favour of lost Man that commands certain Duties and sets before them Eternal Life as the reward of Obedience and Eternal Death the punishment of Disobedience According to this the trial and decision of Mens everlasting States shall be which is the Character of a true Law This Law of Grace is very different from the Law of Nature that requir'd intire innocence and for the least omission or accusing act past an irrevokable doom upon the Offender for that strictness and severity is mollified by the Gospel which accepts of sincere persevering Obedience though imperfect accordingly 't is called the Law of Liberty But the Law of Faith is unalterable and admits of no dispensation from the duties required in order to our being everlastingly happy 2. The Gospel is stiled a Covenant and that imports a reciprocal engagement between parties for the performance of the matter contained in it The Covenant of Grace includes the promise of pardoning and rewarding Mercy on God's part and the Conditions on Man's with respect to which 't is to be perform'd There is an inviolable dependence between them He will be our God to make us happy but we must be his People to yeild unreserved Obedience to him He will be our Father and we shall be his Sons and Daughters but 't is upon the terms of purifying our selves from all pollutions of Flesh and Spirit and unfeigned endeavours to perfect Holiness in his fear 'T is astonishing Goodness that he is pleased to condescend to such a treaty with fallen Creatures by a voluntary promise he encourages them but though most free in making 't is conditional in the performance The constancy of his holy Nature obliges him to fulfil his Word but 't is if we do not fail on our part by carelessness of our Duty A Presumer may seal assurance to himself and be deceived in this great matter but God will not be mocked If we prove false in the Covenant he will be faithful and exclude those from Heaven that were neglectful of the Conditions to which it is promised 3. The Gospel is stiled a Testament sealed in the Blood of Christ confirm'd by his Death The donation of eternal blessings in it is not absolute and irrespective but the Heirs are admitted to the Possession of the Inheritance according to the Will of the rich liberal and wise Testator There can be no regular title or claim made out without performing what is required And this is the Will of God and Christ our Sanctification without which we cannot enjoy it Now from hence we may see the admirable agreement between these two Notions that Heaven is a Gift and a Reward 'T is a Reward in the order of giving it not due to the Work but from the Bounty of the Giver God gives Heaven to those that faithfully serve him But their Service was due to God of no worth in respect of Heaven so that Man's Work is no Merit and God's Reward is a Gift Our everlasting Glory must be ascribed to his most free Grace as much as the pardon of our Sins I shall now proceed to consider what the Gospel declares to be indispensibly requisite in order to our obtaining of Heaven this is compriz'd in the holy change of Man's Nature which I will briefly unfold and shew how necessary it is to qualify us for Celestial Glory 1. This holy Change is exprest in Scripture by the new Birth Our Saviour with a solemn repeated Asseveration tells Nicodemus Verily Verily except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Sin is natural to Man from his Conception and Birth and infects with its contagion all his Faculties This is fomented and cherisht by temptations that easily encompass him The Understanding is polluted with evil Principles full of strong Prejudices and lofty Imaginations against the supernatural Mysteries of Salvation 'T is full of Ignorance and Folly and from hence either rejects them as incredible or despises them as impertinent or unprofitable The Will is depraved and perverse full of unruly and unhallowed Affections The Senses are luxurious and rebellious In short Man is so viciously and sensually inclined so alienated from the Life of God as if he had no diviner part within him that should aspire to a Spiritual Blessedness that should regulate and controul the excess of the inferiour Appetites This is the unhappy Character Satan imprest on him in his Fall and without renovation upon an infinite account he is uncapable of seeing God This renovation consists not in the change of his substance as the Water was miraculously turn'd into Wine at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee the same Soul with its essential Powers the same Body with its natural Senses the Work of the Creator remains but in the cleansing of his stain'd nature in the sanctifying his Faculties that are the Springs of his Actions The whole Man is quickned into a Divine Life and enabled to act in conformity to it And of this the new Birth is a convenient Illustration An active Principle of Holiness is planted in him that springs up into visible Actions The Apostle particularly expresses it in his earnest Prayer for the Thessalonians The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and preserve your whole Spirit Soul and Body blameless till the coming of Jesus Christ. Every Faculty is renewed and every Grace infused that constitutes the Divine Image The Mind is renewed by Spiritual Light to believe the Truth and Goodness of unseen things promised the reality and dreadfulness of things threatned in the Word of God It sees the truest Beauty in Holiness the highest Honour in Obedience to God the greatest Equity and Excellence in his Service The Will is renewed by holy Love a purifying Flame and feels the attractive virtue of our blessed End before all desireable things on Earth and determins to pursue it in the vigorous use of proper means The Body is made a holy instrument fit for the renewed Soul In short the natural Man becomes spiritual in his Perceptions Resolutions and Actions All things are become New There is a firm assent an inviolable adherence to those most precious Objects revealed in the Scripture and a sincere chosen constant Obedience flows from the renewed Faculties And from hence we may distinguish between regenerating Grace and formal Hypocrisy in some and the proficiency of Nature and power of common Grace in others A Hypocrite in Religion is acted from without by mercenary base respects and his Conscience being cauteris'd handles sacred things without feeling a regenerate Person is moved by an internal living Principle and performs his Duties with lively Affections Natural Conscience under the compulsion of Fear may lay a restraint upon the outward acts of Sin without an inward consent to the sanctity of the Law Renewing Grace cleanses the Fountain and the current is pure It reconciles the Affections to the most holy Commands I love thy Law because 't is pure saith
the Psalmist A moral Principle may induce one to abstain from many Sins and to perform many praise-worthy things in conformity to Reason But this is neither sanctifying nor saving for it only prunes Sin as if it were a good Plant and does not root it up it compounds with it and does not destroy it There may be still an impure indulgence to the secret lustings of the Heart notwithstanding the restraint upon their Exercise And many Duties may be done on lower motives without a divine respect to the Commands and Glory of God But renewing Grace subjects the Soul to the whole Royalty of the Law uniformly inclines it to express Obedience to all its Precepts because they are pure and derived from the eternal Spring of Purity It mortifies Concupiscence and quickens to every good Work from a Principle of Love to God and in this is distinguisht from the most refined unregenerate Morality In short there may be a superficial tincture of Religion from common Grace a transient Esteem vanishing Affections and earnest Endeavours for a time after Spiritual Things and yet a Person remain in a state of unregeneracy But renewing Grace is a permanent solid Principle that makes a Man partaker of the Divine Nature and elevates him above himself This holy Change is wrought by Divine Power Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Analogy of a new Birth signifies that 't is intirely the work of the sanctifying Spirit that conveys a Principle of Life in order to the Functions of it 'T is the living impression of God the sole Efficient and Exemplar of it the Fruit and Image of the Divine Vertues 'T is exprest by the new Creature The production of it is attributed to God's power displaying it self in a peculiar excellent way even in that precise manner as in making the World For as in the first Creation all things were made originally of nothing so in the second the habit of Grace is infused into the Soul that was utterly void of it and in which there was as little preparation for true Holiness as of nothing to produce this great and regular World And although there is not only an absolute privation of Grace but a fierce resistance against it yet creating invincible Power does as infallibly and certainly produce its effect in forming the new Creature as in making the World From hence it appears that preventing renewing Grace is so intirely the Work of God as his forming the human Body from the Dust of Earth at first But with this difference the first Creation was done without any sence in the Subject of the efficiency of the Divine Power in produceing it but in the new Creation Man feels the vital influence of the Spirit applying it self to all his Faculties reforming and enabling them to act according to the quality of their nature And by the way we may observe the admirable Grace shewed to Man in the renovation of his corrupted Nature In the composition of his Being are united a Spirit like the Angels and a Body like terrestrial Animals by which he partakes of the spiritual and natural Life but he has peculiar Favours conferred upon him For whereas his Soul sin'd with the Angels and his Body dies with the Beasts yet God is pleased to restore them by his glorious Power An Angel after Sin never repents and is therefore incapable of Pardon and irrecoverably disinherited of Heaven a Beast after Death never revives but though Man sins and dies yet his Soul may be renewed by Divine Grace and his Body shall be raised in an incorruptible Glory Now the indispensible necessity of this holy Change is evident from the Words of our Saviour for he speaks universally Except a Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God He does not simply declare that an unregenerate Man shall not but with the greatest Emphasis cannot to signify an absolute impossibility of it The Jews highly presumed of the priviledg of their carnal Birth they sprang from the pure and noble Blood of Abraham God's Friend they had the Seal of the Holy Covenant markt in their Flesh and hence it was proverbial among them that every Israelite should have a part in the World to come But our Saviour overthrows this vain conceit and tells them that the supernatural Birth entitles to the supernatural Inheritance Circumcision then and Baptism now without real Grace is an ineffectual sign of no avail to Salvation In the quality of Sons we are Heirs of God's Kingdom And that honourable Relation we have upon a double account by Adoption and Regeneration Divine Adoption is not a meer change of our state a naked Declaration that one shall be dignified with the Title of God's Son but a holy Nature is always infused into the Person whereby he is made like to God in his Excellencies In this it differs from humane Adoption that gives the Name and Arms the Honour and Estate of the Adopter to a Person without conveying any of his intellectual or moral Endowments Whom God adopts he begets to a Divine Life Besides our Saviour purchased this high priviledg for us God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons By Union with him we receive the investiture of this Dignity Now whoever is in Christ is a new Creature For the quickning Spirit that is to the Soul what the Soul is to the Body the principle of Life and Strength of Beauty and Motion and an active purifying Faith that is influential upon all other Graces are the band of that vital Union So that as all in Adam are universally corrupt by the first Birth all that are in Christ are made holy by a new Birth But of this I shall speak in the next Chapter more fully under a distinct Head Briefly the Spirit of Grace that sanctifies is the Spirit of Adoption that seals our Right to that Kingdom Now the reasons why this Change must be in order to our obtaining of Heaven are these 1. There is an exquisite Wisdom shines in all God's works in disposing them for the ends to which they are appointed and is it not monstrously absurd to imagin he will admit into his Presence and Kingdom those that are absolutely unqualified for its Blessedness and opposite to its Purity 2. His invariable Justice excludes for ever all unholy Persons from Heaven For in the last Judgment God will be glorified as a Governour in the distribution of Rewards with respect to the Obedience and Disobedience of Men. 'T is worthy of observation that the Actions of God on the reasonable Creatures are of two sorts Some proceed from his soveraign good Pleasure of which there is no motive or reason in the Subjects on which they are terminated Thus by a free and insuperable Decree when all Mankind
tormentum sentit resupinata testudo inquieta est tamen desiderio naturalis status nec aut ea desinit niti quatere se quam in pedes constitit Ergo omnibus constitutionis suae sensus est Athen. Media de fonte teporum surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat Lucret. * Nec unquam placidam sceptra quietem certumve sui tenuere Diem S. n. †Forma bonum fragile est quantumque accedit ad annos Fit minor spatio carpitur illa suo Ovid. ‖ Vid. Plat Symp. Phoed. Rev. 21. 4. 1 Cor. 15. Phil. 3. 1. 1 Cor. 13. * Vt cum istud quicquid est de quo disputatis percepero mortar Val. Max. ‖ Aristot †Sic itaque habebit donum aliud aelio minus ut hic quoque donum habeat ne velit amplius Aug. * Et totum se dedit universis et totum singulis Ac per hoc quicquid passione sua Salvator praestitit sicut totum ei debent universi sic singuli nisiquod propè hoc plus singuli quà m universi quod totum acceperunt singuli quantum universi Salvian †Si audiaet multitudo silens non inter se particulatim comminuunt sonos tanquam cibos sed omne quod sonat omnibus totum est singulis totum August in Epist. ad Volusan * O si animum boni viri liceret inspicere ex magnifico placidoque fulgentem nonne veluti numinis occurs◠obstupefacti essemus Senec. Non errâti Mater nam hic Alexander est Curt. lib. 3. Job 29. 2 3 4. * Vitae nos taedium tenet timor mortis natat omne consilium nec implere nos ulla faelicitas potest Causae autem est quod non pervenimus ad illud bonum immensum insuperabile ubi necesse est consistat nobis voluntas nostra quia ultra summum non est locus Senec. epist. 74. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Eth. l. 7. c. ult Heb. 10. 19 20. Rom. 9. 16. James 2. Heb. 9. 2 Cor. John 3. 3. Rom. 8. 17. Gal. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 17. Rom. 2. 16. Acts 26. 18. Heb. 1◠14. Joh. 3. 16. Phil. 2. 8 9. Joh. 17. 2. Joh. 6. 1 Cor. 15. 22. 1 Joh. 5. 12. Joh. 1. 12. Ephes. 3. 17. 1 Cor. 1. Acts 5. 31. Rom. 8. Psal. 106. 14. Frui est amore alicujus rei inhaerere propter seipsam uti autem quod in usum venerit ad id quod amas obtinendum referre Aug. de Doct. Christ. * Acosta Tim. 6. 18 19. Psal. 115. 8. Phil. 3. 13 14. Athen. l. 20. c. 9. Tam modico ore tam immensa aequorum vastitas panditur Plin. †Nos corpus tam putre sortiti nihilo minus aeterna proponimus in quantum potest aetas humana protendi tantum occupamus nulla contenti pecunia nulla potentia Quid hac re fieri impudentius quid stultius potest Nihil satis est morituris nihil morientibus Sen. Epist. 120. ‖ Nemo ergo sibi promittat quod Evangelium non promittit Aug. Jer. 13. 16. Psal. 78. 34 36. Prov. 1. Malè cum his agitur quibus necessitas belli incumbit morbi Veget. * Quod alicui gratiosè conceditur trahi non debet ab aliis in exemplum Plut. Symp. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. Vix dici potest quantos haec inanis spei umbra deceperit Aug. ‖ Tu qui Deos putas humana negligere nonne animadvertisti ex tot tabulis pictis quam multi vim tempestatis effugerint in portumque salutis pervenerint Tull. ‖ Miserrimum morbi genus in que aeger siti aquae metu cruciatur quorum spes in angusto est Cels. Rev. 2. 1 Cor. 13. * Natator amnem interpositum superaturus exuitur nec tamen hoc tanto apparatu quod se dispoliaverit transnatabit nisi totius Corporis nisu torrentis impetum scindat laborem natationis exhauriat Paulin. Rom. 2. Mat. 10. 22 Juven Eze. 18. 24 Heb. 10. 38 1 Cor. 5. 11. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. * Homil. 6. de laud. Paul †Quae justior venia in omnibus causis quam voluntarius an quam invitus peccator implorat Negationem quanta compellunt ingenia carnificum genera poenarum Quis magis negavit qui Christum vexatus an qui delectatus amisit Qui quum amitteret doluit an qui quum amitteret lusit Tert. de pudicit Denique saepe cognovimus quoniam quem formidolosa carnificum pompa non terruit nec divisi lateris sulcus infregit nec ardentes laminae à triumphalis fortitudinis vigore abducere potuerunt eum inter sacra praemia constitutum Vxor tenerae prolis oblatione miserabilis unius lachrymae miseratione decepit ‖ Flagitio insigni semper alicujus foeminae amore flagrans ob id Deas pingens sub dilectarum imagine Itaque scorta ejus venerabantur Plin * Bion. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aelian l. 13. c. 32. †Nunquam de vita judicatur semper creditur sanabimur si modò separemur à coetu Sen. de vit Beat. Heb. 11. ◠Nec vereamu occidi quos constat quando occidim◠coronari Cyp. 1 Sam. 14. 24 25 26. Isa. 1. 2 3. * Primum ego scriptoris officium existimo ut titulum suum legat atque identidem interroget se quid caeperit scribere †Cum natalis dies Februarii admonuisset aetatis numerandae tricesimo reperissem invasit me subita moestitia perculsit admirantem quomodo sine sensu vitae ad ejus culmen pervenissem à quo lux quaelibet fit obscurior dies nostri ad occasum inclinare incipiunt Visa est mihi rerum facies momento mutata tunc primum me hominem agnovi Memoires Chanut 2 Pet. 3. 9. Quam suave carere suavitatibus istis Si frigido loquar nescit quod loquor Aug. Identidem dictitans qualis artifex pereo Suet. Nisi timore incipiat homo Deum colere non perveniet ad amorem Aug. Psal. 90. 11. Rom. 9. 22. 2 Thess. 1. Indeed it is difficult to conceive how a material Fire can act on a spiritual Substance But 't is unreasonable to determine that it is impossible For if we consider what pain is it is as conceiveable how pure Spirits are capable of it as Spirits in Conjunction with Bodies The human Soul in its Nature is Spiritual as the Angels yet has a painful sence of Fire or other afflicting Evils incumbent on the Sences The Body meerly feels not pain but it passes through the Body to the Soul If the Soul by a strong diversion of Thoughts apply it self to an Object the Body is insensible of pain as is evident in some Diseases and that in the heat of Battel deep Wounds are not felt And as God by a natural Constitution has ordered that the Body so touch'd and moved excites a painful Sense in the Soul he may have ordained that the Devils shall feel the impressions of Material Fire in the places to which they shall be confin'd Job 6. 4. Dan. 12. 2. Tacitâ sudant praecordia culpa Juv. Jer. 14. 12. Jussisti Domine sic est ut poena sit sibi omnis inordinatus affectus Aug. Rev. 16. 10 11. Psal. 77. 7.