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
with a knowledge of acquaintance whereby they conceiue him to be their father such as little children to whom he alludeth haue of their fathers and mothers that they be theirs In truth the Christian man finds in himselfe something within him sealing him vp to life he hath an earnest penny that makes the bargain sure betwixt the Lord and his soule He cannot but call God Father and often though not alwaies in calling him so he euen feeles him so also He hath an inward a sure certificate of his reconciliation with his displeased Lord. And if doubts doe arise as I told you before that they would and that right often and very troublesomly for the diuel wil cast thē in thick and threefold and with great violēce these his very doubtings driue him to his father to be resolued of his doubts by which meanes it comes to passe that as a truth is much cleared by making answering obiections so his assurance is cōfirmed by these doubts Indeed an infant at first hath not so much knowledge or vse of reason as to conceiue of his owne life but when some daies are past and himselfe becomes stronger then doth he wel enough know that he liueth so in the infancy of regeneration the regenerate can scarce tell that he is regenerate but hauing a little growne forward in a good life hee findeth his case plaine enough and wants not this assurance though he be incumbred with many doubtings Yea when hee stands at the weakest and doth most complaine for want of this assurance yet euen at that time he neither accounts it impossible nor yet needlesse to haue it but desireth it with the strongest of his desires and is troubled for want of it more then for want of any other thing and the feeling that he hath it not serueth but to quicken his care of seeking it and to make him seeke soundly that he may not bee deceiued with false imaginations about it Sometimes also it fals out that a fit of Melacholy possesseth a growne man so strongly that hee imagines himselfe no better then a dead man but then the actions of life performed by him do put the matter out of question amongst others that haue life and the same actions at last perswade himself also that he liueth Euen so a man borne again and well growne in the life of Grace through strength of tentation may bee so farre troubled as to make a great doubt whither he liue the life of grace yea or no. But he by feeling the troublesomnes of this feare by striuing against it at length doth euidētly find that he iudged falsely of his own case and so returneth to enioy his assurance again Yea somtimes a liuing mā by some wound receiued or by some inward distemperature is cast into a deadly swoune neither feeling life nor giuing any great signes of it but after a while by rubbing and the like meanes he is restored to the vse and to the feeling of life So a regenerate man being ouercome by some tentation and hauing runne into some sown doth lie almost like a man dead in sinnes and trespasses but after some checks of his owne heart and admonitions of others and corrections from the Lord he is reuiued out of that sowne and begins to shew forth the effects of grace and withall with comfort to feele and vnderstand the same Wherfore it is manifest that the knowledge of a mans being regenerate is a necessary effect of regeneration and which faileth not out of the forenamed cases and after some time to reueale it selfe Hence it is that the regenerate man wonders at no kind of men more then at them which will needs hold that the matter of ones being truly sanctified is so extremely ambiguous as that by reason of the deceitfulnesse of mans heart it should bee impossible for any man infallibly to know himselfe to be in the state of grace He counts this is as absurd as if a man should say that because an image may bee made and painted so like a liuing man and that withall fits of melancholy and sownes are of so strong a working in men therefore it should be impossible for any man to know vsually and infallibly that himselfe is a liuing man Hee perceiues that such men speake thus alone because they talke of these points barely by roar as they say by meere speculatiō For he hauing known the powerful working of Gods spirit knoweth well enough that he hath found it and knowes that hauing it it will make it selfe so euident that after a little while it will be knowne and when he wants it hee findes himselfe not driuen to denie the possibility or necessity of knowing it but alone to bee grieued and to condemne himselfe that he doth not get that which is both possible necessary to be gotten He finds also that though after his committing of some kindes of sinnes this his assurance that hee is Gods childe is very much enfeebled yet there is a secret and strong worke of grace inwardly mouing him inuiting him leading him by the hand and little lesse then with a kind of sweet and gentle violence drawing him to go to God and confesse his sinne crauing mercy purposing amendment and casting himselfe vpon Christ for acceptance that now he cānot but say within himselfe sure here is life though before the matter were called into doubt Yea he findeth the spirit of adoption dictating vnto him the name of Father in this case and making him bold so to call God and to cry vnto him till at length he perceiue by manifest signes that hee is indeed a Father vnto him Yea verily to the Christian man this knowledge of God is so rich and precious a iewell that he makes more account of it then of a thousand worlds and a thousand liues Wherefore of almost all errours concerning mans condition hee can with least patience brooke their to him being made in case to discerne it most palpable fancy of which I spake before that thinke it impossible to attaine a sure knowledge and infallible that one is the child of God not know himselfe to bee Gods by regeneration and adoption Take away his life then take away his being The world is worse then a prison and a dungeon to him if the light of this knowledge bee taken away hee can haue no quiet in himselfe no comfort in any thing else without this knowledge he perceiues that this is the greatest confirmation of his soule in an holy life that hee knowes himselfe to be begotten againe by the seed of immortality to a liuely hope and to an immortall inheritance This knowledge therefore is so necessary vnto him that hee cannot liue without it and hence it is that he no longer enioyes himselfe then he retaines it And so much for the third effect of regeneration The fourth and of those that I purpose to speake of the last effect followeth That is growth As a naturall life
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
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
their hearts and feare him with all their hearts and trust in him with all their hearts and repent euerie day and beleeue in Christ as well as the best and haue done euer since they can remember these full men these rich persons these that haue soules so perfectlie replenished with all graces that they finde no want of faith or of repentance or of humilitie or of the spirit of prayer or of the loue of God or almost any thing These that haue no faults in themselues they were neuer proud in all their liues they know as much as any of them all can tell them and they haue not brought vp so many children they trow but that they can tel how to be saued that neuer wronged any in al their liues and that hope in God they shall be saued for their good liues and good meanings All these ignorants neuer vnderstood and therefore onely boast of much because wanting knowledge totally they cannot know their owne wants Wherefore if any amongst you be such and out of ignorance so well-conceited of himselfe let him not pretend to be regenerate In vaine he claimeth Gods Kingdome if he be not changed and become another man Yea all those that though they haue more knowledge then to brag thus yet neuer felt themselues to haue been the children of wrath nor were neuer pained with the apprehension of their owne sinfulnesse These also I affirme to be vnregenerate and so remaining cannot be saued Yea all that allow wicked thoughts in their hearts and neuer take care to see and lament the euill conceits of their inward man but rather serue sinne in the lusts of it and please themselues in thinking of that which for feare or shame they doe not dare to accomplish those also haue no part in Gods Kingdome as the case goes with them hitherto Yea all that makes no conscience of smal sinnes which the world doth not take notice of but passe ouer such trespasses without making any matter of them or troubling themselues to bewaile them these haue cause to fearâ— that heauen is fast locked vpon them Yea all that allow themselues for gaine profit or pleasure sake in any one sinfull action secret or open excusing and shifting and turning themselues into all shapes to make themselues not to know it to be sinfull and labouring not to be moued with the exhortations of the Word checks of their owne consciences but holding still their resolution that that thing they must needs do they cannot chuse but doe though their consciences would willingly checke them for the same were they not by them put to silence All these are to number themselues among the vnregenerate and such as if God be as he is most perfectly iust cannot be saued whilest they abide such But most of all those that liue in open grosse sinnes and yet flatter themselues with hopes of doing wel enough because others liue as bad as they and because they doubt not to ouer-entreate God with the repentance of the last houre these are farthest off from regeneration and remaine in a dangerous and damnable estate so that I doubt not to proclaime vnto them in the name of God that so continuing Christ shall profit them nothing Christ shal neuer bring them to heauen Now therefore if any of you that heare me do perceiue your selues to be such I pray you lay aside all your conceits of going to heauen I pray you surcease to feede your selues with vanitie and wind and to make your selues secure by making false promises to your soules of that they shal neuer attaine Know thou whosoeuer that art an ignorant boaster of thine owne goodnes or a man senselesse of thine owne badnesse and must be dispenced with all in some one darling sinne which faine against the truth beginning to shew it selfe to thee thou wouldest not haue to bee counted a sinne know thou whosoeuer that art a worker of iniquity and puttest off repentance till the time of sicknesse that thou hast no part nor portion in this inheritance that thou art the old Man leauened with old leauen and not renewed nor purged and therefore that it cannot possibly befall thee to see Gods Kingdome if Christ be true and God iust so long as thou abidest vnchanged What should one doe to make dead men feele their death If we could speake plainer to you we would brethren for why we know that at this very point your whole happinesse must begin The vnregenerate can neuer become regenerate till he first perceiue himselfe vnregenerate A child of Satan can neuer be made the childe of God till he feele himselfe the child of Satan Our spirituall felicitie begins in the sense of our spirituall misery and therfore we take all this paines to make you see your wretchednesse because it is vpon none other conditions auoidable Open thine eies therefore and see open thine heart and feele thine vnregeneracie thy being in the state of death thine horrible sinfulnesse and thy being as I haue often said and cannot too often say no better then the very sonne and daughter of the Prince of Darkenesse Will you not see will you not feele will you hood-winke your selues will you harden your hearts will ye suffer the Diuell to turne you from heeding your owne estate till at last it be past recouery I pray you doe not so be not so great enemies to your owne soules I entreate you But what should I goe forward with more words to you I will turne my speech to God for you And O thou Author of life and light be pleased now to remember the end of thine owne ordinances and make them fruitful for the purposes by thy selfe appointed O open the eyes of some one of these blind men inlighten the soules of some one of them at least with so much light that they may perceiue themselues hitherto to haue been voide of light put into them at least that first motion of life that they may feele themselues hitherto to haue been but dead men and voide of life O let not thy word returne empty but make it effectuall to all to which thou sendest it CHAP. IX Containing an exhortation to seeke regeneration AND now brethren in the next place 2. Exhortation that they seeke to come out of this hard estate if there bee amongst you any whose soule the Lord may haue awakned to feele their vnregeneracy to them let vs further ad a word of exhortation It were in truth a poore comfort to know ones wound if there were not a plaister deliuered withall to heale those wounds But we come to entreate you to be made the children of God and to bee begotten againe and withall wee come to assure you that you may be such if you do not reiect the present offer of grace I pray you therefore let these words sinke into your minds and be you willing desirous to be the children of our heauenly Father I hope brethren the request
possible thankes O thou art good thou art gracious thou art full of compassion mercy pleaseth thee I feele I feele that thy mercy is ouer all thy workes and I haue cause to say by experience that thy mercy endureth for euer for thou hast made mee thine owne child by adoption which by nature was the child of wrath O blessed be thy great and glorious name for euermore Brethren open your mouths wide in thankes-giuing and God will fill them full of comfort and know that thou canst not haue a more sensible assurance of thy new birth then if thou canst feele thy selfe heartily moued to giue praise to God for it It shall witnesse to thee that thou art a new creature if thou canst giue many thankes to him that made thee so for hauing so made thee Reioyce therefore in thy blessednesse that art borne againe and bee frequently and heartily thankefull to him by whose word and spirit thou wast borne againe that so thou maist comfortably enioy this greatest of al blessings thy being borne againe CHAP. XI Exhorting the Regenerate to grow in Grace ANd this is the consolation of God wee haue to giue you O all yee his sonnes and daughters 2. Exhortation twofold hearken a little further I pray you to the exhortation that must ensue Seeing the Lord of Heauen hath created a new life in you learne you two things for the necessitie thereof to saluation First 1. To nourish this life of grace in themselues to cherish it in your selues secondly so much as is possible to propagate it vnto others First I say make much of this life of grace this new man created in you according to God in righteousnesse and true holinesse make much of it striue to confirme it strengthen it and increase it so soone as the life of nature is seene in a man he is made you know desirous of nourishment that augmentation may follow generation So be you also for your soules that you may at one time both shew your new birth and confirme it In truth this I must tell you assuredly for I know it to bee as true as the Lord himself is to be trusted of his word he that once hath this life shall neuer see death But I told you before that he may feele sicknesse and that if it were not for the sick-making phisicke which the Lord will giue him for his recouerie he might feele death Now therfore I am to entreate you all to saue the labour of taking physicke and that by seeking to preuent diseases and to grow in soundnesse of spirituall strength You all know right well what bee the chiefe things which impaire naturall strength and procure diseases of body namely poyson surfetting and staruing It is euen so likewise with the soule 1. By auoiding ill company and câ—oosing gâ—od 2. By auoiding things sinfull in resisting the first motions to ill first by poyson it inuenometh it selfe secondly by surfetting it distempereth it selfe and lastly by staruing it infeebleth it selfe Beware of ranke poyson Sinne I say sinne things vnlawfull and condemned these are very starke poyson to the soule Ratts-bane and Hen-bane and Mercury and Opium yea the very inward moisture of a Toade or Serpent are no more dangerous to the flesh then this is to the spirit And when a Christian man begins to yeeld so much to the naughtinesse of his owne hart that hee takes leaue to allow some sinne in himselfe in some small degrees then it ceaseth not to worke wofully in his soule till at last it haue caused him to breake forth into the grosse and foule practice of it and then is he poysoned indeede and if the Lord should not come with his physick he could not but bee damned but howsoeuer hee languisheth and is sicke he leeseth the sense of Gods fauour the desire of Gods seruice the comforts of Gods Word and the loue of the comming of Christ Iesus Lust reuenge deceit loue of money loue of credit loue of pleasure and all other corrupt affections lodging within if they once so farre preuaile that a man is willing to follow them in thoughts and words agreeable to their wicked nature doe by little and little euen grieue the Spirit of God and quench the graces of the holy Ghost till after a while a man falleth into some wicked act of some of these kinds and Oh then the burning and shooting and swelling of the body after the drinking of Ratts-bane is not more manifest in the bodie then the miserable effects of these sinnes are euident in the soule The conscience begins to accuse God is alienated the hart is hardned the mind blinded and sometimes a man lies long as it were in a sowne before he can recouer himselfe by repentance Wherefore the godly mans care must be to oppose the first motions of sinne to flie the occasions of euill doing to be careful of restraining himselfe from the very smallest degrees of wickednesse for a little sinne allowed will bring in a greater till that come accompanied with the greatest of all and that make a man little lesse then dead the second time We must therefore cast away the superfluitie of maliciousnesse that is this allowing of sinne and pleasing our selues in the occasions first degrees of it if euer we desire the spirituall health and wel-fare of our inner man Dauids conceitednesse begate idlenesse idlenesse begat adulterie adultery murder and all a long lying and deepe sleepe in sinne It is wofull to consider the miserable ruines that haue been made in the soules of many of Gods seruants by their carelesnes this way how weake they haue growne how their acquaintance with God their delight in his Word their comfort in prayer their desire of being dissolued and their ioy in a godly life hath been interrupted and how they haue come to that passe as scarce to shew to others or find in themselues any signe of liuing Perhaps this may be the very case of some amongst you that heare mee at this time O if it be get thee a preseruatiue take thee a large quantitie of godly sorrow feede vpon the bitter but wholesome hearbs of humiliation and griefe go and meditate on the threatnings of the Law on the death of Christ on the lamentable effects that others of Gods people haue found vpon their growing so naught and recouer thy selfe againe by hearty confession and humble begging of pardon and of strength And now all you that be as yet free from such wofull sicknesses be admonished by the miseries of others and let not the deceitfulnesse of sinne so farre preuaile against you that you should giue any allowance vnto it take any pleasure in the motions or occasions of it or giue your hearts leaue so much as to thinke or speake of it but with detestation Poyson is often sweete but a wise man had rather deny to his taste the delight of sweetnesse then fill his stomack with deadly pangs and gripings Sinne