as much as a great rich man will scorne to cry for the losse of a shilling Wherefore if you be not regenerate your selues according to the former exhortation to become so if you be and know it not as yet certainly settle your selues to search into your hearts and liues and to consider of the things formerly deliuered whether you haue found them in your soules yea or no and so bring your selues to certainty in this point and if you bee once certaine of it then apply your selues mangre earth and hell to liue with glad hearts and cheerfull countenances For once the word of Dauid is a most true word It becommeth vpright men to reioyce And my brethren that you may the better reioyce know that you are to be frequent in practising the duty of thanks-giuing to God for this mercy of all mercies I meane to appeare before him in your secret closets and there all alone with hearts exalted to as much ioy as can be and inlarged to as full an acknowledgement of indebtednesse as is possible to report before him the wonderfulnesse of his goodnesse towards you and to recount the vncountable number of his mercies in that he hath done more for you then if hee had made you of base slaues absolute Monarches of the world The Lord my brethren is exceedingly well pleased with the sacrifices of thankes-giuing no offering is better welcome vnto him then the hearty offering vp of the calues of our lips speaking good of his name It doth the Lord good to speake after the manner of men to heare his owne praises related by them that are deere vnto him and haue best cause to know his inconceiueable treasures of grace because they haue been plentifully partakers therof Now the benefits of this present life are so meane worthlesse contemptible in comparison of those of a better life and by name of this foundation of all the rest so it is in regard of possession and enioyment a new birth as that they which want it can but speake hollowly to God when they begin to speake of his mercies and can be but very faint in thankes how earnest soeuer they may be in requests But the child of God that hath a right vnto heauen giuen him at the same time that hee became Gods child hee may most feelingly expresse his apprehensions of Gods goodnesse and vpon occasion of this one mercy magnifie the name of the Lord his God for all the rest which become truly and indeede mercies by meanes of this and with this Wherefore I doe againe propound this matter vnto you as one of the most pleasing and acceptable seruices which in this present life you are able any of you to performe vnto the Lord euen to withdraw your selues from company and worldly businesses and with bended knees and hands and eyes reared vp to heauen-ward in the most solemne manner to confesse before the Lord his louing kindnesse and to amplifie as much as your hearts and heads will serue the exceeding greatnesse of that his vndeserued grace which he hath shewed in making you new creatures in making you his owne children by adoption This is better then all riches better then all nobility better then all learning and better then all health And the receiuing of this one mercy alone though one should for all other things bee as afflicted as the world can make him or imagine him deserueth more and more feruent praises then all the nobility wealth wit in the world without it Hath God made thee his child hee hath done more for thee then if hee had set thee in Salomons Throne without making thee his child and therefore discharge the paiment of praise for so incomparable a mercy and that fully and without delayes Especially brethren you are to doe this considering that it is to which end wee began to mention it a principall meanes of helping you to the enioyment of the comfort which we are about to distribute vnto you For the benefits of God then are made truly comfortable to vs wheÌ„ we do turne theÌ„ to the praise of God but when wee forget to returne him his deserued thankes then doth he iustly punish vs by taking away the pleasant relish of his benefits out of our mouthes by leauing the palate of our soules to such an vntastfulnesse that we shall not be able to finde the sweetnesse of them As a mouth that is out of taste feeles no content in the most sauourie meate that is Wherefore put together the honour of God and your owne comfort and that you may haue your soules so truly rauished with the sense of his goodnesse that aboue all carnall reason and almost against it you may be glad and cheerfull set your selues as I was about to say in the most solemne and hearty manner to tender vnto the Lord this welcome present of thankes-giuing Say vnto him O Lord God of heauen the King of men and Angels and ruler of all creatures and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ infinite are the benefits wherby thou hast obliged my most vnworthy soule vnto thee For all that I haue I haue from thee and all that I shall haue I must haue from thee thou art the onely indefinite fountaine of goodnesse from whence issue forth all good things to all that enioy good It is thy wonderfull goodnesse that I was borne a man with vse of my vnderstanding and seâ—ses but yet Lord far far aboue all other things that in this life I haue receiued or can receiue doth this benefit of causing me to be borne againe of water and of the holy Ghost exceede I was the sonne of death thou hast made me the sonne of life I was an heire of perdition thou hast made mee an heire of saluation I was a slaue to sin thou hast made me a free-man from sins seruitude and a voluntary seruant to holinesse I was vnder the power of Satan led by his tentations according to his will I am now vnder the dominion of Christ Iesus led by his spirit to doe his will I was the child of the diuell and thou hast made me thy child O blessed change O happy alteration I owe to thee my soule by many bonds it is thine Lord many wayes thou madest it thou hast redeemed it thou hast regenerated it and now Lord accept it as an offering of a sweet sauour and accept with it all the hearty praises and vnfained thanks that a poore vnworthy creature can breathe forth vnto thee O Lord this mercy can but bee abased by words thou hast made me thine owne child by adoption thy Sonne O Lord euen thy Sonne who art the most rich the most high the most renouned the most puissant Prince and King in comparison of whom all Princes are worse and lesse then very nothing What shall I render vnto thee for all thy goodnesse thou requirest thankes thou deseruest thanks and thou acceptest thankes and Lord be thou blessed and praised with all
this his happie and powerfull working And such is the formall cause of regeneration The finall cause or the end of it is the glorie of God in the saluation of the partie regenerate For to speake truth it were a shame and reproch to the God of heauen to let a sinner that is to say his professed enemie come into heauen for this would vpbraide him with falsehood in regard of his word and with want of holinesse and iustice in his nature Now the Lord cannot be so weake as to doe any thing that should giue him iust cause to speake as of God wee must needes speake after the manner of men of being ashamed thereof Wherefore that he may with glory and honour and praise and the content of his owne most holy nature take thither so many of the corrupted sonnes of Adam as hee pleaseth to make vessels of honour it is his will and care thus to change their nature and to renew them by his spirit and so he obtaineth the fullest fulnesse of glorie that may be in their happinesse being for euer praised by all his holy creatures and which more is infinitly satisfying himselfe in the beholding of the excellencie of that great work of their blessednes and the most pure and holy and admirable meanes that hee hath ordained to bring them vnto it And these are the causes of regeneration The next thing mentioned in the description is the subiect of it which is the whole man in all the powers of the soule and of the body according as the Apostle prayeth for the Thessalonians 1. Thes 5.23 that they might bee sanctified throughout and that their whole soule and body might be kept blamelesse And by this note it is differenced from all other changes that may carrie any resemblance to it they being all but partiall changes either of the outside alone and not the inside or of some one power alone not of all the powers because indeed they are not fruites of holinesse but either of hollownesse and selfe-loue or at best of a bare and weake worke of illumination And thus haue I performed the first thing intended in describing regeneration of which if any man demaund what it is wee say it is a change that is a bringing of a new and here too of a contrary qualitie in stead of the old that was before if who makes the change the holy Ghost if by what meanes by the word if in what manner by infusion that is by the working of a proper and immediate vertue deriued from himselfe If from what and to what this change is from the sinfulnesse of a man which he receiueth from Adam successiuely to holinesse If wherein in the whole man soule and body and all the powers of both If to what end to the glory of the worker and saluation of him in whom it is wrought O happy worke of an happy workman by an happy instrument and thrice happy that man in whom this blessed worker shall vouchsafe to accomplish this his most worthy and excellent and onely blessed worke to so worthy and blessed a purpose CHAP. IIII. Shewing the order of working Regeneration 2. The order of regenerating in foure acts NOw I proceede to declare in what order the Spirit of God pleaseth to performe this most admirable change which is done in these foure actions which I shall lay downe First the spirit of God working in and with the Law but tempered with the Gospell becomes a spirit of contrition causing a man to see and feele his extreame sinfulnes 1. Shewing a man his naturall sinfulnesse and wretchednes in so much that hee is euen wounded at the very heart therwith and his sinfull and vnhappy estate becomes a wofull bondage captiuitie vnto him The Lord doth not alone raise vp miserable terrors of conscience in him in regard of some one or more grosse offēces that he hath actually committed although often hee maketh these very terrors a meanes of making himselfe a passage to enter in at but hee opens the eyes of the minde to see the very mud and filth of the soule that lay at the bottome before vnseene and vndiscerned The Spirit conuinceth him of sinne It shewes him that generall wickednes and sinfulnes of his nature whereof we spake before Now he feeles his vnbeliefe pride ignorance hypocrisie and other heart-corruptions Hee iudgeth himselfe worthy to be destroyed not alone hauing a sight of his own inability to escape damnation but likewise of the iustice of God in damning him so that hee doth euen stoupe and yeeld himselfe thereto Whereas before hee was aliue without the Law not hauing the true knowledg of it now the Law comming in the sound power and working of it through the strength of the holy Ghost causeth that he becomes dead in his owne sense and apprehension but sinne becomes aliue to his sense and feeling and hee perceiuing the strength force violence and mischieuousnes of it more then euer before now cryes out with the Apostle O miserable man that I am and now confesseth that he is carnall and sold vnder sinne as the same Apostle did in the same sense of his naturall wretchednesse which the comming of the life of grace had brought with it Thus the death of sinne begins to be changed into life in that it is felt and discerned For the very first working of this new life must needs be a feeling of the old death in sinnes and trespasses Not I say alone of his death in hell in regard of his deseruing the torments thereof but of his death in sinnes and trespasses of his vtter inabilitie to do any good thing of his vtter emptines of all heauenly graces of his extreame slauerie to vngodlines and vnrighteousnes and all the lusts of the flesh and of his perpetuall and vehement pronenes to all abomination and wickednes There is often I confesse a work and a very terrible work of the Law the naturall conscience together procuring most extreame and hideously-bitter pangs and hellish agonies in the soule of man where the spirit of regeneration neither is nor euer shall be this being alone a fruite of the spirit of bondage not of the spirit of grace And oftentimes againe the spirit of sanctification comes into the soule together with this spirit of bondage making a violent entrie and by maine force breaking open the heart formerly locked and barred against it and so beginning this sauing worke of holinesse But terrors of conscience which may be in all vnregenerate men because they are already in all the damned into whom no part nor peece of regeneration can enter is farre different from this first degree of the worke of a new birth The sanctifying spirit laies the filthinesse not alone the danger of sinne before the eyes of the mind It causeth a man not alone to be in extreame anguish because he feares he must be damned but euen to loathe and abhorre himselfe and to be very
holinesse if I could attaine it But what doe I stand wishing I haue beene told that the spirit of God is he who regenerateth his people Wherefore I wil beg at his hand that mighty and sauing worke of his spirit and boldly I may doe it for Christ Iesus hath promised to all that thirst that if they come Isa 55.1 he will make them drinke of the waters of life Yea he hath told me that if we men who are euil can yet giue naturall good things to our children that aske them God will much more giue his spirit to them that aske it For his promise is to poure waters vpon the dry ground and flouds vpon the thirsty ground and to poure out of his spirit vpon all flesh Well I am assured the word of God is true and these promises shall be performed to euery one that asketh that he may receiue and to euery one that seeketh that he may finde for the Lord is rich in grace and giues to all that aske hits no man in the teeth And therefore I will take courage to call vpon him for that most desireable gift of God euen the spirit of regeneration Thus hauing enkindled thy desires bow thou the knees of thy body and of thy soule too vnto the king of heauen and poure out thy requests in the most submissiue earnest manner thou canst saying either in these words or to this purpose O Lord I am a lost sheep I am a child of wrath by nature I am most miserable most sinful I see that in me there dwelleth no good thing and if I be not renewed I must perish I beseech thee haue mercy vpon me that I perish not Send thy blessed spirit into mine heart to regenerate me for so is thy promise plainly made in thy word Thou knowest that I cannot make my selfe new O let thy spirit come vpon me and make me to haue a new heart and a new spirit Lord Iesus Christ send thy spirit into mee which may restore mee from this death of sinne which now at last thou hast made me to feele vnto the life of holinesse Thou toldest the woman of Samaria 〈◊〉 4. that if she would aske of thee thou wouldest giue her the water of life Now Lord I come and aske of thee that water that liuing that pretious water of the holy spirit O giue it vnto mee that I may neuer thirst but that it may spring forth in my belly and become a riuer of water O Lord I beg not money I beg not honour I beg not health I beg not naturall wisedome but I beg that which I haue more need to receiue and shall haue more benefit by receiuing and which thou hast more promised to giue and shalt haue more honour by giuing then by any such temporary or externall thing O giue me therefore thy holy spirit to regenerate me and make mee to feele by experience the truth of thy gratious promises My brethren I haue put these prayers into your mouthes learne you to poure them forth before the throne of grace in secret forget not in some such manner of words to cry for this best of all gifts and beg earnestly and if thou canst not amplifie yet multiply if thou canst not vse variety of words yet repeate the same request often and againe and againe if thine inuention serues not to say more let thy desire force thee to dwell vpon this 20. times rather then faile twice 20. times O Lord giue vnto me a miserable sinner thy spirit of life grace to regenerate me for so hast thou promised to them that aske I aske Lord resolue to continue asking I certifie you all frō God and by this authority of Christ Iesus committed to his Ministers do verily assure you that he who so seeketh regeneration shall as certainly be regenerate as God is true of his word and that is more certaine then the Sunnes shining in the heauens and the earths keeping his owne place I know that Satan will step forth to hinder you from following this counsell he will striue to make you carelesse of it all together as if there were no neede of begging so hard but I assure thee that he doth but beguile thee Neuer any man was regenerate nor shall be after yeeres of ability to pray vnlesse he doe pray for it for the gift of the spirit is promised to you that aske and to none else and by telling thy selfe of thy misery in wanting regeneration thou shalt easily shake thy selfe out of this carelesnes and bring thy selfe to a care of seeking that which but by seeking thou canst not get and but by getting thou canst not be saued Then will the Diuell assaile thee with more tentations and cast obiections and doubts in thy way as if it were in vaine to pray for sure thou shalt not be heard but beleeue him not hee is a lyar in going about to make thee make God a lyar for is not the promise so vniuersall as no man is excluded that doth not exclude himselfe doth it not runne thus euery one that asketh receiueth euery one that seeketh findeth and therefore say thou to thine owne heart if euery one why not I sure I will aske then and will not spare to speede by sparing to speake to God And that thou maiest yet more imbolden thy selfe know that God hath tyed thee by a kind of vow to seeke to him for the spirit of regeneration and himselfe to giue it vnto thee when thou so seekest For tell me art thou not a man professing to be of the Christian religion Wast thou not baptized in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost To what end was this washing but to assure thee of the spirit of God working like water to thy regeneration Wherefore vrge thou the Lord with his owne seale and say O Lord what better euidence can I wish Thou hast giuen me the seale of regeneration O make it to appeare not to haue beene an empty signe Lord baptise me with the Spirit and with Water euen wash me and cleanse me by that pure Water of thy holy Spirit which may sanctifie me throughout and make me a new creature If any doubt arise in thine heart looke thus to the seale of the couenant and confirme thy faith and assure thy selfe that God will neuer falsifie his bond and seale he will wash thee according to his couenant sealed vp vnto thee by Baptisme In very deed brethren it is an absurdity to imagine that all that are baptized with water are also infallibly regenerated but yet it is sure that all such might be regenerated if considering what this seale importeth they would duly and earnestly seeke vnto the Lord for performance thereof This is that I call vpon you now to do if already any haue not done it Let the remembrance of thy Baptisme with water cause thee to seeke to him that can giue the Baptisme of the spirit
communion betwixt God and man by Gods participating his fauour and blessednesse vnto man so long as man remaineth in the estate of his corrupted nature not being created according to God in righteousnesse and true holinesse It neither is now nor euer was nor euer shall bee found that any man should get within the gates of the kingdome of glory vnlesse he haue first entred into the kingdome of grace through the Churches narrow wombe of regeneration A new birth is absolutely needfull to an eternall life and in a word regeneration of perfect necessity to saluation It were a matter euen very superfluous to seeke more proofes after such a testimony of such a witnesse or author rather as Christ is But the vnbeleeuing spirit of man doth stand in neede of ouer-abundant conuiction in truthes of this straine Wherefore I will a while stand to make good this point and then after explanation proceed to apply it First we may reade Ezechiel crying out to the old Church in these words Make you a new heart and a new spirit Ezech. 18.31 for why will you die O house of Israel What more euident then that this question doth take it for granted that the house of Israel the seede of Abraham followers of the true God professors of true religion sealed with circumcision admitted vnto the Altar and participating of the sacrifices according to the Law and worshipping the God of heauen after the externall manner prescribed by himselfe that these I say and therefore questionlesse none other could not escape death euen eternall death death of body and death of soule if they got not a new heart and a new spirit that is the same thing being expressed in diuersitie of phrases were not borne againe as our Sauiour pleaseth to tearme it For this cause the same Prophet a little after and in one or two places more calleth vpon them Vers 32. saying returne and liue ye so that but by conuerting there is no liuing and conuersion and regeneration are alwaies and altogether inseparable therefore life and regeneration must needs goe together haue one and haue both misse one and misse both To the same purpose the author to the Hebrewes speaketh Chap. 12.14 in these words Without holinesse and that no man hath but by being borne againe for the image of God lost in Adam is not recouered but by the new birth in Christ I say without holinesse no man shall see God CHAP. II. Shewing the reasons of the point THree testimonies are plentifully sufficient to confirme any diuine truth But because it will helpe much to conceiue of the point of regeneration that wee doe well vnderstand the grounds of the impossibility of being saued without it wee will therefore lay them downe also for further proofe of the point These are Reasons 4 in whole or in chiefe foure First the monstrous filthinesse of man in his first birth Secondly the infinite purity and perfection of Gods nature Thirdly the tenour of the couenant of grace wherin the saluation of lost mankind is promised Fourthly the fruit and end of Christs death and obedience whereby our saluation is deserued For the first of these reasons Man in his first birth 1. From mans naturall filthinesse euen euery particular man woman and child Christ Iesus alone excepted who was therefore conceiued by the holy Ghost that hee might escape that pollution is conceiued in sinne and borne in wickednesse Psalm 51. as Dauid speaketh of himselfe First by imputation of the sinne of our first parents which is ours because they did it in each of our steads in whom each of vs was then originally comprehended and then by transfusion because wee are branches of that bitter root we are each of vs become sonnes of disobedience subiects to the God of this world slaues to sinne captiues vnder the dominion and power of lust hauing our vnderstandings darkened and harts hardened so that we can neither conceiue nor receiue the things of God but are led of Satan at his pleasure to doe his will according as hee doth effectually worke in vs. In a word wee are enemies to God heires of death children of the diuell dead in sinnes and trespasses doing the lusts of the flesh and of the minde and by nature sonnes of wrath and destruction one as well as another A man in the state of corrupt nature is nothing else but a filthy dunghill of all abominable vices hee is a stinking rotten carrion become altogether vnprofitable and good for nothing his heart is the diuels store-house an heape of odious lusts his tongue is a fountaine of cursing and bitternesse and rotten communication his hand is a mischieuous instrument of filthinesse deceit and violence his eyes great thorow-fares of lust pride and vanity his feet are swift engins mouing strongly to reuenge wantonnesse and lucre his life a long chaine of sinfull actions euery later linke being more wicked then the former yea it is but as it were one continued web of wickednesse spun out and made vp by the hands of the diuell and the flesh an euill spinner and a worse weauer He brings into the world with him the kernell of all impiety and iniustice euen an aptnesse and disposition to all the foulest acts that lie within the possibility of his naturall strength and meanes to performe either against the Lord or against his neighbour and an vtter vnaptnesse and inability to doe any thing that in the true iudgement and estimation of God who onely can iudge aright in this case is or may bee termed good as answerable to his law In his soule and body there lies the spawne of all wickednesse of Atheisme of pride of vnbeleefe of hypocrisie of rebellion of impatiencie of hatred and contempt of God and of his word of indeuotion of prophannesse of ambition of wrath of filthinesse of worldlinesse of arrogancie of selfe-conceitednesse of murthers of whoredomes of thefts of periuries and whatsoeuer thing besides is hatefull to God and contrary to his most holy law He is wholly darknesse wholly flesh wholly and totally opposite to the liuing God to whose law hee neither is subiect nor will nor can be till he be cast into an other and a fairer mould by the working of his spirit Such a thing as this my brethren euen iust such a thing and none other is a man euen euery man such an one am I are you are all and each of all the sonnes of Adam that haue been are or shall be and that vniuersally without any exception as witnesseth the Prophet saying Psal 14. They are all gone out of the way they are all become vnprofitable there is none that doth good no not one All these words and more then all these or all that can be spoken by vs falls farre short of a full description of mans naturall sinfulnes For if the tongue it selfe one poore and little member may well be intitled Iam. 3.6 as it is intitled
by the pen of S. Iames a world of wickednesse then alas how many and how great worlds of wickednesse are included in this one little world of man Now how should so foule so vncleane so polluted a creature set his foote within the portall of heauen How should such an heape of hellish lusts and diuellish vices bee receiued into that happie palace and holy mansion place of Saints and Angels What was the reason that the diuell could not tarie in heauen hauing once been there was it not because he had infected himselfe with sinne with which seeing all mankinde are whollie poysoned and couered ouer from head to foote being of their father the diuell nothing else but euen little diuels differing from the great ones not in substance and parts of corruption but alone in the degrees thereof as a childe of foure or fiue yeeres from a man of thirtie or fortie how can hee possibly finde any place in the kingdome of heauen Thus therefore we conclude our reason Sinne can haue no place no dwelling none intertainment in the kingdome of God Man vnregenerate is nothing else but a very compound or bundle of dirt and sinne Wherefore man vnregenerate cannot possibly finde a place in heauen And this is the first reason from the sinfulnesse of mans nature Reason 2 From the purity of Gods nature The second followes taken from the puritie of Gods nature The Lord is a God of pure eyes and can abide none iniquitie yea the wicked and the workers of iniquitie his soule hateth Hee is as contrary to sinne as heate to colde as light to darknesse as any two contrarie things in the world can be imagined to be contrarie and a great deale more too For other things are contrary each to other alone in regard of their qualities But the very nature substance and being of God is contrary to sinne For sinne is a taxie disorder confusion a not being and God is order perfection holinesse an absolute and a simple being For holinesse in God is not an accident but his very essence is holinesse and he is after an inconceiueable and incomprehensible manner infinitly and essentially good holy and pure Wherefore there can be no reconciliation nor vnion betwixt him and the sinner till the sinfulnes of the sinner be remoued and the image of God be formed and imprinted in him a fresh Euen as the poison of an Adder is contrary to the nature of a man and the venome of a Toade extreamly opposite to his life and therefore no force can compell no wages hire no Rhetorique perswade no perswasion induce him to lodge a Toade or Serpent in his bosome so is it impossible that the most holy pure righteous perfect essence of God should admit into a societie of grace and glorie with him the impure filthie loathsome toadlike serpentine nature of man For though the infinit perfection excellencie of Gods nature be such that he cannot receiue any hurt or indamagemēt from sin as a man is hurt by the poyson of a poysonfull creature yet still withal such is his excellencie and the infinitnes of his power and goodnesse that he cannot but remoue farre and farre from himselfe al things whatsoeuer that are contrary vnto himselfe What fellowship can there be betwixt light darknesse God and wickednesse How can things absolutely and essentially contrary be ioyned together in one Seeing God is perfectly holy and man if we may vse that epithite in this matter perfectly sinfull either God must become sinfull like to man or man holy like to God or else there can be no gratious vnion and communion betwixt man and God Now to imagine that God should become sinfull is the most blasphemous and vtterly impossible imagination in all the world Wherefore vnlesse a man be made holy that is to say be regenerate or borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God In the third place let vs peruse the couenant of grace Reason 3 in which the Lord hath manifested his purposes of goodnesse to the sonnes of men From the tenour of the couenant of grace and we shall finde that it runneth along in these promises Ezek. 36.26 I will giue you a new heart and a new spirit will I put within you I will take away the stony heart out of your bodies and giue you an heart of flesh Hence it is easie to reason thus Whosoeuer is a stranger to the couenant of promise is likewise a stranger from all happinesse and from eternall life Now vntill a man be regenerate he is a stranger to that couenant For why that promiseth in the first place a new heart and a new spirit wherefore it must needes follow that vntill a man be regenerate hee cannot be saued Lastly let vs consider the end of our Sauiour Christs Reason 4 death and sufferings From the end of Christs death was it only to purge vs from the guilt of sinne and to saue vs from the pit of hell was it not also to redeeme vs from this present euill world that we being sanctified by his truth might auoid the corruptions that are in the world through lust and become a peculiar people vnto him zealous of good workes Doubtlesse had Christ gone about to ransome vs vpon other termes he must haue lost his labour altogether If Christ should come and dye for one man ten thousand times all those deaths should profit that one man nothing at all for his saluation vnlesse he be made a new creature For the death of Christ though it be of force to reconcile mercie and iustice in God yet is not of force enough to make God vniust or to diminish any whit his infinite righteousnesse which should be diminished yea annihilated if he should open the gates of heauen to vnholy vnsanctified vnregenerate persons for then should he be a louer of the wicked then should fooles dwel with him then should hee haue fellowship with the vnrighteous and communion with the darkest darknesse Whereas the Scripture saith that he is light 1 Iohn 1.5 and in him is no darknes and that if we walke in darknes and say wee haue communion with him we lie and deale not truly For al that are in heauen are loued of God and haue communion with him Wherefore such admittance of such men into heauen can no more stand with Gods iustice thē it can stand with a mans life to be cast into the bottome of the sea For this cause it was neuer the meaning or intentiō of our Sauiour to open heauen to any but to those whō he would sanctifie and by sanctification bring to saluation And so we conclude the point in this manner Whosoeuer is without Christ cannot possibly come to heauen For he is the way the truth and the life Euery vnregenerate man is without Christ for all that are in him are new creatures hauing crucified the flesh with the affections lusts Therefore no vnregenerate man so continuing can
vile in his owne eyes because he knowes hee hath deserued to be damned and that so foule a thing as sinne wherewith his Maker hath due cause to be so much displeased doth not alone abide but raigne and command in him Wherefore hee doth euen lie downe at the foote of the throne of Gods iustice and in a most ardent abhorring of himselfe doth subscribe to the righteousnes of God in his owne feared destruction hauing nothing in the world to say for himselfe as of himselfe why he should not be destroyed and not so much as a tittle of a word to obiect against the perfect and exact equitie of the liuing God if that he should destroy him Sinne I say sinne not alone the punishment of sin but sin it selfe is discouered vnto him hee sees its loathsomnes and vilenes he sees its strength and violence he sees his owne totall defilement hee perceiues himselfe throughly and throughly polluted with it and cries out bitterly Ah what shal I doe not only nor so much because I shall be damned but because I am so wicked so sinfull so contrary to God so rebellious against him so very a traytor vnto him and so vtterly vnable to mend these woful disorders of my soule These be his groanes these be his plaints and his cryings out are of his wickednesse and iniquitie wherein hee was conceiued wherein hee was borne wherein hee hath liued and whereof now he perceiueth not so much as one part of his heart or of his life to be cleane and vnspotted This acknowledgement and sense of our sinfulnes is the very first beginning of holinesse The vnregenerate often sees and feeles his damnation the regenerate alone his sinfulnes the miserable deprauation of his nature the vtter totall odious pollution of his whole man being so loathsome that hee sees God cannot chuse in iustice but detest him and for any thing that is in himselfe for euer reiect him This apprehension of sinfulnes is mixed alwaies at first at least often with the feare of Gods wrath and vengeance but it doth so temper and allay that feare as the bitternes thereof carries not the soule furiously to contend against God as else he could not chuse but doe For his hatred is not stirred now against God whom in truth by vertue of a secret vnfelt and vndiscerned hope that the spirit of God hath created and doth vphold in him he loueth and honoureth though he be more then half in doubt lest hee may destroy him but alone against himselfe his wretched hatefull selfe that is so intollerably wicked and naught that he can see no cause but that the Lord should glorifie his equitie and iustice in damning him And so much for this first worke of regeneration the second followes it close at the heeles and is nothing else 2. An earnest deâ—â—â—e of â—â—â—â—nesse with remâ—â—â—ion of siâ—nes but an earnest desire of attaining holines and vertue together with remission of sinnes and the fauour of God in Christ Iesus For you must conceiue the partie that is now in regenerating to haue a generall knowledge of the doctrine of the Gospell and a generall assent also to the truth of it this doctrine being as I said before an instrumentall cause of regeneration But now the generall knowledge begins to bee made speciall and the man touched with a sense of sinne is moued also with a most vehement longing after grace and mercie not alone to pardon his sinne but also to heale his soule of it as of a desperat wound which he feeleth to be most smarting and mortall So hee cries out who shall deliuer me from this body of death No hungrie man did euer with a more eager appetite wish for meate nor thirstie man for drinke nor couetous man for money nor ambitious man for aduancement then hee now longeth to be reconciled vnto God in Christ to haue his foule nature made cleane his wofull sinnes forgiuen his abominable corruptions remoued and killed and holinesse planted in their roome Oh how faine he would be holy O how faine would hee be humble faithfull obedient how faine he would beleeue in loue feare serue God! but ah wretch that he is he cannot Woe woe vnto him he cannot O how shall hee be able to preuaile against these vile disorders of his heart and life how shall hee doe to be lesse sinfull and more righteous These be his thoughts these his wishes these his groanes hee findes so great a misse of nothing as of the pardon of his sinne and the graces of the Spirit of God and if he had that bestowed vpon him were he a beggar a prisoner a slaue any thing yet he should seeme to himselfe an happy man and ah Lord thinkes he that thou wouldest be pleased for Christ his sake to forgiue my wickednes and to heale my nature Now the thirst that hee had after the things of this world is wonderfully cooled and as a man in a burning fit of an ague makes no reckoning of his fine cloathes hee doth almost put off all those desires and poore or not poore esteemed or not esteemed it is no great matter but that he might be accepted into the fauour of God and haue his sinnes pardoned and subdued and his vnholy nature made holy that is all in all within him There is to be seene in vnsanctified men in case of terrors of conscience which sometimes do lie long vpon them a great desire to be free from the insufferable euils they see comming vpon them For who can make question but that Iudas would faine not haue been damned or that the damned in hell haue not a wonderfull desire get out of their torments this being one maine aggrauation of their pangs that they cannot but desire to be deliuered out of those euils which they cannot escape But they not hauing the supportation of the Spirit of God to vnderprop them with hope doe vanish in these desires and lose the fruit of them for lack of a kindly working of them towards the Lord for they be not lifted vp to heauen-ward But the man that is now in framing a new being sustained with the fore-mentioned secret hope hath vehement and setled wishes fixed and fastened in him whereby hee thirsteth after the grace of God not alone to saue but also to amend him So the desires of the sanctified arising from the spirit are differenced from the desires of the vnsanctified that are meere fruits of nature which would faine be wel eased of an heauie burthen by these two things First that they are directed vnto God whereas the other are rouing and confused desires Secondly by their being set alwaies as well often as much somtimes more vpon holinesse as vpon freedome from punishment vpon the getting of vertue and goodnesse as vpon the getting of an heauenly kingdome wheras the heart of the vnsanctified is so taken vp when he must needs feele it with the sense of his misery and punishment that hee cannot
haue while to settle any part of his longings vpon the renewing of his soule by grace and so farre is the worke of a new birth well proceeded The poore dead man being so far awakened out of his senselesse death in sinne that with great disquietment he feeles it and with heartiest workings of his soule doth couet to come out of it which last I take to bee the hungring and thirsting after righteousnesse noted by our Sauiour as a blessed note of blessednesse 3. The spirit of Prayer In the third place there is dropped into him the spirit of grace and supplications by which hee is at length imboldened to goe vnto God and in some solemne and expresse manner to vtter his confessions and petitions which before perhaps for some good space of time he could not dare to doe For the former two workes of grace doe often a great while together shew themselues in sighes and grones and sudden strong eiaculations secret vndissembled boylings vp of desire in deep wishes longings afore the poore sinner can take so much hart to himselfe as to make a formed and setled prayer vnto God But after the working of these motions some while he puts vpon himselfe the resolution of the King of Nineueh and saith within himselfe Ionab 3. Let me cry mightily vnto the Lord of heauen earth his mercies are infinite who can tel but that be may haue mercy vpon me that I perish not so is his secret sustaining hope now formed and fashioned into the right proportion of a sauing grace and shewes it selfe manifestly within him hee saith to himselfe there is hope concerning this thing and therefore I will cry and continue crying and let the Lord doe what hee pleaseth vnto me Then downe vpon his knees he fals and with his hands and eyes lifted vp to the throne of grace yet almost afraid and ashamed to looke thither and therefore ready often to rise vp and start backe againe he dares at last to poure forth his lamentable confessions into Gods bosome whom now hee hopes hee may haue leaue to call Father though alacke hee haue been too too vngracious a child Thus he proceeds to arraigne and accuse himselfe acknowledging for which hee hates himselfe because it is so plaine that he cannot but know it that he hath sinned in such and such and such and such particulars and that he hath a most filthy heart as full of wicked inclinations and thoughts he thinkes verily as the sea it selfe is full of water Wherefore hee passeth a very sharpe sentence vpon himselfe and that also very sharpely plainly saying with an inward assenting of his very soule that hee is fully worthy of all those plagues and punishments which the Lord hath threatened in his word and will execute in hell and that it should not be in the least degree iniurious if God would not be mercifull vnto him for ah how vnfit is he to receiue mercy But yet withall he takes heart in the most humble abasement of himselfe most earnestly to call and cry and beg for mercy and forgiuenesse and for the worke of grace to change his nature from that loathsome disposition which troubles him now it may be by the working of hope hauing his heart so much softened that teares before stopped vp by that binding force that strong and secret sorrowes shew themselues to haue in mans heart doe euen begin to flow forth from him to adde if it might bee a greater feruor vnto his prayers And if at first second third fourth and it may be many more times he seeme to haue cried in vaine because none answere commeth but heauen it selfe seemes strongly stopped vp against him yet hee goes againe still to the same throne of grace againe reckoning vp the same and if he can also new sinnes againe bewailing them bitterly and heartily imploring both pardon and help againe This is to come vnto Christ Iesus heauie laden as our Sauiour comfortably inuiteth vs this is to seeke God while hee may bee found and to call vpon him while hee is neere as the Prophet exhorteth vs. Which hauing done he knowes not what to doe more and therefore euen casts himselfe vpon Gods goodnesse through Iesus Christ and knowing that in him the Son the Father is well pleased he striues to rest in him continuing to knocke continuing to seeke because his heart giues him that at last he shal not faile to find acceptance And this spirit of prayer seemeth to me so proper to the regenerate that it cānot any way befal the vnregenerate who when he feeleth not his misery doth but multiply idle words in seeming to pray when he feeleth it is so wholly drowned and swallowed vp thereby that he cannot runne vnto heauen for helpe But with the regenerate prayers and supplications are alwaies found and a continuing therein also how many bitter repulses soeuer he suffers at Gods hand as often he doth very many the Lord either deferring or making more speed to answere as hee sees most behoofefull for the profit of each of his seruants and proportioning the fruit of his grace this way to his knowledge of their ability and fitnesse to receiue an answere or to brooke delayes It must not be denied but that the man that neuer shall be regenerate in the griping and twinges of his accusing conscience through the working of the law and the bare illumination of the spirit may come so farre as to roare out his Lord haue mercy vpon me very often yea hee may by perswasion and entreatie of friends be brought to reade some good prayers out of a prayer-booke yea to be glad to haue an other pray for him in his owne hearing and in some sense also to ioyne with him yea more by frequent perswading vrging teaching of some godly man he may be drawne to pray for himselfe but yet still the spirit of prayer is absent in that he doth not finde himselfe by an inward moouing of his owne heart inclined in the middest of his griefes and feares to betake himselfe to God for helpe by calling vpon his name And which is a maine obseruation in this matter if he pray he prayes almost altogether for pardon and for fauour little for grace and holinesse whereas the Christian man by a secret drawing of his own inward soule wrought by this regenerating spirit comes vnto the Lord with his requests begging grace and holines with no lesse earnestnesse then remission and saluation Yea and hauing once begun this course he finds so much refreshing thereby that he cannot but continue to doe it euen sometimes with much strugling against of his own hart through feares and doubtings thereof So it is one thing to bee perswaded to pray by men and to doe it for ease sake another thing to be inclined vnto it by the priuate and secret working of the Spirit One thing to beg for pardon not much minding amendment another thing to crie for the helpe
godly purposes grow strong and hee remaineth resolute not to worke wickednes for all his earnest pronenesse thereunto Thus the regenerate findes himselfe strangely diuided within and against himselfe Sometimes hee would be sinfull and commit such and such wickednes and yet againe hauing better thought of the matter hee would not At other times hee would cast away all sinne and faine performe all good duties with all constancie but hee findes something within resisting and rebelling and hee would not be so good But still in conclusion either sooner or later the sanctified part gets the better of the vnsanctified the desires and purposes of goodnesse preuaile against the desires and purposes of euil and hee is setled in the holy determinations that the spirit of God doth leade him vnto His heart is euen a pitcht field of contrary desires the bad often grow very strong and vehement and able almost to ouerthrow and chase away the good But the good gather head againe and beate backe the bad and by the spirit hee mortifies the flesh and by the word of God and prayer subdueth and crucifies those carnall affections of his I confesse there is a miserable stirre a troublesome discord in the soule of an vnsanctified man betwixt the light of the conscience and the corruption of the will this haling him forward to diuers wickednesses and that drawing backe but the difference betwixt the naturall combat and the spirituall is so manifest that no good man which hath felt them both can chuse but see how to distinguish them one from the other The d fference betwixt the cōbat of the fl sh and spirit and the opposition of the conscience the corrupted will in the vnregenerate Indeed they are euidently distinguished in fiue things 1. In the faculties that oppose each other 2. In the things about which they quarrell 3. In the motiues of the opposition 4. In the meanes of resistance And fifthly in the issue thereof First in the vnregenerate the will is wholly carried after sin alone the conscience makes a clamorous gainsaying and suffers not the will to goe on in its euill courses vncontrolled He would with all his heart commit wickednes but hee dares not not so the regenerate In him not the conscience alone stands out against sinne but the will it selfe is diuided in part hanging one way in part another Hee would not doe euill not alone hee dares not and the act of the will setting against its owne corruption by its owne holinesse is farre different from the act of the conscience opposing the will that remaineth wholly corrupted See it in a comparison An hungry dogge hath a strong appetite to be deuouring some meate that stands before him but at the same time he sees a man standing by with a cudgel to strike him if he touch it Now his appetite is altogether to the meate but he is feared and ouer-awed by the sight of the man that is ready to strike him So is it with the vnsanctified man sinne is his foode his will is wholly carried to it but the conscience holds as it were a cudgell ouer him threatning to strike if he taste Wherefore what with a full desire he would do he forbeareth in act to performe affrighted by those clamours But now a man diseased sees some foode to which his appetite inclineth but he knowes it hurtfull for his body and therefore though his will drawne by his senses sometimes moue him to be tasting yet the same will informed by reason doth preuaile in him to be vnwilling and out of such vnwillingnes to forbeare So is it with the godly man His will stands to sinne for the pleasure or profits sake in some part but being better taught by Gods spirit of the sinfulnes thereof his owne will checks it selfe and hee sets vp his resolution not to meddle with it So is this point of difference made plaine not to be willing to doe is another thing then not to dare In the former the will bridleth and holdeth-vnder it s owne inward motions and not alone the outward act in the latter the motions of the will haue a free scope but alone the outward act is restrained Further in the things whereabout the stirre is they differ very much For the conscience of the vnsanctified makes resistance to their will alone vnlesse in case they be vnder terrors of conscience in some more grosse notorious palpable and vnaccustomed sinnes which are commonly ioyned with shame and reproch in the world and are not likely committed but by those that are infamous amongst men as in periurie murther adulterie theft false witnesse bearing and such like For smaller euils and such as the world little accounts of though knowne and confessed to be sinnes the naturall conscience is content to dispense and dawbe and daily and giue easie way to the doing of them vpon a thousand fond shifts and pretences but now the regenerate mans wil so far as it is regenerate is in combat against its owne vnsanctifiednes about euery knowne euill the little as well as the great that that is allowed in the common practise of the world as well as that that is disallowed For of him it is truly said that hee worketh none iniquitie Thirdly the naturall conscience vseth the motiues or restraints rather of feare of shame of danger amongst men at the best and most of destruction and damnation from God and by threatning these things sometimes somewhat terribly it ouer-aweth the motions of the will from consenting to act though not to desire But in the regenerate will the arguments of resistance are fetcht from God and from Christ from the loue of God from the death of Christ from th◠scandall of religion from the dishonour of the name of God from the Lords being displeased with sinne and not onely barely or chiefly from the punishment of sinne Fourthly the conscience of the vnsanctified driues him not to prayer to the word to spirituall meditations as weapons whereby to mortifie euill lusts and to restraine the will from consenting only it followes him with its owne vehement checks and reluctations in diuers troublesome and confused thoughts But the sanctification of the will opposeth its corruption by prayers by the word by the blood of Christ Iesus and by the hopes of eternitie For hauing this hope hee purgeth himselfe as Christ is pure So the vnsanctified man when he would doe euill and dares not is tossed and tumbled from place to place now thinking of one thing now of another wishing to follow his owne inclinations but wanting boldnesse and if hee doe any thing to help himselfe it is to get him into some company that perhaps may ease him a while But the sanctified when he findes this distraction of his will vsually seekes out some secret place tels himselfe of Gods commandement of Gods loue of Christs suffering for him asketh himselfe if he can finde in his heart so much to offend so good