with many Temptations a regenerate Soul is aware of this and fears always But before we enter into this or that particular Temptation that we see coming towards us or have reason to suspect from the present circumstances we are under here a regenerate person watches and prays that he may not enter into that Temptation that God would some way or other divert the Temptation or fortify our hearts against it that we may repel it A Temptation may enter into us when we don't enter into it then it goes as it comes and makes little or no impression upon us when a Temptation shews it self to us at some distance the Seed of God in a regenerate Soul presently takes the alarm puts on the whole armour of God. Secondly Under the Temptation when the Flesh has betrayed the Soul into the hands of a Temptation has been tampering with it then does Grace struggle and fight and cry out unto God for help all this shews the activity of Grace in a way of righteousness how loth it is to be overcome of evil Thirdly After the Temptation when 't is ended or finished then it issues either in the commission of the Sin or conquest over the Temptation Grace shews it self both ways First After the commission of Sin what repentance what godly sorrow what shame what indignation what revenge Secondly After the conquest over the Temptation what rejoycing what thanksgiving what triumphing in the Grace of Christ So that you see here lies the manifest difference between the Children of God and of the Devil An unregenerate man cannot do righteousness his skill lies not that way he is wise indeed to do evil but to do good no knowledg he is a meer Bungler at a good work his hand is always out because his heart is never right with God. He may do what is materally good but always fails in the manner those spiritual Ingredients which the Gospel requires to a work truly holy are wanting Thirdly Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God. And every spirit that confesses that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. They prove each other being inseparable The going forth of the Soul by Faith unto Christ as the anointed of the Lord sent and sealed by the Father to undertake the great work of Man's Redemption is a sure evidence of Regeneration All unregenerate men are strangers to Christ they know him not they desire him not they think they can shift well enough without him None know the Son of God but those who are born of God. When the Spirit comes into us then we confess that Christ is come in the flesh Christ conveys himself through our nature to our persons the Divine and Humane Nature must be first united before our persons can be admitted to any communion with him The Humane Nature of Christ is the foundation of all our Communion with God our access to God is through the veil of his flesh Being born of the Spirit we stand related to the Person of Christ he is not ashamed to call us Brethren we can then call God our Father as he is the Father of Christ our elder Brother God was the Father of Christ before his Incarnation and continues still to be so after his Incarnation not only to him but to all who are born of his Spirit The Spirit of Christ being the Spirit of him who is God and Man knows how to raise up a seed of godly men and women The Infinite Eternal Spirit of the Son of God being poured out without measure upon the Man Jesus Christ operates through both his Natures hypostatically united in his Divine Person in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily without any diminution of its infinite excellencies and Divine properties from the assumption of our finite humane nature so the same Eternal Spirit of Christ dwelling in us in a lower way of union to our persons does act indeed Divinely but yet according to our finite capacities all intellectual acts are finite or infinite as the persons are that do them the Person of Christ being infinite so are his spiritual actings notwithstanding his finite nature as Man so the actings of the Spirit of God in the Saints are finite because their persons are so Actiones sunt suppositorum Actions are personal of greater or lesser degree of efficacy and power as the persons are that do them Faith in Christ Jesus being the birth of the Spirit must needs be an infallible mark of Regeneration the design of the Spirit of God in working Faith in us is to bring us to the knowledg of Christ and through him to the knowledg of God wherein consists our true happiness This is life eternal to know thee c. Faith is the beginning of Eternal Life in the Soul and the manner of conveying this Eternal Life from God unto our Souls is called Regeneration Thus you see how he that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. The next inquiry will be how Faith does this or how believing in Christ does work that universal change in the Soul which the Gospel calls Regeneration Tho the beginning or rather all the essentials of Regeneration are found in the first principle of Faith created in us by the Spirit of Christ yet this does not appear to us but by those lively operations of this Faith put forth by us We have an inward feeling of these operations the sense of which does lead us to some discerning of that spirit and principle from whence they flow 'T is actual Faith Iohn means in this Epistle therefore he joyns it with Confession he lays the Mark upon actual Faith for that only falls under our discerning God indeed sees the first seeds and principles of Grace but they are known to us only by the sense we have of their powerful actings in us and therefore I shall consider the regenerating Power of actual Faith and shew how it does discover that new birth that came in with a principle of Faith at first The Regenerating power of Faith both in the principle and in the act is very great it makes a marvellous change in us So strong are the impressions of Faith about Christ and our everlasting concernments in him that we must needs be much affected with the discovery which lies in two things 1. In a convicting knowledg of our sin and misery by Nature 2. In an astonishing discovery of God's Grace and mercy to us in Christ. The Spirit of God demonstrating both unto us with such clearness and evidence that we cannot but be persuaded of the truth of them in our own case and being so persuaded we must be concerned about them Faith draws in the attention of the mind to those things we believe in reference to our selves fixes our thoughts upon them dwells upon the consideration of them there is no evading the serious thoughts of Faith no getting them out of
will and to do but 't is we that will and do I conceive it lies something wide from the truth to put as some do Regeneration for Sanctification lying in the mortification of sin and newness of life which is rather an effect of Regeneration than that in which it consists the renewing of our Nature supposes a union to Christ an ingrafting into him who is the Root that bears us communicating all spiritual virtue and sap to those Branches that are vitally joined to him Therefore I shall describe Regeneration or at large define it thus viz. 'T is a wonderful work of God begetting the Elect again unto himself by implanting them into Christ from whom they derive a spiritual being and in whom they live spiritually for ever and ever growing up daily into his likeness till they come to the stature of a perfect man in him In Regeneration there is a supernatural form of true holiness impressed upon the Soul that the preternatural form of sin and ungodliness brought in by the Devil may be abolished nothing that is physically natural is abolished by Regeneration which takes not away any natural faculty or affection of the Soul only sets them upon right Objects Regeneration produces a new spiritual being in the Soul draws the Image of God upon the heart sets the Soul into a holy order and rectitude when the natural faculties of the rational Soul are brought under the power of supernatural Principles that man is regenerated Regeneration implies the beginning of the new Life or new Creature birth is the beginning of life we are born of God Iohn 1. 13. This is caused by God's quickning of us Eph. 2. 5. in and through our union to Christ by faith who is our life a quickning Spirit in us and to us 1 Cor. 15. 45. They who are born of God are not still-born but born alive quickned by the Spirit of Christ. This new life appears most in the Will by its real tendency towards God Phil. 2. 13. Where you see the will of a man turned to God and Christ you may be confident God hath been at work in that Soul this great quickning work of Regeneration usually appears first in the Will in the gracious motions and inclinations of the will of man towards God and Christ there may be an illumination of the Mind without any conversion of the Will the darkness of the Understanding is sooner removed than the corruption of the Will there may be many strong convictions wrought before there be any true conversion of the Will that stands it out to the uttermost before it consents to come to Christ and cast the Soul upon him by an act of faith and when the Father has drawn the Will to that act of faith repentance is always joined with it Acts 19. 4. Mark 1. 15. Faith principally respects Christ but Repentance is towards God himself whom we have offended by our sins Acts 20. 21. therefore Repentance turns us into the Will of God seeks to please him by doing only what he approves of Works meet for repentance Acts 26. 20. These Works are an effect of Gospel-repentance that flows from faith in Christ. Legal Terrors that accompany a legal Repentance are before Faith and cannot be removed but by faith in Christ Jesus an unregenerate man may attain to a Legal-repentance and be much terrified but he cannot attain to a Gospel-repentance in turning from sin as contrary to God's holiness Indeed this Gospel-repentance that flows from Faith may be sooner perceived than Faith it self a Sinner cannot easily perswade himself that he is reconciled to God in Christ before he finds in himself that he hath left those sins that separated him from God. Regeneration lies in creating in us a habit and vital principle of Faith which disposes and inclines us to actual believing this very principle denominates a man a Believer in the sight of God before he actually believes so regenerate Infants may be said to be Believers In Regeneration there is a power put into a man to believe and repent which are acts of the new Creature so that a man must first be a new Creature and that which makes him so is Regeneration before that an unregenerate person is called an old man the old man is distinct from our selves as men we must distinguish between the corruption of humane Nature and humane Nature it self which Regeneration does not destroy but perfect it implies a change of state and a change of nature the foundation of both is laid in our Regeneration by virtue of our incorporation into Christ who of God is made unto us righteousness and sanctification the efficacy of his Blood and Spirit does reach our Souls being one with him we die with him and rise with him are discharged from sin upon the account of his Satisfaction and are raised up unto newness of life by vertue of his Resurrection We pass through all the states that Christ passed through we die with him are crucified with him we rise with him ascend into Heaven with him are glorified with him there is nothing that God requires of Believers in a way of faith and hope but he hath given some instance already in his Son Jesus Christ of the actual accomplishment of that thing We hope to be justified from our sins because Christ is justified from 'em they were laid upon him but he has freed himself now from the imputation of them and therefore will appear the second time without sin Heb. 9. 28. We hope for a resurrection of the Body because Christ is risen we hope for glory because Christ is ascended and glorified So the Apostle argues 1 Pet. 1. 21. Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. There is as much reason for the justification of a sinner believing in Christ as for the Justification of the Person of Christ himself it is upon the same account so that our case is an adjudged case already upon record in Heaven it is no new thing for God to pass by our sins he having passed them all by in Christ no new thing for God to justifie such sinners as we are having already justified Christ admitted him to Glory and set him down at his Right Hand These are all instances of what you may expect from God the Father The Covenant of Grace requires no other Righteousness for your Justification but that of Christ therefore I would perswade you to keep up a high value and esteem for the Righteousness of Christ it will support you under the greatness of your own sins and under all the defects of your own Righteousness What is it that troubles poor souls their sins are great and their Righteousness small and what will become of them they know not Set the Righteousness of Christ against the greatness of your sins and against all the Imperfections of your own Righteousness raise up
thus viz. That the first step in Regeneration is from a sinful State and Nature to Christ. Or thus Regeneration is the Implantation of the Soul into Christ. Or thus Saving Conversion in the right Gospel-Notion of it is Conversion to Christ 'T is true a turning from Sin to Holiness is the effect or consequent of Regeneration but 't is not the thing it self the Tree must be made good before it can bring forth good Fruit so that Regeneration lies chiefly in our incorporation into Christ till we are joined to the second Adam we are and shall be acted by that corrupt nature which we derived from the First Adam There were but two publick men in the World and all men do take after one or other of them either after the First Adam or after the Second Adam they are the two Great Standards I will shew that this is the right Scriptural Notion of Regeneration and Conversion to this end is Christ Preached 1 Cor. 1. 23 24. No other Name under Heaven by which we can be saved Acts 4. 12. This Name must be published Acts 9. 15. Regeneration or our first Conversion what is it but a revealing Christ in us Gal. 1. 16. Drawing unto Christ Iohn 6. 44. Receiving Christ Iohn 1. 11. Following Christ Matt. 9. 9. 'T was Christ they came over to in Conversion hence those Phrases of our being in Christ and Christ's being in us living in us Gal. 2. 20. Formed in us Gal. 4. 19. Put on by us Gal. 3. 27. Rom. 13. 4. Thus you see how the New Creature or the Regenerate Person has his Life Being and whole Subsistence in and from Christ. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature We are taken up so much with Duties of Evangelical Obedience that we commit a great error in our first step do not go over to Christ and begin there thence it is that the Saints are called Christians because their Original is from Christ they bear his Image are acted by his Spirit partake of his Nature If this new Life be from Christ what is the way of its derivation from Christ unto us or how comes this Virtue from Christ into our Souls that both our state and nature should be thus changed in him and by him in order to newness of Life in our after Conversation You must give me leave often to put Questions why and how and which way because I am now enquiring after the Manner of Regeneration If you ask How Life comes to be derived from Christ into the Soul of a dead Sinner Answer I say this is effected by our vital union to Christ. We need not wonder that such a change is wrought in those who are thus joined to the Lord in one and the same Spirit we cannot come so near to Eternal Life it self and not be quickned by it we cannot remain dead when we thus enter into Life it self The main Query is How this Union is brought about between Christ and our Souls Answer The Spirit takes hold of us and joins us to Christ working Faith in us at the same instant by which we take hold of Christ improving the Grace of Union to a real Communion with Christ we dwelling in him and he in us 'T is union to Christ that gives Life at first and maintains it ever after in our souls We have our first quickning from this Union and all after increases of Spiritual Life are but so many fresh emanations from Christ the Fountain of Life flowing into our Souls Thus we have Life and have it more abundantly from Christ. I shall prove this Union between Christ and Believers as 't is productive of Life it self in its first vital Principle and also as it is the cause of all after-growth in Grace proceeding from the higher and more vigorous operations of this Life raised and kindled in the Soul by the enlivening influences of the Eternal Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus in both these respects as it causes and continues Life in the Saints is this Mystical Union between Christ and Believers spoken of in the Scriptures The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one The Glory that was given to the Man Christ did all spring from the Union of the Human Nature to the Divine next to this is the Mystical Union between Christ and Believers the enlivening influences of this Union are set forth by an Incorporation by an Ingrafture The Ministry of the Word is an outward means of bringing this Union about making a tender of Christ to us and calling upon us to receive him Ministers are the Instrumental cause of this near Conjunction between Christ and Believers They are the friends of the bridegroom who give the Saints in Marriage unto Christ. I have espoused you to one Husband You see how the Scripture variously sets forth our Union to Christ who is our Life Regeneration is the beginning of this new Life and Nature in the Saints which shews it self more or less after an inward effectual call we know 't is God the Father's Voice who so calls us because a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation accompanies it powerfully enlightning our Minds By our Union to Christ we stand in a spiritual Relation to him as his Brethren Spouse and Members and this spiritual Relation to him gives us a right to all that he hath purchased for us He that hath the Son hath life c. We have an Interest in his Righteousness 't is ours by Imputation we being his his Righteousness becomes ours we cannot have Christ without his Righteousness which in the Infinite Merit of it extends it self to all Believers Rom. 3. 22. Thus we are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. Christ takes hold of us by his Spirit and by so doing enables us to take hold of him by Faith of his own operation in us such a Regeneration such a Conversion as this derives from him a Principle of Spiritual Life by which we are carried out to all good works Ephes. 2. 10. I shall further explain the Manner of our Union to Christ. Christ took our Nature upon him without the sin that cleaves to it in us this was done by a Miraculous Conception when Christ took our Nature his Eye was upon the Persons of the Elect The Hypostatical Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the Person of Christ was in order to the Spiritual Union of our Persons to the Person of Christ Christ took our Nature abstracted from our Persons and consequently without sin super-induc'd upon it by Adam's Fall the Person corrupted the Nature in the First Adam not the Nature the Person as now it does Though Christ have taken our Nature upon him without sin yet how can we maintain this Union and Communion between Christ and our Persons in whom there is so much
not say that all are unregenerate who see not all these marks in themselves but those who have them not to be wholly defective in any one of them overthrows our state These marks are so linked together as to the certainty of their being that they are inseparable tho as to our perceiving 'tis otherwise we may not so clearly discern some of these in our selves as we may some others I would carry it with as gentle a hand as I can I perceive these marks in the right application of them will bear hard upon us all and it may be leave us under a godly jealousy of our selves examining our state with trembling Truly this I aim at I am sure we shall suffer no loss or damage by it in the end God has put his own stamp upon his own workmanship that it may be known to be his Shew me your Regeneration under God's seal and mark and I shall rejoyce with you in it and pronounce it to be his workmanship indeed And now Brethren produce your evidences such as the Word of God calls for I shall begin with the first Mark 1. He doth not commit sin he cannot sin He sinneth not but doth righteousness Here is a Negative and a Positive Mark what he doth and what he doth not I shall first speak joyntly of them both together and then separately of each apart by themselves The sense in general of this Scripture is That he who is born of God does so far express his Image and take after his Holy Nature as to hate that which is evil and to love that which is good he has put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Escaping the corruption that is in the World through lust If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him He proves the new-born Soul to be a true Child of God because he so much resembles his Heavenly Father in Righteousness and true Holiness we cannot be partakers of his Nature but we must be also partakers of his Holiness they are inseparable But to keep to the Negative mark He commits not sin c. The common interpretation of this Text is That such who are born of God sin not with full consent and allowance they go not on in a course of sin they sin not the sin unto death c. All this is true and does belong to the interpretation of this Text yet I conceive there is something further intended as the ground of all this viz. That he who is born of God as such sins not at all He that is a new creature may sin but not as a new creature this is an absolute truth contained in the Text. Under all the distinctions limitations and soft interpretations that are given of this Scripture we must be sure to maintain the words of the Text as they are expressive of a certain absolute truth else we shall quite lose the mark here laid down by the Holy Ghost of Regeneration and therefore I shall first fix that and make it as plain as I can that we may the better judge of our state by it 't is matter of Life or Death all is now upon Tryal your eternal Interest lies at stake therefore in so great a case we had need go by sure marks and signs and none so sure as those that are in express terms laid down by the Holy Ghost of Regeneration as we must not raise them too high in contradiction to other Scriptures so neither must we sink them too low lest we lose that Characteristical difference that the Holy Ghost here puts between the Regenerate and Unregenerate the mark lies here viz. That there is in every Regenerate Soul an inward living Principle of Grace and Holiness inclining us to good but never to evil always giving check to sin never approving or allowing of it A Regenerate person may fall into acts of sin through humane Infirmity but cannot give himself over to sin in a constant habitual way he cannot go on in sin 't is against his Nature he may be surprized into an act of sin but the new Nature will quickly recover it self and cast out that sin by Repentance A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit sin is not so connatural to a Regenerate Person he can't brook it his heart rises against it from the Antipathy he has to it when he does sin he would not sin and this we say is from the Grace of Regeneration The assertors of Free will do hold That man cannot incline to good without the general assistance of the Spirit of God but they own only such an assistance as may be resisted by us and leaves it to our option whether we will do good or evil but that the will of man should be determined by God to a good act and yet act freely under that determination is that which some will not understand supposing such an overruling efficacy of Divine Grace to be inconsistent with the liberty of man's will. The prevailing efficacy of sin in fallen man is undeniable whose thoughts and imaginations are evil only evil and that continually yet those thoughts and imaginations with all outward acts proceeding from them are free so that what they deny to the efficacy of grace they allow to the efficacy of sin That it seems does not destroy the liberty of mans will but the efficacy of grace does the mistake lies in a misapprehension of the Nature of Irresistibility grace is irresistible not because it cannot be resisted but because it cannot be overcome else 't would not be effectual the efficacy of Saving Grace lies in gaining over the free consent of the will to follow its motions and inclinations God made man perfect and that he might not impose upon his rational Nature left him a free agent giving him liberty to good or evil his Perfection did not lye in having liberty to evil but in not using it in abstaining freely from evil out of choice when he fell God withdrew and left him perpetually inclined to his own first choice which nothing can draw him off from but effectual Grace not by forcing but changing his will. It was never the intent of God in our first Creation that man should exert his power both ways to do good and evil but that he should freely chuse his own way at his first setting out and be delivered up into that Power which he should first Exercise By his obedience he would have been confirmed in good never to have fallen from it so by his disobedience he was confirmed in evil never to be recovered out of it till free Grace of its own accord relieved him And this it does gradually not all at once which is the reason why the Saints in their imperfect state here do both good and evil being flesh as well as Spirit Grace has the Predominancy because it enters in
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
hath power to forgive sins Take up thy bed and walk Mat. 9. 6. This you all see but the actings of my saving power upon the souls of men that power that works within Eph. 3. 20. you see not let this that you see convince you of that which you see not and never dispute my power more to forgive sin I can heal the diseases of the Soul as well as those of the Body the power that God has to forgive sin is the great prerogative of God belonging to the soveraignty of his grace God walks invisibly thorow the World doing his mighty works of Grace he touches some mens hearts not others he draws some and not others by the sweet yet irresistable force of his Grace we see nothing but man mans Will mans Choice mans Act and therefore conclude all is by mans own power because we see not the wheel within the wheel the Spirit of God setting the whole soul in motion towards Christ This arcanum Iehovae this secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psal. 25. 14. The way of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men is discerned by few 't is a very hard matter to understand how God works in us to will and to do because we find it to be our own act to believe repent and turn to God we ascribe all to our selves as if our own arm had saved us The truth is God in all the efficacious operations of his grace upon the hearts of men loves to conceal himself he will not be seen by others to do what he do's in and for his Saints no noise in the streets Matth. 12. 19. The kingdom of God comes not with observation Luke 17. 20 21. All is done within secretly and silently non are privy to this heart-work but they that feel it this is the hiding of his power from the observation of those whom he never intends to work upon and for the hardening of their hearts that they may still retain an opinion of their own ability to do that which they see others so freely and willingly addicting themselves unto Though this be a cause of stumbling to many who boast of a supposed power and freedom of will to believe and repent when they please yet such in whose hearts God has wrought these mighty works of his grace they see and feel the weight of his Arm revealed upon their souls they know it is Gods doing that a divine power has touched their hearts and carried them out to all these acts of Faith that they put forth they openly acknowledge this 1 Cor. 15. 10. Phil. 4. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Gal. 2. 20. Not I but Christ. When they feel themselves most strengthned by Christ they are then most sensible of their own self-insufficiency and weakness I can do all things through Christ yet not sufficient of our selves to think a good thought when I am weak then am I strong 2 Cor. 12. 10. They would not say so if they did not find a power more then humane exerting it self within them and strengthning them with might in their inward man I live yet not I but Christ lives in me till we can thus distinguish between Nature and Grace and see God influencing our Wills in all their free motions to that which is good we shall vainly assume to our selves a power that never yet reduced it self to the least real act of Faith in any man whatever 't is easie talking of a power to believe before we come to believe in good earnest then our strength fails us if God do not support us and help our unbelief I believe help my unbelief q. d. I can't hold it my faith will fail if God do not put his Everlasting Arms underneath if we consider what difficulties what strong Objections unanswerable by Reason Faith Acts against in keeping up a lively hope of Pardon in the Conscience of a convinced sinner we must needs say 't is the work of God that we believe we may wonder at our selves as men when we consider what we believe as Christians I have spoken all this to shew that God is the Author and Finisher of our Faith 't is he only can open the heart and dispose it to give Credit to the Word of his Grace Application By way of Discovery viz. How we may know when Faith comes by Hearing even at the time of Hearing and whether it be yet come into your hearts by all you have heard hitherto Faith is a secret and a sudden work when it comes it gives some sense of it self to an observing Christian that quickly convinces us of a change in our selves a heart truly turned to God is not the same it was before not in the same posture not in the same disposition and frame there is something new appears in every new Creature that do's not belong to the Old Man but rises up in opposition to him this newness do's not lye in some one corner of the heart but every where 't is universal in every faculty all things are become new though the old leaven be not totally cast out any where but left as an occasional provocation and challenge to the Grace of God to act in more opposition to those motions of sin that put a force upon the New Creature are directly contrary to the bent and genius of our renewed Nature till Faith comes we are never sensible of any such inward Conflicts between the flesh and the Spirit but then the fight begins the good fight of Faith 'T is Faith strikes the first stroke makes the first assault upon our reigning sin and corruptions and will never cease contending with them till it has got a full Victory over them and throughly mortified them But how shall we know in the very time of hearing when Faith comes When the word Works effectually after hearing it usually gives some powerful touch upon the heart at the time of hearing so 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. he speaks there of the occasional Conversion of an Unbeliever who came into the Assembly where there was Prophesying and Preaching 't is probable some such are come in hither to day Oh that God would meet with them that they might be convinced and fall down upon their Faces worshipping God acknowledging that he is among us of a truth so Acts 2. 37. their Hearts were prick'd they cry out in the midst of the Sermon Men and Brethren what shall we do We want such publick Conversions had we more of these New Births in our Congregations we should have more of these out-cries which would be very awakening to us all if God would honour his Ordinances with such visible signs of his presence as in the Primitive Times the Word was preached with that power that it wrought a great consternation and astonishment in the whole Assembly there was a great impression upon their minds which had various effects some blasphemed and some believed but all were moved and stirred struck inwardly