not so far as to say Because God concurs in sin the action of sin he hath any hand in the evill of it Nor say If God would not have me sin why doth he not hinder me The action indeed is Gods because in him we live move and have our being But Acts 14. the evill of the action that is Sathans and our own The devill is the father and sin his own no other mother then our own lusts Indeed nothing is so truly ours as our sin which is evident enough by our cockering of it and our indulgence over it and by our lothness to part with it we dandle it and hug it and feed and foster it and cry with the Harlot Ne dividatur Let it not be divided let that live though said she although it be an eye-sore to God and a plague-sore to the soul and if we kill not sin in us then sin in us will kill us Yet many men will part from their souls rather than their sin How comes it else to pass that Hell hath so many souls if their sin was not dearer to them than their souls Man is the active author God the permitter and sufferer of sin God sustaines the motion of the will man he defiles and pollutes the act of willing God conforms and agrees to the action men to the pravity and deformity of the action As darknesse necessarily follows when the Sun withdraws his light and yet the Sun is not the cause of the darknesse but the absence of the light so when God withdraws his grace sin follows but not as an effect the cause but as a consequent to the Antecedent Therefore erre not my dear brethren God is so far from being the author of sin that he is the fountain and August originall of all graces and virtues Verse 17. Every good c. Nostra bona sunt Dei dona Our goods are from his goodness they are the enumerations and rayes of that Sun of Righteousness Then comes in the Text for from whence doth every good and perfect gift proceed but from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good will and pleasure of God which â—s the fountain and original of all Graces and goodness This is the Inference and Coherence of the words wherein if I have been too tedious and intrenched upon your patience If I have made too long and large an entry or porch to so small a house pardon my boldness my intent was to bring in my Text in order and method Let us now look into that house we all desire to be of and in Of his own will he begat us with the word of truth that we should be as the first fruits of his creatures With reflection therefore of your eyes to the 5th verse which is more remote especially to the 17th verse which is more near and to which indeed the words of my Text have relation Consider I pray you that of all those gifts and graces which God of his free love hath given to the children of men of all those evidences and testimonies of Gods good will and pleasure of all those divine exprâ—ssions of his goodness and mercy this of our New Birth or Birth from above is the greatest and chiefest Of our Râ—generation I say again or second Birth For man in his first birth Man born of a woman hath but a short time to live and Job 14. 1. is full of miserie His life poor man is not short and sweet but short and sharp though he hath want of daies yet he hath store of miseries And miserable he is not onely in regard of the calamities and sorrows he is born to but in regard of the sin and iniquity he is born in For being first ab immundo conceptus semine born of unclean seed and nursed in â— sinfull womb ubi prius incipit macula quam vita where he is stained and polluted before he be conceived or quickned How can that be clean which is born of a Woman I was born in iniquity saith David and in sin hath my mother conceived me As if hâ— Psalm 51. 5. had said True it is O Lord and I doe freely and
feelingly confess it that I have been over-spread with corruption ever siâ—ce I saw the light Nay which is more no sooner was the substances whereof I was framed and made warm in my Mothers womb but I was stained and tainted with originall corruption Therefore vâ—ry necessary and needfull is a new and another Birth to cover the stains and pollutions of the first of the old A second birth to sanctâ—fie our first a birth from above to make holy our naturall birth Regeneration to bless our Generation as necessary and needfull as light is unto darkness as heaven to the immunity and freedom from hell as reparation to a ruinous and rotten building as the soul to give life unto the body Nay so necessary and needfull that without it we cannot see the Kingdome of God Verily verily I say unto you that I had two births my self one by an eternall Joh. 3. 3. generation which no man can declare Another in the fulness of time being made of a woman c. You must have two births too Gal. 4. 4. one from Heaven or your earthly and carnall birth can doe you no good The Italians have a prudent proverb it is good to be bornâ— wise or twice wise no man can be borne Neâ—â— nascitur summus or sanctus No man is borne a Saint but made so virtus non est ex traduce goodnesse is not by generation it must be therefore by regeneration Better a thousand times not be borne at all than not borne againe we shall very bitterly curse the day of our first Birth if we have not a second Many solemnize keep festival their Birth-day which they have little reason to doe if they looke upon their Birth-sinne If their naturall condition be considered they have little cause to rejoyce or be merry upon their Birth-day it calls rather to Lamentation or Teares The new borne Babe seems to cry down that joy and exaltation who comes crying into a troublâ—somâ— Aust world Nâ—ndum nascitur sed prophâ—tat It is the day and blessed time of our New Birth wherein we should rejoyce and be glad which we should keep holy to the Lord wherein as in our Baptisme the Laver and Seale and Signe of regeneration as in our earthly Registers our names are written in the book of life wherein we are borne to live for ever whereas in our Birth we are damnati antequam nati damned before we be borne being filii terrae we are filii irae we must therefore be renati if we would not be damnati renewed and converted if we will not be condemned Doct. From which consideration take this observation and comfortable Doctrine He that is borne twice shall dye but once but he that is but once borne shall dye twice The second Birth shall free us from the second Death the first and none but that shall make us liable both to the first and to the second death But what doe I say that the regenerate person the Beleever shall dye no he shall not dye at all Quicunque sermones mâ—â—s custodiverint c. Whosoever keeps my sayings he shall not taste he shall not see death Death may buz and keepe a noise about his eares like an angry Wasp but he hath lost his sting the sting was left in Christ Jesus body he doth victoriously triumph over it O Death where is thy sting O Grave c. He may exult and rejoyce over Death O Death my Saviour hath been thy death and thâ—u canst not be mine My Saviour dyed for me I cannot dye by thee Christ hath killed thee and thou canst not kill me if kill me not hurt me I have made my peace with my Judge and I feare not the Baily my Redeemer hath made my peace with my God and being justified by Faith I have my Quiâ—tus est I have peace with God and therefore neither Death nor Hell nor he that hath the power of both can hurt me and therefore to every regenerate person I may pronounce that blessing which Saint John doth to them that have part in the first resurrection which is nothing else but regeneration Blessed and Rev. 20 6. holy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection for on such the second Death shall have no power but they shall be as Kings and Priests unto God Of this supernaturall and Heavenly Bâ—rth doth this birth treat and of all the 4. causes thereof 1. The Formall 2. The Efficient 3. The Instrumentall and 4. the Final cause 1. The formal cause that is God progenuit Dâ—â—â— God begets us 2. The Efficient that is his will he begets us of his will for why he saves one and not another why he softens this wax upon which he will instampâ— his Image and why he hardens that clay which he will cast away there is no reason can be given hereof but the good pleasure of his will Rom. 9. 18. He will have mercy c. 3. The Instrumentall cause is verbum veritatis the word of truth called so for 4. Reasons 1. Because it hath God the God of Truth for its Author 2. Because it hath Christ the Truth it selfe for its Witnesse 3. Because it hath the Spirit of Truth for its composer and 4. Because it teacheth all truth and leads into all truth I will pray to the Father and he shall send the spirit of truth which shall lead or guide you into all truth This word of Truth is the seed of our New Birth By the grace of God saith Paul I have begotten you by the Gospell where you have againe the instrument the meanes and the Author the Instrument I Paul for though you have ten thousand instructors I am your Father in Christ â— The meanes the Gospel or Word the Author Christ Jesus whose word it is and who himselfe is the supreame worke in our regeneration Then fourthly here is the finall cause why we are regenerate and borne againe to bâ— holy and sanctified to be as the first fruits of his Creatures i. e. that as amongst the Jews in the Law the first fruits were consecrate and set apart for God so regenerate persons and believers amongst and above all others are sequestred and set apart for the services and purposes of God and this end and effect of Regeneration shews the Honour and Dignity the priviledge and prerogatives of the sonnes of God as you shall here anon otherwise as in other Births so in this you may please to observe 4. things more 1. Partus 2. Vterus 3. Semen And 4. Fructus The Birth the Womb the Seed and the Fruit. 1. Partus The Birth and that is a holy Birth progâ—nuit Deus God begets us The Spirit of the Almighty over-shadowing the Soul as it did the Body of the Virgin Mary sanctifies it and begets a new Creature for as Christ was conceived by the holy Ghost so must every Christian be 2. Vterus The Womb and that is
as should be saved Act. 4 last Thus you see that God himselfe is the Authour and cause of our new Birth it is the proper and peculiar worke of God to beget voluntariè nos genuit of his will he begâ—te us And yet you may please to observe that as this act of regeneration is attributed to God the Father as it is in this place So sometimes it is attributed to God the Sonne as Esai 53. 10. Beleevers are called his seed that he might see his seed he made his soule a sacrifice for sinne Sometimes to the spirit of God as in Jo. 3 6. That which is borne of the flesh is flâ—sh and the winde bloweth it so is every one that is borne of the spirit It is God the Fathers will he begets us of his will Christ the Sonnes merit Gal. 4 4. When the fulnesse c. to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of the Sonne God the Holy Ghosts efficacy and power by the Spirit of Gods sanctifying and over-shadowing the Soule the new Man is quickned and made sometimes it is attributed to all the three persons in Trinity together as in that notable place Tit. 3 7. By his mercy he saved us by the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he abundantly shed in our hearts through Christ Jesus There we have the three persons together in two verses and here all the cause of our regeneration in one a parallel whereunto you shâ—ll hardly finde in the whole New Testament But God as I said he is the principall author and cause His Ministers but instrumentall yet as his Ministers they are and may very well be called Fathers And this near relation should warme the hearts of Ministers with an indulgent and paternall care and affection to beare great good will towards them and as Moses is commanded to carry them in his bosome And as Aaron when he went up to pray or to sacrifice he went up with the names of the twelve Tribes written upon his breast plate So the Ministers of the New Testament the Pastors of Christs Church according to that Typâ— ought to put up in all his devotion the prayers and supplications the wants of his people with his owne As Saint Paul calls his people his Epistle written in his hâ—art so shall the people be in their Pastours Aâ— S. Pauls â—â—â—â—ts desire and prayer to Israel waâ— c. Indeed the New Testament is nothing else but Jesus Christs Letter and Epistle writ from Heaven unto his Church the mind of God expressed to Man by Christ who sitâ— at the right hand of the Father making those Prayers and Petitions of ours which are imperfect in themselves to be more perfect by his mediation And as these instruments of Regeneration are called Fathers both in the Old Testament My Father my Father c. cryes Elisha to Elias Jehoram to him a wicked man yet hâ—s had more grace than some have now to call the Prophet his Father Worse names now must be digested So Saint Paul calls them Nurses or Mothers too 1 Thes 2. 7. There he putâ— upon himselfe the indulgence of a Mother as afterward the affection of a Father vâ—r 11. shâ—wing that as he did not occasionally forget to use the gravity of a Father in his exhortations and instructions so other whiles he puts upon him the meeknessâ— and softnesse and tendernessâ— of a Mother or of an affectionate Nurse Mothers and Nurses having a sympathy and fellow-feeling of their Childrens estates the Mother knowing by naturall instinct when the child is sick and diseased when it is distempered and pained and will accordingly apply her selfe to give it ease and not alwayes give it its humour nor what it cryes for So Gods Ministers should be willing to free their people from distemper and disorder from thâ— corruption and error of the times feeding them with wholsome and sound doctrine with the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby not with fancies and humours and their owne inventions and imaginations for with griefe be it spoken we are falne from the worshipping of Images to the worshipping of Imaginations which as it breeds sicknesses in young children to let them eaâ—â— what they will so it breeds factions and divisions and â—xtreame distemperatures in States when they are suffered to bâ— carryed about with every wind of doctrine and every windy doctrine as the Israeliâ—es by Aarons permission and sufferance worshipped the Cllfe of their owne making And it teacheth the people againe since they stand in so nâ—â—r a relation to their Ministers as Children to Parents to carry a filiall and dutifull affâ—ction towards their Pastours as they carry a loving carefull and paternall heart and eye towards them and their good The want of which reciprocall loving kindnesse and affection when Father and Children Mâ—nister and People Master and Servant have had a greater desire to have their humours fed than their soules edified have not onely caused great râ—nts and divâ—sions which with Râ—â—bens caused great grâ—efe and sorrow of heart but I dare say hath grâ—â—ved the blessed and holy Spirit of God the sole worker of our Regeneration and by whom we are sealed unto the day of Redemption the Spirit of God witnessing to our spirits that we are the sons of God Rom. 8. Thirdly this calls upon the great Fathers of the Common-wealth who are called Gods being next to him and Patres Patriae thâ— Fathers of this Country nay of the Common-wealth and State to see with what meat their Children their Subjects are fed for as I said they are Pastours and Fathers too Isaiah calls them Nursing fathers and Nursing mothers and prophesies that in the great Reformation Kings should be nursing fathers and Queens nursing mothers That is God would raise up the great Potentates and Princes of the â—arth to provide that the people should be fed with wholsome food that living waters should flow abundantly from the threshold of the Sanctuary and that all people should know the Lord from the greatest to the least Hence it followes necessarily that the Supreame Magistrate â—e seasoned with Religion and what a sweet perfume followes such Princes see in the â—xamples of Moses Joshua David Solomon Asa Josiah Hâ—zâ—kiah c. and not irreligious or Popishly affected but soundly and firmly grounded for which we may blesse God that he be a sincere worshipper and server of God the feare of God being the beginning of wisdome and a man being never truly intelligent untill he be obedient The best Plot is to save a soule For if that be true which they say in nature is true and certaine That what disease or infection the Nurse hath the sucking child will partake of and as the Parent is affected so for the most part is the Childs inclination and disposition Surely and without all question it will fare so in this If God please to give us a Magistrate which is godly and