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
8. by pointing to his Disciples Mat. 12. 49 50. He stretched forth his hands towards his Disciples and said Behold my mother and my brethren for whosoever doth c. The same Luke 8. My mother and my brethren are they that hear the word and do it verses 21. By which places of Scripture we see plainly and evidently that Christs respects are greater and he is dearer and nearer to them that are united to him by faith than by bloud by spiritual regeneration than by natural generation And St. Austin from hence is bold to affirm Felicior Maria credendo in Christum quam concipiâ—ndo carnem Christi Mary was more happy in believing in her Son than in bearing him in believing in him in her mind than in bearing him in her womb They are dearer and nearer to Christ that are allied to him by faith than by the flesh and this our Saviour mildly intimated to the woman who looking too carnally and sensually upon his outward and natural generation and crying out blessed the womb and he corrects her in these words Nay more blessed are they that hear the word of God and do it It is not the conception of the body but the conception of the mind which unites us to Christ for howsoever by the body we are born at first by the mind we are born again The womb of which conception lies higher namely in the heart where the seed of the word is sown to receiv the ingraffed word and to conceive the new man and by faith to impregnate and bring him forth This is the work of regeneration and this unites us to Christ makes us bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh The word of God which is called the seed of our new birth goes in at our ears from thence down to our hearts and there as I said it doth iâ—pregnate and fructifie and bring forth the new Men. God begets us of his will by the word of truth I will conclude this Point with the Prayer of St. Augustine before one of his Sermons beseeching God that Quicquid meditatum est cor meum whatsoever my heart hath profitably meditated upon this divine Subject may enter from my mouth into your ears from your ears into your hearts from your hearts spring forth in your lives and be fruitfull so that receiving the ingrafted word with meekness it may be able to save your souls As you have in part seen the eminency and dignity of a Christian of which you shall hear more anon so I pray you note three great and singular priviledges and prorogatives of one born of God they are worth your noting and observation I. First They that are born of God sin not 1. John 3. 9. He that is born of God doth not commit sin Sin not may some say how can you make that good since the most righteous sin seven times a day and there lives not a man upon earth that sins not If we say we have no sin saith St. John We I for one we are not only deceivers but lyars 1 John 1. In many things we offend all saith James We he puts himself in James called the Just puts himself into the number of sinners We offend all all of us in many things and many of us in all things Verebar omnia opera mea saith Job I feared all my works knowing that in the best of them is weakness in the worst wickedness error in all David cries out Who knows how often he offendeth The highest form of believers are not without the actings of sin though the lowest forms are not under the dominion of sin And what were Noahs drunkenesses Lots incest Abrahams dissimulation Davids Adultery Solomons Idolatry Peters Apostacy Thomas â—â—s â—â—credulity were not these sins Noah was a just man in his generation Abraham the Father of the Faithfull and friend of God David was a man after Gods own heart nay the Father of Christ according to the flesh Solomon a type of Christ and Prince of Peace Peter the prime Apostle upon whose faith Christ did build his Church Thomas vouchsafed that never man was to put his finger into the hole of our Saviours side and to handle his wounds yet these tall Cedars were not only shaken but overthrown Et si non timuit lupus illum gregem intrare If the Wolfe feared not to enter into the â—old of which Christ was the Shepherd how may we fear our standing since these strong ones were ever taken with faults no small ones and infirmities not a few Let him that standeth take heed 'T is true peccatum inest in electis non praeest It is in them not over them remanet non regnat it remains in them it reignes not in them Vivit non vincit it lives in them but it conquers them not bellat not debellat it wars but it wins not They are not so perfect so throughly sanctified here in this life that ye fail not or fall at all nor sin at all that peccatum non sit or nisit that sin should not be or be in them but they are so upheld and preserved by the power of God unto salvation ut peccatum non praesit non obsit that sin should not reigne in them nor ruine them because as I said God keeps the feet of his Saints and his seed that is his spirit and word remains in them So that though they fall yet they fall not foully or finally though sin be in them yet it reignes not in their mortal bodies that they should obey it in the lusts and desires thereof because they be born of God and by faith lay hold upon the Lamb of God which hath taken away c. and they have an Advocate with the Father c. But we are to know that this Advocate this Jesus who was so called because he should save though he hath taken away the strength and sting of sin the guilt and condemning power thereof yet he hath not taken away the being of sin The site of sinne that Christ hath not stirred but the spite and might of it that he hath quelled the might that it should not regnare reigne the spite of it that it should not damnare damn Sin is in the best and holiest but it condemns not them that are in Christ Rom. 8. 11 They commit no wickednesse saith David that walk in thy waies that is willingly purposely or resolvedly They sin indeed out of weaknesse and frailty and error out of negligence and carelesnesse and rashnesse but not out of wickednesse intention or presumption out of infirmity and inadvertency they sin but not delightfully or desperately willingly or constantly they sin not finally or to death with their mind they obey the Laws of God though with their flesh the Law of sin or as one saies upon the place They live not unto sin but unto Christ who died for sin or which is the truest and the most comfortable exposition of all They sin
the Jews at Peters first Sermon and Lydia and the Gaoler at Pauls Acts 16. Some cost their spiritual Parents a great deal more pain and labour as the Galathians Paul My little children cryes he of whom I travel in childbed again untill Christ be framed in you Gal. 4. 19. and the Prophet Jeremiah considering and grieving at the obstinacy and rebellion of Gods people cries out Ah my belly my belly how am I pained which complaint signified nothing else but the extream sorrow and heart-breaking which the Prophet suffered to reduce and bring the disobedient Jews into the Fold of Christ to regenerate and convert them 5. In our first birth there commonly goes an espousage and contract before the marriage to make the issue and act legitimate and lawfull So Christ to make himself a lawfull seed marries himself first unto the Church Conglutinabo or desponsabo te mihi fide I will marry thee unto me in faith faith is as it were the marriage-ring and that is the reason I think after the covenant and contract that the Ring was given in marriage Now being thus married unto Christ we are no more two but one flesh Gen. 2. 24. and never did any man hate his own flesh Ephes 5. 29. 6. In our first birth we grow and are framed in our mothers wombe by degrees first the heart for that is primum vivens then the brain then other arteries and members untill we come to be a perfect and entire birth Thus it is in our second birth as Nature in forming so grace in reforming begins at the heart that is first reformed and renewed and then all the parts of the body and faculties of the soul will be amended and reformed David therefore though polluted and defiled throughout yet he praies for the sanctifying and purging of no part but his heart Create in me c. Purge my heart and I am clean all over As therefore Jehu said in his travel to Jonadab when he met him in the way est ubi cor rectum is thy heart right as mine is The same in effect God speaks in truth est vobis cor novum Is your heart good is it renewed Then come up into my Chariot come ye blessed children of my Father c. For the new heavens nor the new name the name of Filiation and Sonship are for none but new creatures 7. Lastly in our first birth we are born babes and â—ot men It were a monstrous thing to see a new borne child at his full grouth the first day or week Thus it is in our second birth we are born babes and not men Babes and need the sincere milk of the word and then come to be stronger men by degeees and to have need of stronger meat Nâ—mo nascitur artifex No man is his Craftsmaster the first day This I note against the sudden grouth of many who boast of their soon acquired grace and goodness and think they are at the height of religion before they know the foundation or have learned the Principles There were steps and staires to Solomons Throne and so there are to Gods to heaven No man can step thither at one stride we come to heaven per gradum non per saltum by degrees not by leaps How comes it to passe then that many think they are at the highest pitch of grace when they have scarce made one motion or step towards it Certainly many that are such Saints on a sudden that think they are so high above others are carried up or rather hurried by their own fancy and imagination For neither holinesse nor heaven are got but by gradual and orderly walking Gods Statutes being a way continually leading to some glorious end There is an orderly going up the starrs in Jacobs Ladder a leisurely going forward by degrees a daily profitting and proceeding in grace and goodnesse as the young babe growes daily and hourly towards his full pitch and grouth see 2 Pet 2. 6 7 8. Adde to your faith vertue to your vertue knowledge to your knowledge temperance to your temperance patience to your patience godlinesse to your godlinesse brotherly kindnesse to your brotherly kindnesse love Sudden growthes are ever suspicious Remember Jonas's gourd what came up in a night withered in a day Come but a little persecution for righteousnesse lake and this forward seed is scorched this hasty corn is blasted they have no root as our Saviour speâ—ks Mat. 13. or as Saint Paul They are not rooted in knowledge nor well principled and therefore can never come to perfection As Isaac therefore demanded of Jacob in another sense How is it you found it so quickly my son Gen. 28. 20. So may I say of these forward ones which like young lapwings run into the world with the shell on their heads how is it you found grace so quickly that you are so good and heavenly so suddenly that you know more in a day than your Teachers in all theirs Heaven is a penny and it must be wrought for he must endure the heat of the day that will have the wages at evening It is a Pearl that must be digged for he must sweat and take pains that will find it it is a Garland that must be run for a Crown that must be fought for it must be got sudore not sapore by sweat not by sloath superantibus dabitur To them and none but to them that overcome shall this Crowne of life be given Be thou constant or faithfull unto death and c. None but conquerors over sin and Satan shall ever wear this Crown And this fight is not easie or short we must resist unto bloud There is the Law of sin in the members rebelling c. Christianity as I told you is called the difficult work of faith and a working out our salvation with fear and trembling It is no easie thing to believe but so hard that when the Son of man comes he shall hardly find faith upon earth From this that hath been spoken an usefull Doctrine presents it self Namely That there must be a grouth in grace a proceeding and going forward in holynesse and righteousnesse For children and babes grow in stature as they doe in years so must Christians It were a wonder nay a miracle almost for any to see a young child born to day at the same growth and pitch seven years hence And very lamentable I am sure it is to see many aged men and men well stricken in years going out of the world before they knew why they came in to die before they knew how to live to see elementarium semâ—n an old man in his A. B. C. young old men Gray before they are good as we say a man well gone in years not at all improved in grace The Prophet Esaiah speaks in his time of children of an 100. years old 65. 20. We may apply his Prophecy to our times And Seneca that divine Heathen tels us That it is a shame