The second priviledge is the object of this sight here called the kingdom of God By which some understand Heaven some the way to Heaven most of the Ancients say that by this Kingdom is meant Heaven Calvin is of minde that not heaven Calvin in loc Aretius in loc Parum refert but a spiritual life is thereby understood Aretius saith and I am of his minde that whether we understand the one or the other It matters not much Sure we are that both these Grace and Glory are annexed to the new birth and both very well may be implyed in this word the kingdom of God First then if by the kingdom of God is meant the kingdom of Grace whereof our Savior speaketh The kingdom of God is within you Luke 17.21 Luke 17.21 See to what a priviledge the new man hath attained all the graces of God all the fruits of the Spirit are now poured into him If you ask what graces what fruits St. Gal. 5.22 Paul tells you Gal. 5.22 Love joy peace long-sufferings gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance or would you have us to contract them St. Paul doth it elsewhere the kingdom of God is righteousness peace and joy in the holy Ghost Rom. Rom. 14.17 14.17 First Righteousness and that is either active or passive holiness of life or the cause of this holiness our righteousness in Christ If the first be meant no sooner is man born again but he enters into the holy path he declines all evil and stands at the sword point with his most beloved sin or if ever any sin through the violence of temptation seize on him again he is presently put again into the pangs of the new birth and so renewing his sorrow and repairing repentance he becomes more resolute and watchful over all his ways Rom. 12.9 And as he abhors evil so he cleaves to that which is good his faith like the Sun sets all those gracious heavenly stars on shining as hope and love and zeal and humility and patience in a word universal obedience and fruitfulness in all good works not one but all good duties of the first and second Table begin to be natural and familiar to him and though he finde some duties more difficult yet he resolveth and striveth to do what he can and is much displeased and grieved if he do not as he should Or if by righteousness is meant passive righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 to wit our righteousness in Christ no sooner is a man born again but he is cloathed with this righteousness the other God knows is but weak and full of imperfection Extra nos est justitia non in nobis Luther de instit Christiana and therefore to speak properly It is the righteousness in God that makes us appear righteous afore God would you have a plain case as Jacob to procure the blessing of his father hid himself into the apparel of his brother and so received it to his own commodity under the person of another thus the new man puts on the righteousness of Christ with which being clad as with a garment God accepts him in his stead his faults being covered with his Saviors perfection Secondly from this Righteousness ariseth Peace no sooner is man righteous but he is at peace with man at peace with God at peace with himself He is at peace with man Isa 11.6 The wolf shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard with the Kid saith the Prophet Isa 11.6 The meaning is that in the kingdom of Christ when a man is called into the state of grace howsoever by nature he is a Wolf or a Leopard or a Lyon or a Bear yet he shall then lay aside his cruelty and live peaceably with all men with all men I say bad and good for if bad the Apostle implyes them As much as in you is have peace with all men Rom. 12.18 Rom. 12.18 Or if good then he cannot but have peace with them yea although before his conversion he hated and maligned them yet now he is ravished with the delight and love of them and to this end he labors might and main to ingratiate himself into their blessed Communion true how should he but love them and sympathize with them whom he believes one day to meet in Heaven and there to enjoy them and they him for ever Nor is this all he is at peace with God he hath humbled himself and confest his fault and cryed for mercy and cast himself upon Christ and vowed amendment of life so that now God by his word hath spoke peace to his soul by the mediation of Christ it is obtained and by the testimony of the Spirit he feels it within him This is that Peace which passeth all understanding it made the Angels sing Peace upon earth it makes his soul reply My peace is in heaven what else The storm is past and the rain is gone away he that lay for a night in the darkness of sorrow and weeping for his sins now he beholds the Son of righteousness appear as the Disciples often did upon the Mount of Olives signifying peace all quiet and calm and pleasant Nor is this all he is at peace with himself I mean his own conscience that which before stirred up the fire that brought him to a sight of sin and sense of Divine Wrath that filled him with fearful terrors compunction remorse and true sorrow for sin it is now turned good and quiet Solomon calls it a continual feast Prov. 15.15 Prov. 15.15 who are the attendants but the holy Angels what is the chear but joy in the Holy Ghost who is the feast-maker but God himself and his good Spirit dwelling in him Nor is this feast without musick Gods word and his actions make a blessed harmony and he endeavors to continue it by keeping peace and a good conscience towards God and man Thirdly from this peace issueth joy in the holy Ghost no sooner is a man at peace with man with God with himself but he is filled with joy that no man can take from him this joy I take to be those blessed stirrings of the heart when the seal of remission of sins is first set unto the soul by the spirit of Adoption For thus it is the soul having newly passed the pangs of the new birth it is presently bath'd in the blood of Christ lull'd in the bosom of Gods mercies secured by the Spirit of its inheritance above and so ordinarily follows a Sea of comfort a sensible taste of everlasting pleasures as if the man had already one foot in heaven But I hear some object They have felt the pangs cast themselves on Christ resolved against all sin and yet no comfort comes It may be so though not ordinarily certain it is whosoever hath this joy is new born yet not every one new born hath this joy if any then be in such case let him hear what the Spirit of truth saith
whence cometh mine help Again the ear Psal 121.1 Psal 58.5 that in the old man is stopped against the voyce of the Charmer charm he never so wisely or if it be open like Deaths Porter it lets in sin and Satan at every occasion in the new man it must be the gate of life or the door of faith therefore there is not a member that the devil more envieth than the ear as we see in the man possessed with a deaf Devil Mark 9.25 Mar 9.25 who possessed that sence as the most excellent to hinder him from hearing Again the tongue Iam. 3.6 that in the old man is a world of iniquity that defileth the whole body that setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire on hell Psal 45.1 in the new man it must be the trumpet of divine praise or as David calls it the pen of a ready writer uttering onely those things which the heart enditeth in sincerity and truth To sum up all in one the heart is it where grace begins first and is felt last and therefore saith God Son give me thy heart Prov. 23.26 Psal 51.10 Prov. 23.26 and therefore prays David Create in me a new heart Psal 51.10 and therefore wills Solomon Prov. 4.23 Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life Prov. 4.23 Would any man that is regenerate encounter sin in his heart it were impossible to break out into action would the heart of any man that is born again but meet sin with this Dilemma If I commit this sin I must either repent or not repent for it if I do repent it will cost me more heart-break and spiritual smart then the sensual pleasure can be worth If I never repent it will be the death and damnation of my soul sure this thought conceived and rightly followed in the heart of the regenerate would be enough to crush sin at the first rising of it and so it is for if he be regenerate he doth not sin whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin 1 Ioh. 3.9 Consuetudinaliter delectabiliter serviliter illuctabiliter 1 Thess 5.23 Rom. 12.1 1 Joh. 3.9 He is moulded anew and all the members of his body are conformed to the soveraignty and rule of grace yea his body is preserved blameless holy acceptable unto God it is a member of Christ the temple of the Holy Ghost Happy man that is blest with this body Sure a man thus born again he shall see the kingdom of God Secondly as the body so the soul of this man is to be renewed by grace 1 Cor. 6.15 19. 1 Cor. 6.20 Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 6.20 the body and the spirit must both glorifie God and as all the parts of the body so all the powers of the soul First Ephes 4.18 the understanding that in the old man is blinde and ignorant about heavenly things or howsoever it may know many things Revel 3.18 yet never can attain to saving knowledge in the new man it must be anointed with the eye-salve of the Spirit inspired with the knowledge of Divine truths especially with those sacred and saving mysteries which concern the kingdom of God Again the will that in the old man affects nothing but vile and vain things is froward and perverse in the ways of godliness Rom. 12.2 in the new man it must prove and approve what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God yea it must attend and be subordinate to the grace of God Phil. 5.13 sith God indeed and God onely works in us both the will and the deed Phil. 2.13 Again the memory that in the old man is slippery in the things of God or if naturally good yet not spiritually useful in the new man it must be sanctified to good performances and although it cannot encrease to a greater natural perfection for grace doth not this yet the perfections it hath must be straight and right and guided to God-ward Remember the Lord thy God saith Moses Deut. 8.18 Again Deut. 8.18 the conscience that in the old man sleeps and slumbers or if it be awake tears and roars as if a legion of Devils now possessed it in the new man it must be calm and quiet and yet not sleep or slumber but rather in a friendly loving maner check and control wheresoever sin is yea never be quiet till with kinde and yet earnest expostulations it draw the sinner before God to confess his fault and to seek pardon for it Again the affections that in the old man are sensual inordinate bewitched and set on wrong objects in the new man they must be turned another way Mary Magdalene you know was given to unclean lusts but the Lord diverted this sinful passion and so she became penitent and thirsted after grace To sum up all all must be renewed the undestanding will memory conscience affections But to feel more of their sweetness I will pound these spices and dwell a while on them Now then for your better acquaintance with the regenerate man and that you may know his difference from the man unregenerate observe I pray these passages First I say Col. 3.10 in the new man the understanding must be renewed so the Apostle The new man is renewed in knowledge Col. 3.10 and this knowledge implyes two habits Col. 1.9 Sapientiam Prudentiam Wisdom and Prudence Col. 1.9 First Wisdom and that is speculative Secondly Prudence and that is practical By the one the childe of God having the eyes of his minde opened and illightned doth see the mysteries of salvation the secrets of the Kingdom the whole Councel and the wonders of the Law of God by the other he is enabled with a judicious sincerity to deliberate and determine in cases of conscience in the practice of piety and the experimental passages of a Christian man Sapientiam If we consider the first Wisdom how is it possible that a man unregenerate should know the mysteries of salvation It may be he may go as far as the power of natural discourse and light of Reason can bear sway he may be furnished with store of rare and excellent learning and yet for all this want the true knowledge of spiritual wisdom Why so Because all his knowledge like the light of the Moon is discharged upon others but never returns and reflects upon his own soul he should know but knows not the darkness of his own understanding the disorder of his own affections the slumber of his own conscience the deadness of his own heart but the man regenerate know he never so little he hath the saving-knowlâ—dge and in this he exceeds the greatest Rabbies the profoundest Clerks he onely knows God with a stedfast apprehension he onely knows himself a most mean base and contemptible thing his new birth hath learned him how
God puts into the hearts of those who seek him in sincerity and truth never was Ahab more sick for a vineyard nor Sisera for milk nor Sampson for water when God was fain to open him a fountain in the jaw of an ass Iudg. 15 19. then is a truly humbled soul after Christ ever thirsting and longing that he may hide himself in his righteousness and bathe himself in that blood which his Savior shed for him I have read of a gracious woman who laboring in these pangs and longing after Christ Jesus cryed out I have born nine children with as great pain as other women and yet I would with all my heart bear them all over again yea bear them and bear them all the days of my life to be assured of my part in Christ Jesus One replying Doth not your heart desire and long after him Oh! said she I have an husband and children and many other comforts I would give them all and all the good I shall ever see in this world or in in the world to come to have my poor thirsty soul refresht with that precious blood of my Savior So eager and earnest is the heart of each man parched with the angry countenance of God after this blood of his I thirst I faint I languish I long saith he for one drop of mercy my spirit is melted in me into tears of blood my heart because of sin is so shaken and shivered my soul because of sorrow is so wasted and parched that my thirst is insatiable my bowels are hot within me my desire after Christ is extremely great and greedy Stay all these expressions are far short of those longings Rev. 2 17. no man knoweth them save he that receives them save he that is born again The seventh step is A relying on Christ no sooner he considers and remembers those many melting invitations of our Lord and Savior Iohn 7.31 Isaiah 55.1 Matth. 11.28 If any man thirst let him come unto me Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden with sin but resting himself on the impregnable truth of these blessed promises he throws himself into the merciful and meritorious arms of his crucified Lord. Come life come death come heaven come hell come what come will Rom. 8.35 38 39. here will he stick for ever Who saith Paul shall seperate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword No I am perswaded not these nor more then these neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.35 38 39. Thus it is with the man laboring in this birth what saith he doth Christ call the heavy laden why Lord I am heavy laden with a weight a mass of sin and if he may come that is called Lord I come I come and now I am come with thee will I build my tabernacle with thee will I rest for ever Nor is this any wonder experience tells us the hunted beast flyes unto his den the wounded man hyes unto the Surgeon and so the poor man broken and bruised with the weight of sin how should he otherwise but cast himself willingly into the sweet compassionate inviting armes and embracements of Christ whose promises run I will ease him I will refresh him You may see sometimes a little infant Matth. 11.28 upon apprehension and approach of some sudden danger how hastily he runs into his mothers arms even so a truly wounded soul pursued by the terrors of the Law and frighted with the angry countenance of Almighty God it flyes with speed into the bosom of its blessed Redeemer there it clings unto his blessed wounds there it rests upon his meritorious death there it grasps about his crucified body there it hides it self in the clefts of this Rock yea there it sticks with this full resolution that should all terrors all temptations all men all devils combine together to cast him into hell they should tear him rent him pull him hale him from the bleeding wounds and tender bowels of his heavenly Savior This was Jobs case who in the bitterest of his pangs could cry it out saying Though the Lord slay me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 And I must tell you this * Vrisin parte secunda catech q. 6. Fides justificans non est tantum notitia sed etiam fiducia quatanquam medium applicamus nobis meritum Christi ac in eo acquiescimus Trelcat l. 2. institut Loquens de natura fidei justificantis apprehensio ejus 2 ex una cognitionis in intellectu altera fiduciae in voluntate utramque includit fides At noluit Bellar. fidem esse in voluntate affiance dependance adherence reliance or whatsoever else we call it upon the merits of Christ is the right justifying faith whither if a man once come there is but one degree more and he is then born again The last and highest step is Vniversal obedience to Christ No sooner hath he cast himself upon him but he takes him not onely as a Savior to redeem him from the miseries of sin but as an husband a Lord a King to serve him love him honor him and obey him Now will he take his yoke upon him now will he bear his cross and follow after him now will he enter into the narrow way now will he walk in the holy path now will he associate himself to that sect and brotherhood that is every where spoken against Act. 28.22 now will he oppose himself against all sin whatsoever now will he shake off his old companions brethren in iniquity now will he keep peace and a good conscience towards God and man now will he watch over his secret sins lustful thoughts occasions of evil now will he direct his words to the glorifying of God and to give grace to the hearers now will he conform all his actions to the soveraignty of grace now will he delight in the word the ways the Saints the services of God now will he never more turn again unto folly or to his trade of sin yea though Satan set upon him with baits and allurements to detain him in his bondage but by one darling-delight one minion-sin yet he resolves to answer him as Moses did Pharaoh There shall not so much as an hoof be left behinde for well he knows one breach in the City exposeth it to the enemy one leak in a ship will sink it in the sea one stab in the heart will speed a man to death one knot in a threed will stay the needles passage as well as five hundred and therefore he will sell all all that he hath even all his sins to the last filthy rag
all men the most unlikely is a Jew of all Jews a Ruler of all Rulers a Pharisee Have any of the Rulers or the Pharisees believed on him But howsoever it seem thus unlikely unto us the Spirit of God bloweth where it listeth here is amongst many believers one Nicodemus and he is a man of the Pharisees a Ruler of the Jews vers 1 a Jew a Ruler a Pharisee Luk. 3.8 God is able even of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham yea we see here be they never so stony our Saviour melts one of them with a miracle and by a new birth he will make him a son of Abraham indeed A miracle brings him to Christ and Christ brings him to a new birth The first Nicodemus confesseth vers 2 Rabbi faith he to our Savior we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles that thou dost except God be with him The second our Savior affirmeth as if he had answered to say I am sent from God and not to be born again will never help thee to Heaven thy confession is right that I am sent from God but thy conversation is wrong that art not born again thou comest to me with confession of thy faith but here is a further Catechism another lesson and therefore as thou callest me Rabbi if thou wilt be a Scholar in my School thou must learn these principles these rudiments these first things this text this A B C of Christian an Religion Except a man be born again he cannst see the Kingdom of God In prosecution of which words all tending to this one point of the new birth we shall follow the order set down by the Holy Ghost where is 1. The necessity of it no going to heaven without it Except 2. The generality of it every man is bound to it a man 3. The maner of it how a man is wrought in it he must be born again 4. The issue of it what effects are annext to it the Kingdom of God and sight of that Kingdom a man that is born again shall see the Kingdom of God and Except a man be born again he shall not see the Kingdom of God These be the branches and of every of them by Gods assistance we shall gather some fruit for the food of your souls The first branch is the first word Except Except THis Except is without exception for unless we are new born there is no going to Heaven before we live here we are born and before we live there we are new born as no man comes into this world but by the first birth so impossible it is that any should go to Heaven in another world but by the second birth And this gives us the necessity of Regeneration Except a man be new born Doct. he can never be saved It is our Saviors speech and he confirms it with a double asseveration Verily verily I say unto thee Twice verily which we finde not any where but in S. Johns Gospel Rupert in loc and no where in the Gospel so oft as on this argument how then should we disbelieve this truth where we have such a witness as Christ such a testimony as his Verily verily I say unto thee Again God the Father thus counsels not onely Nicodemus but all the Jews of the old Church Ezek. 18.31 saying Make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you dye O house of Israel Ezek. 18.31 Notwithstanding all their priviledges for they are Israelites Rom. 9.4 to whom pertains the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises Rom. 9.4 Yet here is one thing necessary Vuum necessarium that must crown all the rest they must have a new heart and a new spirit that is to say they must be new born or there is no way but death from which death see how the Lord pulls them with his cords of love alluring wooing questioning Why will ye dye O house of Israel And yet again not onely the Son and the Father Revel 2.17 but the Holy Ghost too will avouch this truth He that hath an ear Rev. 3.12.13 let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Mos erat antiquis niveis atrisque lapillis his damnare reos illis absolvere paena Metamorphos l. 15. Hunc macrine diem numera meliore lapillo Pers Sat sâ—cunda Aretius in loc 1 Cor. 5.17 And what 's that To him that overcometh will I give a white stone and in the stone a new name written yea I will write upon him New Jerusalem and I will write upon him my new name Revel 2.17 and 3.12 The meaning is he that is new born and so overcomes sin Gods Spirit will give him his grace the white stone and his Kingdom the new Jerusalem and a new name the name of filiation saith a Modern whereby truly he is called the new born Son of God See here how old things being done away all things are become new by a new birth man hath got a new name a new inheritance and therefore as the Spirit so the new birth is called a fire that purgeth away dross and makes souls bright and new so that we must pass thorow this fire or no passage into Paradise Nor is this Doctrine without reason or ground For Except by the second birth man is first unholy Heb. 12.14 and therefore most unfit to enter into Heaven Without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 And what is man before he is new born if we look upon his soul we may see it deformed with sin defiled with lust outraged with passions overcarried with affections pining with envy burthened with gluttony boyling with revenge transported with rage and thus is that Image of God transformed to the ugly shape of the Devil Or should we take a more particular view every faculty of the soul is full of iniquity the understanding understands nothing of the things of God 1 Cor. 2.14 the will wills nothing that is good 1 Cor. 2.14 Rom. 6.20 Gal. 5.17 Rom. 6.20 the affections affect nothing of the Spirit Gal. 5.17 In a word the understanding is darkned the will enthralled the affections disordered the memory defiled the conscience benummed all the inner man is full of sin and there is no part that is good no not one But what say we of the body sure that is nothing better it is a rotten carrion altogether unprofitable and good for nothing should we view it in every part and member of it the head contrives mischief the eyes behold vanity the ears let in sin the tongue sends out oaths Come we lower the heart lodgeth lusts the hands commit murther the feet run to evil all the senses are but so many matches to give fire to lusts deceits envies and what not How needful now is a new birth to a man in
wicked a creature he naturally is and therefore in that respect is he odious to himself and loathsom in his own eyes Or if we consider the second Prudence How is it possible that a man unregenerate Prudentiam should experimentally know the practice of piety in a Christian course Should we instance in this mystery of Regeneration Here is one Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews and a teacher of Israel yet as learned as he was if he confer with Christ about the salvation of his soul he is strangely childish and a meer infant tell him of the new birth and he thinks it as impossible as for an old man to return into his mothers womb and be born again The natural man cannot discern the operations of grace he knows not that dark and fearful passage which leads from the state of nature through strange terrors and torments of soul into the rich and glorious happiness of the kingdom of Christ whereas on the contrary the regenerate man that hath had the experience of the power of godliness upon his own soul he can see and judge of the light of grace he can taste and rellish of the fruits of the Spirit and hence it is that many a silly one man and woman whom the worldly-wise pass by with scorn and contempt are often in spiritual affairs more wise and learned then the learnedst Doctors Secondly Rectitudinem Promptitudinem the Will must be renewed and this will of the regenerate contains two things Rightness and Readiness It is first rectified when it is conformed to the will of God Secondly it is so inflamed with the love of goodness that willingly he pursues it with alacrity of spirit If we consider the first the Rectitude of the will we see by experience the will of the unregenerate is all out of course Rectitudinem he wills nothing but that which is evil How should he considering his want of Gods image his blindeness of heart his proneness to evil together with the vehemency of his affections which draw the will after them and trouble the judgement But in the man that is regenerate the will being moved it afterwards moves it self Gods grace that concurs with it quickens it and revives it so that now his will is nothing but Gods will if it may appear that God bids him or forbids him to do this or that he chooseth above all to follow his commands whatsoever becomes of him why this is the very heart and marrow of regeneration you may be sure the man that chooseth above all to please God Promptitudinem is the onely man of God and shall be rewarded by God Or if we consider the second the Readiness of the will to God alas the will of the unregenerate hath no pleasure in goodness he understands not the sweetness of it Iob 21.14 and therefore nothing is more irksom to him then the ways of godliness whereas on the contrary the will of the regenerate is willing and this willingness indeed is the perfection of his will yea if we can say more it is the highest degree of his perfection in this life to be willing to do good Thirdly the memory must be renewed and this memory reflects occasionally on a double object on God Deum Dei verbum and the things of God First on God by remembrance of his presence every where Secondly on the things of God by calling them to minde at useful times If we consider the first object God the unregenerate hath no minde on God Deum Psal 10.4 God is net in all his thoughts like the hood-winkt fool that seeing no body thinks no body sees him so hath he said in his heart Job 22.13 14. How doth God know can he judge thorow the dark cloud Thick clouds are a covering to him that seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of heaven But contrariwise the regenerare man Eccles 12.1 he remembers his Creator in the days of his youth And though God as being a Spirit is in some sort absent from his senses yet by vertue of his sanctified memory that makes things absent as present his eye is on God and he considers God as an eye-witness of all his thoughts and words and doings and dealings he knows nothing can be hid from that all-seeing eye though sin tempt him with the fairest opportunities of night and darkness yet still he remembers if his eye sees nothing all those eyes of heaven of God and of his Angels are ever about him and therefore he answers the Tempter How dare I sin to his face that looks on me what I am doing if I dare not do this folly before men how dare I do it before those heaven-spectators God and his Angels Or if we consider the second object the Word of God the unregenerate never burthens his memory with such blessed thoughts Dei verbum if sometimes he falls upon it it is either by constraint or by accident never with any setled resolution to dwell on it or to follow it Luke 2.51 Psal 119.11 but the soul that is regenerate with Mary keeps all these things in his heart or with David gives it out Thy word have I hid in my heart Psal 119.11 Whatsoever lessons he learns like so many jewels in a casket he lays them up safe and then as need serveth he remembers his store and makes all the good use of them he may I will not deny but any man good or evil may retain good things according to that strength of retainment which nature affords him but the regenerate whose memory onely is sanctified whatsoever he retains he hath it opportunely at hand in tentation or affliction he remembers and applyes and so remembring to apply and applying that he remembers he is thereby inabled to resist evil or to follow those good things which the Lord hath commanded Fourthly the conscience must be renewed and that two ways Ad bonum or a malo either by drawing the soul to good or from evil first to good by inclining and incouraging and secondly from evil by restraining and bridling If we consider its first office in that it draws and leads the soul to good I confess the unregenerate is not of that conscience Ad bonum for the most part his conscience lies dead in his bosom or if it stir sometimes he labors all he can to smother it in his waking to such an one should men and Angels preach yet so far is he bewitched with sin that he hath no minde of goodness or if ever he do any good act which is a rare thing with him it is not out of conscience to do good but for some sinister end or respect It is otherwise with the regenerate his conscience incites him to good and he doth good out of conscience he stands not upon terms of pleasure or profit but his conscience being guided by the rule and square of Gods holy
6.6 All the night make I my bed to swim with my tears presently the Sun of righteousness will appear and he will dry away your tears and shine upon you with everlasting light Certainly thus is it with every regenerate man he loves and hates and hopes and fears and joyes and sorrows and all these passions are renewed in him To give instance in one David for all the regenerate his love appears Psal Psal 119.47.130.22.62 5. 119.47 My delight shall be in thy commandments which I have loved his hatred appears Psal 130.22 I hate thy enemies with a perfect hatred His hope appears Psal 62.5 My soul wait thou onely upon God for my expectation is from him 119 120.119.16.162 His fear appears Psal 119.120 His Judgments are terrible I tremble and quake His joy appears Psal 119.16 Thy Testimonies are my delight I rejoyce in them as one that findeth great spoils 119.136 His sorrow appears Psal 119.136 Mine eyes gush out with rivers of water Here is Love and Hatred and Hope and Fear and Joy and Sorrow and all are set upon their right spiritual objects You see now a pourtraiture of the new man which should be the case of all men my text saith indefinitely A man implying every man and every part of man every man should be regenerated every part of man should be renewed and whereas man consists on two parts the body and soul all the members of his body the Heart the Eye the Ear the Tongue in especial all the powers of his soul the Vnderstanding the Will the Memory the Conscience the Affections in general all must be renewed and the whole man born again And yet beloved I mean not so Vse as that a man renewed is never overcome with sin I know there is in him a continual fight betwixt the flesh and the spirit each of which striveth to make his part strong against the other and sometimes Amalek prevails and sometimes Israel prevails sometimes his heart falls a lusting his eyes a wandring his ears a tickling his tongue a cursing sometimes his understanding errs his will rebells his memory fails his conscience sleeps and his affections turn the stream after sensual objects but that which differs him from the unregenerate man if he sin it is with a gracious reluctation he resists it to the uttermost of his abilities and if at last he commit sin through the violence of tentation subduing the infirmity of the flesh he is presently abashed and then begins he to set repentance a work in all the parts and powers of his body and soul then begins his conscience to trouble him within and will never be at quiet until the cistern of his heart being overcharged hath caused his eyes the flood-gates with moist sinful humors to overflow the cheeks with tears of contrition and thus he is washed justified sanctified and restored to his former integrity again 1 Cor. 6.9 Examine then your selves you that desire heaven at your ends would you inherit the Kingdom would you live with Angels would you save your souls examine and try whether your bodies and souls be sanctified throughout and if you have no sense or feeling of the new birth for 't is a mystery to the unregenerate then never look to see in that state the kingdom of God but if you perceive the working of saving grace effectually in you and you cannot but perceive it if you have it if you feel the power of godliness first seizing the heart and after dispersing it self over all the parts and powers of body and soul or yet more in particular if your hearts be softned by the Spirit if your eyes wait upon God if your ears listen to his word if your tongues shew forth his praise if your understanding attain to saving knowledge if your wills conform to the will of God if your memories be stored with heavenly doctrine if your consciences be tender and sensible of the least sin whatsoever if you love that which is good if you hate that which is evil if you hope for the blessings above if you fear him that can destroy both body and soul in a word if you joy in goodness if you sorrow for sin then are you born again Happy man in this case that ever he was born and thus every man must be or he cannot be happy Except a man every man every part of man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Thus far of the subject man we come now to the act or deed to be done he must be born again Be born again THe children are brought to the birth and lest the saying be true of us there is no strength to bring forth I shall now by Gods assistance proceed to the birth it self 2 King 19.3 Here we have the maner of it and we may observe a double maner First of the words containing the new birth Secondly of the new birth contained in the words The maner of the words apears in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two words and either of them hath its diverse reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Valla would rather have to be genitus begotten Except a man be begotten Others usually say natus born Except a man be born And as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some would have to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above or from heaven Except a man be born from above Others usually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again Except a man be born again Chrysostome cites both these and of each reading we shall gather something for our own instruction Except a man be regenerated Erasm annot in loc or begotten saith Valla As man that is born of a woman is begotten of a man so he that is born again Doct. must have a begetting too and therefore sometimes it is called renascentia a new birth and sometimes regeneratio a new begetting or regeneration If you ask of whom is the new man begotten Saint Iames tells you Jam. 1.18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth Iam. 1.18 The former words note the impulsive cause these latter the instrument it was God that begat us and with the seed of the word First God begat us and so are we called Gods sons born not of blood Iohn 1.13 nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God John 1.13 Regeneration is the work of God and because it is a work external it is therefore communicable to each Person in the Trinity Ye are sanctified saith the Apostle in the name of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 6.11 and by the spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6.11 The Father Son and Holy Ghost all sanctifie all work the same work but as in the Godhead there is but one Essence and yet three maners of being of the same one Essence so in Gods outward operations all the Persons work rem eandem one thing but all work
7. Sins against the sixth Commandment IT is the sixth Commandment Thou shalt do no murther For the duties here required Say 1. Hast thou ever desired and studied by all means lawful to preserve thine own person and the person of thy neighbor Or for the sins here forbidden Say 1 Hast thou not sometimes envied others for their wealth Gen 26.14 Numb 11.29 Gen. 37.11 Iob 16 9 or for their gifts or for their respects with others 2. Hast thou not offended others in gestures gnashing on them with thy teeth or sharpening thine eyes on them 3. Hast thou not fended others in words by censuring or reviling 1 Pet. 3.9 Psal 37.12 or rendring evil for evil or railing for railing 4. Hast thou not offended others in deeds plotting against the just Matth. 5.22 Amos 2.11 or doing evil to any man 5. Hast thou not been angry with thy brother without cause or continued long in anger keeping thy wrath as it were for ever 6. Hast thou not rejoyced at others fall Pro. 24.17 Iob 31.30 or wished a curse to their souls 7. Hast thou not done evil to thy self by inordinate fretting or grieving or drinking or surfetting Numb 14.2 Pro. 6.14 or saying in thy passions Would God I were dead 8. Hast thou not been a sower of discord or some way or other a just occasion of the discomfort or of the death of thy neighbor If in any of these thou hast transgressed thou hast then broken this Commandment Thou shalt do no murther Sect. 8. Sins against the seventh Commandment IT is the seventh Commandment Thou shalt not commit adultery For the duties here required Say Hast thou ever kept thy self pure in soul and body both towards thy self and others Or for the sins here forbidden Say Hast thou not sometimes been defiled with buggery Sodomitry incest whoredom adultery Polygamy Rom. 1.26 self-pollution or with changing the natural use into that which is against nature 2. Hast thou not offended in the occasions of uncleanness as in idleness gluttony drunkenness wanton company whorish attire or perfumes 3. Pro. 7.16 17. Col. 3.8 Hast thou not sinned in thy senses or gestures or words by filthy communication proceeding out of thy mouth 4. Hast thou not harbored in thy heart burning lusts impure thoughts inordinate affections 5. Matth. 5.28 Hast thou not behaved thy self immodestly unsoberly Col. 3.5 or shamelesly abusing thy body or using some maner of dalliance and wantonness If in any of these thou hast transgressed then hast thou broken this Commandment Thou shalt not commit adultery Sect. 9. Sins against the eighth Commandment IT is the eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal For the duties here required Say Hast thou ever by all good means furthered the outward estate of thy self and of thy neighbor Or for the sins here forbidden Say First Hast thou not sometimes got thy living by an unlawful calling Secondly hast thou not impoverisht thy self by idleness luxurious or unnecessary expences Thirdly hast thou not withheld from thy self or others that which should have been expended Fourthly hast thou not gotten or kept thy neighbors goods by falshood or force and made no restitution Fifthly hast thou not stollen by usury or oppression or fraud in buying or selling an abomination unto the Lord Sixthly hast thou not robbed God of his tythes and offerings by sacriledge or symony Deut. 25.16 Malac. 3.8 Seventhly hast thou not some way or other impaired thy neighbors state If in any of these thou hast transgressed then hast thou broken this Commandment Thou shalt not steal Sect. 10. Sins against the ninth Commandment IT is the ninth Commandment Thou shalt not bear false witness For the duties here required Say Hast thou ever by all means sought to maintain thy own and thy neighbors good name according to truth and a good conscience Or for the sins here forbidden Say Rev. 22.15 First hast thou not sometimes loved or made a lye Secondly Ier. 20.10 Mat. 7.3 Prov. 24.24 hast thou not raised a false report to the defaming of many Thirdly hast thou not censured or judged others yet never considered the beam that is in thy own eye Fourthly hast thou not flattered thy self and others saying unto the wicked Thou art righteous Fifthly hast thou not condemned some without witness or forborn to witness for others when thou knewest the truth Sixthly hast thou not been uncharitably suspitious or a despiser of thy neighbor Seventhly hast thou not told a lye whether jestingly or officiously or perniciously If in any of these thou hast transgressed then hast thou broke this Commandment Thou shalt not bear false witness Sect. 11. Sins against the last Commandment IT is the last Commandment Thou shalt not covet For the duties here required Say First hast thou ever been truly contented with thy own outward condition Secondly hast thou rejoyced at others good and loved thy neighbor as thy self Matth. 19.19 Or for the sins here forbidden Say First Matth. 15.19 hast thou not sometimes conceived evil thoughts in thy heart Secondly hast thou not delighted in the inward contemplations of evil Thirdly hast thou not been full of discontent with thy own condition and state Fourthly hast thou not felt another law of thy members warring against the law of thy minde Fifthly Rom. 7.29 hast thou not coveted after something or other that was thy neighbors either with will or by actual concupiscence If in any of these thou hast transgressed then hast thou broke this Commandment Thou shalt not covet CHAP. III. The second means to get into the new birth AFter examination which may well serve thee for one days work or two the next duty is Confession Now then take the Catalogue of those sins or if thy awaked conscience can tell thee of any other which thou knowest thou hast committed and noted either in this book or on some other paper and kneeling on thy knees spread thy Catalogue before the Lord I say spread thy Catalogue before the Lord 2 King 19.14 as Hezekiah did his letter there read thou seriously and particularly saying O Lord I confess I have committed this sin and the other sin as they are before thee in order of all these sins I am guilty especially of those sins wherein I delighted my darlings my minions my bosom-sins take notice of them and confess them again of all these sins I am guilty And now O Lord standing as it were at the bar of thy tribunal I arraign my self and accuse my self and judge my self worthy of the utmost of thy wrath and indignation for one sin thou cast Adam out of paradise for one sin thou cast the Angels out of heaven for one sin thou destroyedst a world of men and what then shall become of me that have committed a world of sins here pause a while and meditate on thy unworthiness O that I should be so foolish so bruitish so mad to commit these sins
know the Spirit is above and the new birth or regeneration comes from the Spirit But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why it is so or what moves the Spirit to do so besides his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good pleasure of his will we cannot tell Or if we read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as others do Beda Erasm paraph. in loc the words then run thus Except a man be born again To this Nicodemus's reply seems more direct How can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his mothers womb No question he took Christs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely thus he mistook that the second birth should be after the maner of the first birth and therefore he saith Can a man that is old such as he himself was be born again No saith our Savior that which is born of the flesh is flesh and there is but one birth after this maner but to be born again is to be born after the Spirit and this is that second birth A man is first born of the flesh Doct. and he must be again born of the Spirit Hence appears the difference of the first and second birth the first birth is of the earth earthy the second birth is of the Lord from heaven heavenly the first birth is of nature full of sin the second is of grace full of sanctity the first birth is originally of flesh and blood the second birth is originally of the Spirit and water In a word the first birth kills the second gives life generation lost us it must be regeneration that recovers us O blessed birth without which no birth is happy in comparison of which though it were to be born heir of the whole world all is but misery Heb. 11.24 this was Moses praise that he esteemed the reproach of Christ above all the treasures in Egypt rather would he be the son of God then to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter Heb. 11.24 No question it is a great dignity to be called the son in Law to a King 1 Sam. 18.23 Polan Syntag. l. 6. c. 37. Act. 8.37 Acts 10.47 Acts 16.14 Titus 2.5 but nothing in comparison of being the Son of God this sonship is that degree above which there needs no aspiring and under which there is no happiness no heaven no kingdom Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Thus far of the maner of the words which containing the new birth it appears in them the father of it is God the seed of it the Word the mother of it the Church the place of it whence from Heaven the time of it when after a man is once born then he must be again born Except a man be born again Secondly as you see the maner of the words containing the new birth so now see the maner of the new birth contained in the words I know it is not wrought in all after one maner nor is the maner known to us but onely so far forth as it is sensible in us and therefore we must consider man before baptism in baptism after baptism In some is the new birth wrought before baptism as in the eunuch under Candace Queen of the Aethiopians Acts 8.37 and in the Captain Cornelius together with his kinsmen and and near friends Acts 10.47 and in Lydia Acts 16.14 and so our charity tells us that every Infant dying before baptism is renewed by the Spirit but the maner of this working we know not for it is one of the secrets of the Spirit of God In others is the new birth wrought in Baptism which indeed is the Sacrament of the new birth and seal of Regeneration but howsoever in Paedo-Baptism we see the outward seal yet we see not we feel not the maner of the inward working for this also is the secret of the * Bellar. Tom. 2. de Sacram. Baptism c 10. habent fidem habitualem See Dr. Field concerning the Author of the grounds of the old and new Religion S. 2. Fides est in infantibus potentia inclinatione Ursinus parte secunda Catechis quest 74. Spiritus operatur in potentiis animae ipsorum ut Bellar habeut spiritum fidei Zanch. in cap. 2. ad Ephes spirit of God In others is the new birth wrought after Baptism so Polanus but whether after Baptism or in Baptism we will not dispute onely as the case stands with us this I affirm That there is no manifestation of the new birth until after Baptism But when after Baptism I answer whensoever men receive Christ by faith which though it be many years after yet then do they feel the power of God regenerate them and to work all things in them which he offered in Baptism Now the maner of this feeling or of Gods Spirit working proceeds usually thus There be certain steps of degrees say Divines by which it passeth and howsoever in those whom God hath blessed with that great favor of holy and Christian education the Spirit of God dropping grace into their hearts even very betimes these steps or degrees are not so easily perceived Yet in those men who have lived long in sin whose sins have been gross and great and grievous no sooner come they to a new birth but they can feel grace work in them step after step and these steps we shall reckon to the number of eight The first is a sight of sin and this our Savior reckons for the first work of the Spirit When he is come Iohn 16.8 he will reprove the world of sin John 16.8 Of sin how why thus no sooner begins this blessed change from nature to grace but the conscience wrought on by Gods word opens its book and presents to the soul a bed-roll of those many mighty hainous sins committed against God and man there he may read in bloody burning lines the abominations of his youth the sins of all his life and to bring them into method the Commandments of God stand as a remembrancer before his eyes the first tells him of his loving somewhat above God the second of his worshipping a false God or the true God after a false maner the third of his dishonoring the great and mighty name of God the fourth of his breaking the Lords days either in doing the works of the flesh or leaving undone the works of the Spirit nor is this all as against God so against his neighbor hath he sinned the fifth tells him of his stubbornness and disobedience the sixth of his passions and desire of revenge the seventh of his lewdness and lustful courses the eighth of his robberies and covetous thefts the ninth of his lyes and and slanders back-bitings and rash judgements the tenth of his covetous thoughts and motions of the heart to all maner of evil Good Lord what a number of evils yea what innumerable swarms of lawless thoughts and words and actions doth he
read in his conscience But above all his darling-delight his beloved sin is writ in greatest characters this he findes to have bewitched him most and to have domineered above all the rest in his wasted conscience this sin in some is worldliness wantonness usury pride revenge or the like in others it is drunkenness gluttony gaming scurril jesting symony or the like whatsoever it is the conscience tells him of it again and again where that he may read it together with his other sins the Spirit of God now opens the eyes of his minde and lets him see the very mud and filth of his soul that lay at the bottom before unseen and undiscerned Thus is the first working of the new life to wit a feeling of the old death of his soul in sins and trespasses and here the axiome is true no generation without corruption a man must first feel this death before he is born again The second step is Sense of divine wrath which begets in him fear Rom. 8.15 so the Apostle The spirit of bondage begets fear Rom. 8.15 and thus it works no sooner hath the man a sight and feeling of his sin but then Gods Spirit now called the spirit of bondage presents to him the armory of Gods flaming wrath and fiery indignation this makes him to feel as if he were pricked with the stroak of an arrow or point of a sword or sting of an Adder that he is a most cursed and damnable creature justly deserving all the miseries of this life and all the fiery torments of hell in that life to come yea this makes him tremble and stand and look as if he were throughly frighted with the angry countenance of God Almighty Would you view him in this case his conscience hath now awaked him out of his dead sensual sleep by the Trumpet of the Law his heart is now scorched with the secret sense of Gods angry face his soul is now full sorely crushed under the most grievous burthen of innumerable sins his thoughts are now full of fear and astonishment as if no less then very hell and horror were ready to seize upon his body and soul I say not what measure of this wrath is poured on all men in their conversion for I suppose some feel more and some have less of it but I verily believe some there are that in these pangs of the new birth have been scorched as it were with the very flames of hell insomuch that they might truly say with David Gods wrath lieth hard upon me Psal 88.7 and he hath afflicted me with all his waves Psal 88.7 And no wonder for this is the time of fear now it is that Satan strives busily to stifle the new man in the womb and therefore he that before diminished his sins and made them appear little or nothing in his eyes when he once sees the man smitten down into the place of dragons and covered with the shadow of death Psal 44.19 then he puts into his minde his innumerable sins and that which immediately follows the curse of the Law and the wrath of God which he yet makes more grisly and fierce with a purpose to plunge him into the bottomless pit of horror and despair By this means he perswaded Cain to cry out when he was in this case My punishment is greater then I can bear or Gen. 4.13 as others translate Mine iniquity is greater then can be forgiven Gen. 4.13 And therefore thus far the unregenerate goes with the man born again both have a sight of sin and sense of wrath but here they part for the man unregenerate either sinks under it or labors to allay it with worldly comforts or some counterfeit calm but the man born again is onely humbled by it and seeks the right way to cure it and at last by the help of Gods Spirit he passeth quite through it I mean through this hell upon earth into the spiritual pleasures of the Kingdom of grace which is to be born again The third step is Sorrow for sin and this is more peculiar to Gods childe there is a sorrow which is a common work of grace which an hypocrite may have and there is a sorrow which is a work of special grace and this likewise precedes the exercise of faith But some object Christ must work this sorrow or it is good for nothing now if Christ be in the soul working sorrow then there is faith therefore faith must go before sorrow I answer although it is true that Christ cannot be in the soul but in the same instant there is the habit of faith yet it follows not that faith is before sorrow for the habits of these graces are both together and at once in the soul or howsoever it follows not that the soul is inabled by an act of faith to apply Christ to it self as soon as Christ is in the soul or as soon as the habit of faith is infused into the soul The question is whether the soul in respect of us who can onely judge of the habit by the act cannot be said to have sorrow or repentance before faith the question is not which the soul hath first in respect of Gods gift but which it acts first for our apprehension Surely to us it first sorrows for sin and then it acts or exerciseth faith by coming to Christ and relying upon Christ for Salvation c. he grieves not onely because he fears he must be damned so Cain and Judas might but because he knows he hath deserved to be damned this is the more especial object of his sorrow in that he is so wicked so sinful so rebellious so contrary to God this sin I say is it wherein he was conceived and born wherein he hath lived and continued that makes him sob and sigh and sorrow and mourn and yet this sorrow is sometimes taken largely for the whole work of conversion sometimes strictly for conviction contrition and humiliation in like maner repentance is taken sometimes largely and sometimes strictly By this distinction it may easily appear how sorrow goes before repentance and how repentance goes before faith Indeed for the latter is the great controversie but some reconcile it thus Repentance hath two parts the aversion of the soul from Sin and the conversion of the soul to God the latter part of it is onely an effect of faith the former part of it viz. the turning of the soul from Sin is also an effect but not onely an effect for it is begun before faith though it be not ended till our life end Some object that God works repentance and faith together But we dispute not how God works them but how the soul acts them not which is in the soul first but which appears out of the soul first neither is it any new thing in Philosophy to say Those causes which produce an effect though they be in time together yet are mutually before one another in order of