unaccountable Contingency nor can ever be brought about by any mere humane contrivance what remains but that we ascribe it as the Scripture does to the Divine Will of him to whom all things are possible beginning at the Eternal Purpose of God in Election so proceeding downwards through all the methods ways and means appointed by God for the carrying on this great work of his in the hearts of men The truth is the first breaking forth of Electing Love upon us is in our Regeneration 'till something of it appears we cannot know any thing by all that is before us of God's Eternal Love to us Our actual taking any thing up into our hands argues a previous choice that our eye was upon it before So here God has from Eternity made choise of some for Salvation his Eye was upon them from Eternity and when his Grace takes actual hold of them we may then through our present effectual Vocation see up to our Eternal Election and by these visible streams go back to the invisible Fountain of Free-grace in the heart of our Heavenly Father By what he does in time we know what he intended from Eternity Let none despair of this Grace who wait upon God for it all those who have already passed the streights of the new-birth were once under as discouraging circumstances as any now can be but God had mercy on them and so he may on thee he breathed the breath of Spiritual life into them and so he can and may into thee he is a God that raises the dead dead Souls as well as dead Bodies We may see in the eye-lids of some the very shadow of Eternal death but God can turn that shadow into the morning and cause the day-spring from on high to visit them Election alters no Man's state till it issue in Conversion then you may see your names written in the Book of Life from a sence and feeling of that life in your selves to which you were fore-ordained 'Till we are regenerated we cannot tell whether ever we shall be God knows but we do not The Election shall obtain Rom. 11. 7. Therefore all that have obtained must ascribe it to Election That the purpose of God might stand according to election Rom. 9. 11. The cause of this great change that Regeneration makes must be resolved either into the Will of God or Will of the Creature there is no medium between God and the Creature whatever is done is by one or the other Some resolve Conversion and Regeneration into Man's own power derived from that general sufficient Grace purchased by Christ for all men But if man in his perfect state fell under that general sufficient Grace which he was certainly endowed with at his first Creation How can we now suppose any such general grace to be sufficient to recover fallen Man and to keep him for ever from a relapse Therefore we must place fallen Man under some stronger influence even that of Effectual Grace which does not only shew unto Man the way of Salvation by Christ but effectually draws his heart to an actual closure with Christ joyning him to the Lord in one spirit This Effectual Grace in saving some does no injury to others they perish justly from the demerits of their own sins these are saved freely through the merits of Christ. Let us not be too curious in enquiring why God saves one and not another there is a covering upon the face of this great deep The ways of God are unsearchable and his judgments past our finding out all must be resolved into the Soveraign Will of God Why should our eye be evil because his is good who does what he will with his own and gives no account of his matters Because God has purposed from Eternity to shew mercy to some not telling us who let every own study his own Salvation and put in for his share of this Free Grace which is offered to all intended for some and why not for thee Those who embrace the Promise and believe in Jesus will never find any Decree in Heaven against them hindering their Salvation and those who refuse the Promises will not come to Christ when called shall never be saved by virtue of any mere Decree Faith and Repentance are as much under the decree of God as Salvation it self if the Decree of God bring not forth such things in you now as accompany Salvation 't will never bring forth Salvation it self The Doctrine of Election is a comfortable Doctrine if we apply it to the Means as well as to the End They who deny this Doctrine and plead so much for Man's Free-will they do and must hold a falling from Grace tho God loves them now they are not sure to continue in his love nor never will be 'till they run up all their hopes into Electing Love. When once they see that God has loved them from everlasting which they may do by resolving all the present fruits of the spirit into election as the Scripture teaches us they can strongly argue from the unchangeableness of God That he who has loved them from everlasting will love them to everlasting for whom he so loves he always loves to the end Let me make some use of this Point there may be some difficulties in it but I hope God will clear them up to your Souls If the Subjects of Regeneration be the Elect only the Elect and all the Elect Then prove your Election by your Regeneration you cannot prove Regeneration by your Election for bare Election if you know it alters no Man's state Many of the elect of God lie long in an unregenerate state Election is never in Scripture brought in as a proof of Grace in us but Grace in us is brought in as a proof of our Election To prevent mistakes in some convinced tho yet unconverted sinners ay and in some weak trembling Believers too whose convictions of sin do put them into no small fright When I say Regeneration is a good proof of your Election let not any say Then my unregenerate state is as good a proof of my Reprobation it does by no means follow for these Reasons 1st Because an unregenerate state or a state of sin and unregeneracy has not that dependance upon or relation to eternal Reprobation as Regeneration or a state of Grace has to our eternal Election A state of Grace flows from eternal Election but a state of sin and unregeneracy does not flow from eternal Reprobation but from the fall of Adam God permitting it as a means through which his electing love would effectually work for the more glorious restauration of Man. They who are regenerated are elected Rom. 8. 29 30. but those who are not yet regenerated cannot be said to be not elected or reprobated 2dly A state of sin and unregeneracy is common to all both elect and reprobates but a state of Regeneration peculiar only to the Elect. We are all born in sin all by nature the
New creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. To have Christ formed in us Gal. 4. 19. To be quickned Ephes. 2. 1. Baptized with the Holy Ghost Mat. 3. 11. To be renewed in the spirit of our mind Ephes. 4. 23. These are Scripture-expressions of a great depth of a high signification which if well studied and pondered in our hearts seriously and often prayed over will give us more light into the Mystery of Regeneration than the tongue of Men and Angels can utter none can open these Scriptures to you but the Holy Ghost tho Ministers cannot bring down these Scripture expressions to man's Understanding yet the Spirit of God can lift up man's Understanding to some discerning of the mind of Christ in them by shining in our hearts the light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Christ. We see how much Glory and Honour is derived to us by God's being the Author of our Regeneration I will now look a little further into this Mystery Regeneration is our passing over into Christ into his Life Nature and Spirit they who are thus joined to the Lord are one Spirit Christ is their Life being united to Life it self they must needs be quickned by it it is present death to be separated from Life it self in Regeneration Life doth not so much enter into us as we into it and being once born of God we gradually enter further and further into his Life till all Mortality be swallowed up of it Thus Grace reigns through Righteousness unto Eternal Life and this Eternal Life is God there is but one Eternal Life when we are in him that is true in him that is Eternal this is life eternnl John 5. 20. Therefore to be in Christ and to be a New Creature is all one All Creatures that have breath live move and have their Being in God yet they are not so in God as the New Creature is in Christ God as a Creator bestows a Creature-life upon man distinct from his own Eternal Uncreated Life and man having this natural root of his own from the God of Nature grows up by himself with all the specifical Properties belonging to his kind whereby he is distinguished from his fellow-creatures he stands forth at some distance from God yet under the general influence of his Providence without which no creature can subsist But in Regeneration God does not only breathe the breath of life into us making us living souls but breathes his own quickning Spirit into us that we may live the very life of God in our measure 't is one thing for God to give forth something virtually from himself as he does in our first Creation another thing to give himself really unto us as in the second Creation God as a Redeemer raises up a new Creature in himself partaker of his own Divine Nature Life and Spirit this life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. and cannot in the Root and Principle of it be distinguished from God himself Christ is our Life which according to our finite capacity as Creatures we partake of the new Creature is but a Creature for all this though quite of another make constitution and original from all the first Creation and therefore called a new Creature standing in a nearer union and conjunction to God so born of him as no other creature is all Creatures are made by him non born of him but the new Creature as Christ took part of our Flesh and Blood in his Incarnation so we partake of his Divine Nature in our Regeneration as the soul is the life of the body so the spirit of Christ dwelling in us is the life of our souls acting them in a supernatural way we live the life of God which we were estranged from knew nothing of in our unregenerate state 't is not we that live but Christ living in us Gal. 2. 20. Because I live you shall live also John 14. 19. Christ in us the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Till Christ be formed in us we cannot be said to be born of God a spirit of life must first enter into us from Christ and how does this spirit enter Not as a separate Principle from Christ but in and with Christ Jesus the spirit of life in Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. Have a care of leading a separate life from Christ in the strength of your own Graces for they are but streams issuing from the Fountain of Life in Christ Jesus and will quickly dry up if not continually fed by the Fountain Branches cannot bear fruit if they abide not in the root as the life of the branches is in the root of the tree so our life as new creatures is radicated in Christ he is the root that bears us under all our deadness and dulness we should go to Christ for fresh quicknings many times we seek for life in our selves and can feel none but if we would seek for it in Christ and come up closer to him how reviving would that be animus cum sole redit so get but under this Sun of Righteousness you 'l quickly find healing your spirits will return your cold frozen hearts will grow warm the fire will burn within ere you are aware what is a state of death but a state of alienation from Christ who is our life Eph. 4. 18. Put him on then and wear him next your hearts let him but stretch himself all over your dark dead souls as the Prophet did over the dead child 1 Kings 17. 21. 2 Kings 4. 34 35. and life will return you 'l find a sudden Resurrection a fresh vigor of spirit will suddenly come upon you if ever you would be quickned it must be by Christ and with Christ who hath quickened us together with Christ Eph. 2. 5. What do you alone without Christ No wonder you are in a dead frame while you are musing upon what you are in your selves while you are in this solitary condition wandring up and down without Christ let Christ and you come once together and there will be life there will be strength there will be another Spirit in you If God be the Author of Regeneration let not the Eunuch say I am a dry tree all things are possible with God who can raise up children to Abraham of stones I would have none despair of becoming the Children of God who do sincerely desire it and long for that day New Births are sudden things I am perswaded they will be so towards the end of the world when a Nation shall be born in a day and sinners be converted by thousands as in the Apostles time Now we travel in birth a great while with one and another many pangs many throws yet they stick in the place of bringing forth we prophesie over dry bones but no ratling no coming together no spirit of life yet entring into them they stick in the place of bringing forth how many
are Born of God do thus live by Faith here below they consult not with Flesh and Blood their affections are suited to the apprehensions of their Faith they are filled with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory by believing they see good days a coming when all Tears shall be wiped from their Eyes they wait patiently till then rejoycing in the hope of the Glory of God. Till we get into this frame walking in the evidence of things not seen we shall never overcome the World for the things that are seen conceive them in what shape or posture you please have their emptiness and vanity in them will never satisfy they are but finite and temporal the present Fashion of this World be it what it will passes away into something else while we are a beholding it all things here below moulder and crumble away in our hands perish in the using are always the worse for wearing which shews they cannot last long when they are in their best state they are altogether vanity the highest degree of Perfection in the Creature tends to corruption and indeed disposes to it 't is as Natural to Die as to be Born there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a turning point that stops the further growth of the Creature and makes it to decline ever after till its fading Glory be quite extinguish'd therefore labour not for the meat that perishes but for that which nourishes unto Everlasting Life Till we come to Live upon Eternal unseen things we live but meanly in the midst of our Earthly sufficiencies we are in straights still wanting something till Christ be ours and then all is ours There is no room left then for any further designs in him we have plenary satisfaction and perfect rest we shall never have true hearts ease till then But the difficulty lies in bringing over our hearts to this Newness of Life to this Noble Life of Faith that fetches all its Comforts from Heaven casting up its anchor within the Vail which is sure and stedfast Flesh and Blood cannot do this there is nothing in Nature that disposes us to it therefore we must be born again be made New Creatures before we shall favour the things of heaven and such is the power of Religion upon the minds of men where it is in truth that it always works this change in them they find it and feel it in themselves Whether it be so with us whether we have any certain experience of such a thing in our own Souls we should do well to consider that even upon our knees and give God no rest day nor night till we see some better symptoms of Eternal Life in our selves we may judge of our life whether it be Eternal or no by the things we live in and live upon they who are of the Earth are Earthly they who are born from above are heavenly to be carnally mindedis death but to be Spiritually minded is life and peace The inward frame of the mind discovers what kind of Creatures we are whether old or new flesh or spirit the issues of life are from the Heart as the pulse of your Souls beats upwards or downwards so you may judge of your state as you find your selves most concerned in things above or things below till you have got above the world and have overcome it you are not born again Fifthly Every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. That which is intended here is First Love to the Saints as such Unfeigned love of the Brethren is a sign of a pure heart and that we are indeed born again Secondly Love to all men 't is due to all Owe no man any thing but love that we owe to all every man may challenge it every man is our Neighbour in that sense to be the object of our Love we must extend it to our very Enemies 't is the fulfilling of the Law the duty of man to man prescribed in the Second Table cannot be performed without it Love is above all Illumination and Knowledge a more sure mark of Regeneration He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Love is one of the communicable Attributes of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost we are followers of God when we walk in love Common Professors have some love one to another but if you trace it up to its original you 'll find it a selfish mercenary love in which they rather respect themselves than Christ 't is not for his sake but for some outward respects of relation neighbourhood or usefulness in the common concerns of this life it may be for their agreement in opinion about some lower matters of Religion this is but the friendship of the World and may be consistent with real enmity against God and good men as such but perfect love i. e. real sincere Christian Love is for God's sake because he has so loved us and given us a new Command to love one another There is no true love among men till we are born again He exhorts those who have put off the old man and are renewed in spirit to put away all bitterness wrath c. Before Regeneration we are foolish disobedient living in malice and envy hatesul and hating one another Biting devâ—uring consuming one another It looks rather like a description of Wild Beasts than men so savage and fierce are we by nature nothing but a spirit of Regeneration will sweeten and mollify the hearts of men that which unites us to Christ unites us one to another we are all one in Christ but we shall never be all one among our selves till we are united to Christ then the Peace of God rules in our hearts to which we are called in one body There is no true good nature among men but what flows from Grace Sin hath so poysoned and sowred man's Nature that till that Serpentine Venom be purged out and a better Spirit be put into us there will be little harmony or concord among men Having put on the new man put on therefore as the elect of God c. Vide Loc. Were this mark of Regeneration more visible in our days it would be a token for good of a more effectual work of the Gospel among us than for ought I see does yet appear Hatred variance c. are reckoned up among the Works of the Flesh as directly opposite to the Fruits of the Spirit I will shew how this loving disposition arises out of Regeneration that the fundamental ground of it is our conformity to Christ which necessarily follows upon our Regeneration Christ is the express Image of his Father the Saints are in their finite capacities the express Image of Christ in whom they see the Father who as God is one with the Son whilst they behold the Son as God-man they see their humane Nature hypostatically united to the Divine they see their humane persons
I shall now shew you how God thus appearing to us in hearing the Word does open the heart enlighten the mind and throughly perswade the will to a through closure with Christ upon Gospel Terms Naturally our hearts are shut up against the Gospel our Minds are blinded 2 Cor. 4. 4. till God shines into our hearts to give the light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ver 6. Enlightning the eyes of our Understandings Eph. 1. 17 18. Quest. What is this Light of Faith and how does it differ from the Light of Reason Answ. The Light of Reason lies in the evidence of the thing it self as it falls under a Humane Understanding arguing from the cause to the effect drawing certain conclusions from undeniable premises granted and acknowledged by all men to be Truths in Nature Upon such Concessions they build all their acquired Knowledge and do put the stamp of Truth upon all fair inferences from thence which they judge agreeable to those first principles and notions of Truth that pass for currant under that name among credulous men who do but think they know and do rather ghess than judge so great is the uncertainty of all humane Knowledge we have little cause to glory in it The light of Faith lies in the infallible certainty of Divine Testimony faith sees not the causes of things in the things themselves but in God alone to whom all things are possible faith excells all other knowledge in as much as it sees and knows all things in their first Cause God and takes hold of them by the very root from whence they first spring arguing from the Veracity of God to the Truth of all his sayings we know that God has spoken thus and thus as Ioh. 9. 29. we know the Doctrine is of God Ioh. 7. 17. and that no prophesie of the Scripture is of private Interpretation 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. under this conviction we cannot but yield the obedience of faith to every word of God I do not deny but experience may and does give Believers some Evidence of the things themselves but this belongs rather to their after Edification then to the first act of Faith in their Conversion by which they close in with Christ upon the credit of a bare word of promise from him who cannot lie Object Since these sublime supernatural Misteries of the Gospel are so much above and so seemingly contrary to humane Reason how comes it to pass that any man should own them for Truths and be brought under the power of them Answ. 'T is by a Divine Faith I call it Divine because 't is the work of God that we believe his Testimony Ioh. 6. 29. Quest. Does not this Operation of God upon the Hearts of men in working faith in us offer violence to mans Nature and force the Will to consent to that which is above the Understanding Or how can the efficacy of Gods Grace in determining Mans Will to such a Spiritual Act of Faith in Christ Jesus be consistent with the liberty of the Will. Answ. Many intricate disputes there are about this Point managed by subtil heads not without some shew and appearance of Reason who to secure the liberty of Mans Will have denied the efficacy of Gods Grace placing the power of believing in man himself to avoid the force that otherwise they think must be offered to his Will. But to clear the efficacy of Gods Grace from this imputation I need say no more but this viz. That the Grace of God enters the Soul of man as a New Nature and therefore cannot put any force upon him Nature works kindly in all by Inclination not by Violence as Nature is from Generation so the new Nature is from Regeneration one is the birth of the Flesh the other of the Spirit as we are born Men by our first birth so we are born Christians by our second birth Artificial Christians are all name without any living Nature answerable to it being not truly born of God and thereby made partakers of his Divine Nature The breathing in of this new Nature into the Soul of man by the Spirit of God is that new Creation spoken of in the Gospel 't is the first Act of God in our Conversion 't is solely the Act of God without any concurrence of ours we have only a passive obediential power to receive the impression 'T is God that makes it upon this supernatural Principle are grounded all after proceedings in bringing the Soul forward to an actual closure with Christ all the natural powers and faculties of the Soul are gathered into this supernatural Principle do act under it are moved by it and directed in all their free motions to a supernatural end which they could not of themselves tend unto and let it not seem incredible to us that God should do this he can do no evil from the perfection of his Nature and for the same reason all good must needs be in the power of his hand the greatest good that can be done to fallen Man is thus to restore him In this new Nature are wrapped up the seeds of all Grace which by the efficacy of the Spirit are drawn out into act with the free consent of Mans Will Should God determine the Will of Man to a good act whilst it is in a bad state and under a corrupt nature this would imply force and violence but to lead out a man according to his new Nature is not to put a force upon him If Sin had that efficacy upon Man in his perfect state to encline his Will to Evil why should not Grace have the like efficacy upon Man fallen to encline his Will to good Though an inclination to Evil in Man standing was possible from the liberty of his Will in which he was created yet such an actual inclination was inconsistent with his perfect state and left such an inherent crookedness in his perverted Nature that nothing but Grace can rectifie and make streight again What is a principle of Grace but liberty to Good restored to fallen man from whence an actual inclination to choose what is good do's follow of course when God calls and excites him thereunto here is no force put upon mans Will it acts freely in the choice of good and it cannot be otherwise since Grace enters as a new Nature ingenerating a powerful Principle of Holiness in the Soul that do's incline a man freely to comply which the efficacious grace of God exciting him to those acts of Holiness so agreeable to the Nature of the new Creature as Sin reigns unto Death so Grace will reign through Righteousness unto Eternal Life Rom. 5. 21. Shall not he that raises the dead be able to quicken a dead Soul but we are more sensible of that power that God puts forth upon the bodies of Men then of that which he puts forth upon their Souls that you may know that the Son of man