or more moderate Schoolmen as Bonaventure in this point and others upon the 4. of the Sentences make not Baptisme of so absolute necessity as if none could be saved without it But whereas they make a threefold Baptisme Baptismus fluminis Baptismus flaminis Baptismus sanguinis a Baptisme with Water a Baptisme with the Spirit and a Baptisme with blood a Baptisme with Water as here in the Text a Baptisme with the Spirit Luke last 49. Act. 2.4 they were all filled with the Holy Ghost a Baptisme with blood Luke 12.50 I must be baptized with a Baptisme and how am I streitghtned untill it be ended Now they say that baptisme of blood may suffice where a man is crowned with Martyrdom ex motu charitatis and cannot have the other 2. With the Baptisme of the Spirit Luke 23.43 The good Theife that was a Christian that dyed so was not baptized with Water but with the Spirit by which he beleeved that Christ was able to save him 3. Voto When a man hath an earnest and hearty desire to it and yet is prevented by death Thus Valentinian the Emperour sending for St. Ambros to baptize him yet dyed before he taught him being but in the way Ambros was not afraid to say that he was baptized voto and was in caelo in Heaven to the same effect St. August lib. 4. contra Donatestas cap. 22.23 and its worth our observation Mat. 16.16 in this point He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved Some might object what needs a man baptizing if he beleeve The Scripture tells us he needs and you have heard of many that beleeved before yet must be baptized then it follows but he that beleeveth not shall be damned It s not said he that beleeveth not and is not baptized So then where the Text saith except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit we must not understand it absolutely but in some respect that is when God offers it and we may have it if no then he cannot enter For as St. Bernard hath it Epist 77. it s not omnis deprivatio baptismi but contemptus or palpabilis neglectus not every deprivation of baptisme but contempt or palpable neglect when God gives time enough and we will not take it the death of such a man without it is fearfull 2. Consider to whom Christ speaks in this Text to Nicodemus a man of ripe yeers The immediate subject of Baptisme Except such a one be born of Water and the Spirit in such a case as you have heard he cannot enter for Baptisme is alwayes necessary necessitate praecepti in regard that God hath commanded it though not alwayes absolutely necessary necessitate medii thus much for ripe yeers especially and de ecclesia constituenda Now de ecclesia constituta of a Church constituted wherein all that are of ripe yeers are actuall Christians in such a Church Infants themselves are the immediate subject of Baptisme though I know that in the primitive Times or in the Times of the ancient Fathers many men that professed Christ would not be baptized till neere their death because they thought that by Baptisme all their sins were washed away which they had committed before it and if they had been baptized sooner they were afraid to have sinned again not well considering the vertues of it afterward this they did de facto but it was not commendable in them nor should be imitable by us though their intent was honest Now of Infants that dye without Baptisme what shall we say of them shall we account them all for damned that dye without Baptisme with Water as rigid Papists do or bury them on the North side of the Church where no Sun can shine on them to signifie that no Light of Heaven nor Sun-shine of Gods countenance belongs unto them Surely no it s an harsh an uncharitable opinion for Gods eternall election cannot be over-turned for want of the outward element where it cannot be had God having deprived them of it in taking them away by death It s true St. August was of this opinion Ep. 28. ad Hieron and 106. contra Pelagianos And lib. 1. de anima cap. 9. disputing against Vincentius Victor urgeth this Text To which I answer 1. That St. August was driven upon this rock of extremity by the Pelagians importunity who denying that Infants were born in originall sinne he had no better Arguments than Baptisme for one to shew the contrary for if not uncleane then they stood in no need of washing 2. I answer That St. August did as vvell arre in the other Sacrament of the Lords Supper lib. 1. de peccatorum meritis cap. 20. that it was necessary also to salvation for Infants to receive being mistaken from John 6. v. 53. See Maldonate in 6. Johannis how long this errour remained in the Church yet since the Councell of Trent hath condemned it and the practice of the Christian World is to the contrary But Rom. 11.16 If the Roote be holy so are the Branches If the Parents be holy we are to thinke the best in charity of their Children till they come to yeers of discretion and declare the contrary Gen. 17.7 God established a Covenant with Abrahams Seed as well as Abrahams selfe 1 Cor. 7.14 If either of the Parents be sanctified the Children are said to be holy 2. We know that the Infants under the Lavv vvere not to bee circumcised before 8. days old novv vvho knovves not that many of them dyed before that time and yet vve read not that they might be circumcised before it Now if all had been damned that wanted circumcision then had God beene unmercifull to his Creature to prevent this but this we know he is not the like we may conceive of Infants dying before they were baptized by water Mat. 2.16 Herod slew the Males in Bethlem and in the Coasts thereof of two yeeres old and under now its probable that many of those were so young that they were uncircumcised yet the Papists acknowledge they dyed Martyrs in Christs cause and were saved 3 Josh 5.5 By the space of 40. yeeres in the wildernesse they were not circumcised because Moser still waited for removeall and so they being sore were not so fit for it Now if all those that dyed there had been damned Moses and Aaron had been guilty of an horrible sin 4. And lastly wee know that in the Primitive Times they baptized but twice a yeer at Easter and Whitsuntide which they would not have done if the Popish Divinity had been true but this is no warrant forus to deferre baptisme when it may be had but we are to use the means seasonably which God hath prescribed so Cyp. ad fidum to take care for new born Infants Ep 3. The Element must be Water none else not Milke nor Wine nor Sand nor the like St. Aug tells us of Seleucus and Hermias two Heretiques that baptized with an hot Iron
by the outward sign he represents unto us and what have beene said of this of Faith in elect Infants you have heard and how in time it fructifies Dr. Fately in his Childrens Baptisme in page 59. saith the effects of the Spirit are begun at our Baptism c. p. 60. they have purg'd away the guilt of their sins and Christs righteousnesse is imputed to them Yet onely give me leave to relate what St. August saith of this Ep. 23. ad Bonif. seme perceptam parvulis Christi gratiam non amittit nisi propria impietate si aetatis accessu tam malus evaserit c. this grace of Christ once received the child looseth not except by his own vilenesse when he comes to yeers and then his actuall sins are not removed by his baptismall regeneration sed alia curatione sanentur they must be healed by actuall repentance and yet as Mr. Prinne Obs this will not follow that therefore a converted child of God may fall either totally or finally from actuall grace Our own Church Art 25. printed 1562. they are called effectuall signes of grace Now if God doe not effect grace in some sort by them they are not effectuall In our Forme of Baptisme in the Church of England we have been taught thus to pray That the child may be baptized with water and with the Holy Ghost be received into Christs Church and made a lively member of the same and that comming to baptisme it may receive remission of its sins by spirituall regeneration and give thy Holy Spirit to this Infant that it may be born againe And after Baptisme seeing now that this Child is regenerate c. and I do not quote this as any authority of its selfe any further then made good by Orthodox Divines Ames Tom. 3. lib. 2. cap. 3.75 page though all Infants receive not grace in Baptisme neither say we so Deum tamen quibusdam cum baptizantur habitum vel Principium gratiae in fundere non negamus Davenant in Col. 2.12 Spiritum gratiae inbaptismo acceptum Dr. Featley Part. 2. inward grace ordinarily accompanieth the outward signe Except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit Our Saviour you see begins at Baptisme with Nicodemus and the Spirituall Birth when he would have him a Christian And as in the Scriptures we reade of a twofold Circumcision so there is a twofold Baptisme a twofold Circumsiod Rom. 2. two last For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumsion which is outward in the flesh that is it is not that Circumcision alone that makes a man acceptable to God without the other whereof that was a symbole but he is a Jew which is one within and the Circumcision of the heart in the Spirit not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God So hee is not an acceptable Christian to God that is onely baptized outwardly with Water but he that is one inwardly baptized also with the Spirit therefore our Saviour puts them both together Except a man bee born again of Water and the Spirit 2 Kings 4.31 When the Shunamites Child was dead the Prophet sent Gehezie with his staffe to lay upon the face of the child and to quicken it but no life nor motion did appeare by that then vers 35. the Prophet himselfe comes and hee layes his mouth to the Childs mouth c. and then presently it begins to revive and life was restored unto it Thus we may lay Water alone upon the Body but it can introduce no Spirituall life but when the presence of Gods sanctifying Spirit â—omes together with it then life is infused into the soule And secondly as a man can perceive nothing of the things of this life except he be first born into the world naturally no more can he perceive any thing of the sweetnesse of the life to come except hee bee first borne againe spiritually Thirdly even as the Children of Israel when they came out of Egypt were first to goe through the Red Sea 2. Through the solitary wildernesse 3. To be fed with Manna 4. To passe through Jordan and then 5. and lastly into the Land of Promise even so are we first to passe through the water of Baptisme 2. Through the Wildernesse of Temptation 3. God therein affords the Manna of consolation 4. After both Death and 5. and lastly then that aeternall Canaan or rest of glory Fourthly our Saviour saith not except this man or that man be borne againe but speakes indefinitely except a man be born againe that is as much as except every man be born again that may for the Logitians tells us as you have heard that in materia necessaria propositioni definita est instar vniversalis though in contingenti but particularis In a matter necessary an indefinite proposition is as an universall so that it s not left to every mans judgement as a thing indifferent whether he will be baptized or no but he must if he may if he mean to enter Heaven Fifthly we may observe that this is spoken to a Jew a man that had been circumcised before Amen Amen dico tibi to ye yet to circumsion he addes Baptisme putting an end as it were to the one and beginning the other therefore the Jewes do wrangle in vaine contending for Circumsion to bee for ever and never altered because it s said Gen. 17.7 That God made an everlasting Covenant with Abraham and his Seed and Abraham believed before he was circumcised and afterwards received the signe of Circumsion which is also called a Seale of the Righteousnesse of Faith and to Ahraham it was given as a signe that hee believed the divine promise of the Seed to come Gal. 3.16 He saith not as to the Seeds as speaking of many but to thy Seed as to one which is Christ in whom all the Nations of the Earth were to be blessed Circumcision then was an open signe of the confession of this Seed to come now the Seed being come if any man should retain circumsion as still necessary he should as much as signifie he were not come Gal. 5.2 Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing So that to the Jewes objection out of Gen. I answer thus faedus Dei cum populo sempiternum but signumillud particul are non esset aeternum although the Covenant of God with his people was to be aeternall yea their particular signe of circumcision was not to be so for though the covenant held yet the sign of the covenant was alterable for circumcision was not pactum but signum pacti circumcision was not the covenant its selfe but the signe of the covenant It s observeable in sacred Writ quod Deus ter faedus suum cum homine renovavit renewed his covenant three times with man and the sign was every time preximius perfectius the nearer to him and the more perfect First he made a
a wonder to hear what hours ambitious men take up in wearying of mens ears with relating from how many great personages they are descended to how many such like they are of kindred to how many allyed c. what famous acts these and these have done it may be so their times afforded them honour for it and their posterity others esteeme for their sake but in the meane time what have themselves done Their Ancestors I feare dyed without Executors of any of their Heroick Acts the most that any of them have done is to talk of them in a Tavern to swear big at an Ordinary to fight with sheild of Brawne to flash shoulders of Mutton and use the case shot of Olives and Capers to march under the colours of Sacke and Claret and to give fire upon their friends in a Tobacco pipe egregias sane laudes spolia amplarefertis Surely noble atchievements and high estimates to men of such Memorials let them know that God requires another kind of noblenesse another kind of action to bring them to Heaven not the first birth will do this but being born again Nisi quis natus fueritdenua except a man be born again I come now to the manner of it it must be of Water and the Spirit except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit Learned Interpreters are somewhat troubled about these words especially about the word Water all agree in this that we must be born again onely de modo de medio or de necessitate medij is the question about the manner of our being born again or the medium of it or the necessity of the medium Some understand the word Water figuratively for the grace of Gods Spirit and it cannot be denyed but that in Scripture it may sometimes so signifie as Iohn 4.10 He would have given the water of Life and John 7.38 Rivers of water of Life Yea but the word Life is added to it which more explicates it as it is not in this place Well but John 4.14 it 's not added there Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst againe Yea but this is added the water that I shall give him and that is spirituall water Esa 44.3 is most like to favour this exposition I will power water upon the thirsty there is no addition to Water and floods upon the dry ground in that place no doubt but Water may be taken for the spirituall Water of Gods grace And some would illustrate this Exposition of the Text by Mat. 3.11 He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire whereby Fire is meant the zealous and fervent grace of Gods Spirit and is exegeticall or expositorie of the former word Yea but against this illustration it is excepted that when a word is exegeticall it must follow the word it expounds not go before it as it doth here not Water and the Holy Ghost but the Holy Ghost and Water 2. That it ought to be more plaine then that it expounds and not more dark as here I answer some reason and truth must be admitted in this exception I conceive that it holds cata polu but not cata panto's it holds true very often but not alwayes without any exception and in all places for sometimes one and the same thing one and the same truth may bee expressed in divers manner of speaking metaphoricall and literall and yet the sense aequipollente and all one and sometimes the latter more dark than the former Thus Lamen 3.19 Remembring mine affliction and my mourning the Wormwood and the Gall. Here the manner of speaking is divers the one sentence literall the other metaphoricall literall my affliction and my mourning metaphoricall the wormewood and the gall yet the sense aequipollent they come to one and the same sense yet the latter is more obscure then the former 2. Take the place of Esaiah before quoted Es 44.3 I le powre water upon the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground then it follows I le powre my Spirit upon thy Seed and my blessing upon thy Buds Here againe the manner of speaking is divers metaphoricall and literall in the words Spirit and Blessing yet the sense is aequipollent one and the same thing is meant by both so they think that the like may in this Text Water and the Spirit though the former be taken metaphorically the latter literally yet the sense aequipollent of the Spirituall graces of God and the Spirit present in those graces This I have said to shew the reasonablenesse of the Exposition of the Text in this sense and I know that divers modern Divines so take it But now for the second opinion to understand the Water literally and so of the Water of Baptisme I conceive a difference betweene this speech Water the Spirit and this Water and the Spirit the former may note out one and the same thing the latter two distinct things In the former instance where the words are expositorie or meant of one and the same thing they are spoken without any conjunction between them The words run not thus The affliction and the mourning And the wormwood and the gall but thus the affliction and the mourning the wormwood and the gall without any And between them and the like we may observe in the latter Esa 44.3 Rivers and floods my Spirit and my Blessing Not thus Rivers and Floods And my Spirit and my Blessing for that might have argued them to have been two distinct things For further explication or illustration thus Socrates Philosophus And Socrates Philosophus may admit of divers meanings For Socrates Philosophus by apposition may be meant of one and the same man being a Philosopher But Socrates Philosophus Socrates a Philosopher may be meant of him and of some man else that were a Philosopher So Water the Spirit may be meant of one and the same thing but Water And the Spirit may be meant of different things And so Christ speakes here except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit of Water as the outward element or medium of the Spirit or of the operatings and inward graces of God And this sense the most of the Ancients give of it and take the word Water literally here for the Water in Baptisme And indeed this sense will agree with the like expresses of the Spirit of God in Scriptures Act. 8.36 Here is the water saith the Eunuch what doth let me to be baptized v. 37. more then water is required of those that are of ripe yeers and that is actuall Faith If thou beleevest with all thine heart thou mayest the Eunuch answered Philip I beleeve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God upon this he was baptized And Ephes 5.26 That he might sanctifie and cleanse by the washing of Water through the Word through his powerfull promise made in the Word to do so This was required in Nicodemus as well as the
to send out the prayer of Faith for it And page 643. to such as dye Infants giving that Spirit which works either Faith or some thing proportionable for their justification regeneration sanctification and salvation In the latter which survive and live to discretion vvorking the seeds and inclination of Faith which in due time shall fructifie to Eternal Life See Polan lib. 6. cap. 55. quo promissa est gratia invisibilis exhibetur Wallebius in compendio Theol. lib. 1. cap. 23. Fidem non secus ac rationem habent acsi non in fructu tamen insemine radice c. They have Faith as they have Reason though not in the act and exercise of it yet in the Root of Seed or it they have virtuall petentiall and inclinative Faith and they have it in Actu primo saith Walleb seeing they have spiritum fidei the Spirit of Faith though not in actusecundo Prosp de vocatione gent. lib. 1. cap. 18. Originem verae justitiae in regenerationis Sacramento positam esse ut vbi homo tenascitur ibi etiam ipsarum virtutum veritas Oriatur Yea some moderne Divines have afforded them the habit of Faith Polan synagmat lib. 9. cap. 6. though others cannot see how that should be of which never after any shew without new instruction Estius in lib. 4. Sent d. 4. sect 6. calls it habitum sopitum or qualitatem quiescentem which saith he constituat vere credentes sperantes diligentes c. although it cannot actuate except the impediment of the age be removed and externall doctrine or instruction accede by the outward senses I say thus that if by an habit bee meant an inchoat habit infused it may be true but not of a perfect habit for then the former exception may take place but an inchoate habit and a disposition to a perfect one are all one for Disposition and Habit thus differ not specie but gradu as tempor fervor and thus in effect It s no more then what we heard before the School-men that follow Aquin. part 3. qu. 69. art 6. in corpore say thus for their perfect habit the impotentia operandinon accidit pueris ex defectu habituum sed ex impedimento corporali even as men that are sleeping they have the habits of vertue though whilst such they cannot exercise them Taylor on Titus page 939. in his doctrine in Calce God in baptisme not onelyoffers and signifies but truly exhibiteth grace c. and that vertuall and inclinative beliefe in them is acceptable to God in Christ as actuall in aedu tis it savours therefore too strongly of an Anabapticsticall conceipt to think that Infants are not capable of inward graces of baptisme unlesse they had actuall Faith St. August To 3. in enchirid ad laurent cap. 54. Baptism itis munere quod contra origin ale peccatum donatum est ut quod generatione attractum est regeneratione detrahatur and a little after unde incipit hominis renovatio here mans renovation begins And Tom. 7. lib. 1. de peccatorum meritis cap. 9. speaking of the Pelagians denying originall sinne Hinc enim etiam in paroulis nolunt credere per Baptismun solvi originale peccatum they will not beleove that Originall sinne is is taken away in children by baptisme lib. 2. cap. 28. Although Law of concupiscence remain in our members manente ipsa reatus ejus solvitus though it abide yet the guilt of it is taken away and then it followes sed eisolvitur qui Saccamentum regenerationâ—s accaepit renov â—â—ique jam caepit its taken away in such as have received the Sacrament of regeneration and now have begun to be renewed lib. 6. contra Julianum ergo quia parvuli baptizantur in Christo peccato moriuntur a potestate tenebrarum ubi natura filii ira fucrant erunutur Children are baptized in to the death of Christ and dye to sinne and although by nature they were the children of wrath yet are they hereby plucked out of the power of darknesse lib. 1. contra 2. Ep. Pelag. cap. 13. ipsa carniâ— concupiscentiain baptisme sic dimittitur ut quanquam tract a sit a nascentibus nihil noceat renascentibus concupiscence in baptisme is so taken away that though it be contracted to posterity yet it hurts not the party regenerate lib. de nuptiiâ— cap. 23. haec in qu am concupiscentia quae sola Sacramento regenerationis expiatur c. Martyr loc com clas 4. cap. 8. sect 2. cham lib. 5. de Sacr. cap. 4. par 6. Cal. Institutionum lib. 4. cap. 14. sect 17. Gerar. voss Thes Theol. de paedo baptismo pant 1. Thes 15. Musclai com q. 1. sect 8. Junius de paedo bapt thes 10. August Tom. 3. lib. 14. de Tul. cap. 17. This concupiscence which by the onely Sacrament of Baptisme is expiated or purged namely front the guilt and by the Sacrament as you have heard is then meant the thing signified as well as the signe Nazianzen in laudem Gorgonii calls it divinae bonum the good of divine beginnings Athanasius in his book of Questions dedicated to Antiochus qu. 2. propounds this when a man may know that he hath beene baptized and received the Spirit in Baptisme being but an Infant when he was baptized Answ osper oun en gastri labousa gune even as a woman may know that she is conceived with child when there is life Even so a Christian by the springing of his heart in solemn dayes of Baptisme and the Lords Supper and by the inward joyes he then conceives oti to pneuma to agion elabe baptistheis that he received the Holy Ghost when he was Baptized-Chrysost Hom. 1. in Acta Oti to curiotaten to pneuma esti di hou cai to vdor energei in Baptisme the Spirit is the chiefe by which the water becomes effectuall not as any proper cause or any Phyficall Instrument as you have heard Basil de spiritu sancto cap. 10. answers to the question how Christians are saved dia tes en too Baptismati caritos by the grace he received in Baptisme St. Hierom. lib. 3. dialogorum contra Pelagianos asking in cavelling manner why Infants are Baptized answers vt ijs peccata in baptismate dimittantur that their sins might be remitted in Baptisme See further St. Aug. Ep. 23. ad Bonifacium and the godly and learned Mr. Prinne in his Perpetuity page 354. To which I adde learned Dr. Whittaker de Sacramentis ingenere qu. 4. cap. 2. respon ad testimonium septimum Deus in Baptismo signifieat remissionem peccatum sanae ita re operatur veritas cum signo conjuncta est in electis God both signifies remission of sins in Baptisme and indeed so works it in the Elect yet the truth of the signe is joyned with it this also Dr. Fran. White makes good against Fisher page 176. God doth not use to mock his people with empty signes but by his power inwardly makes good what
covenant with Noe of not drowning the world again by Water and his signe for this was his bow in the Clouds Gen. 9.12 13. This is the token of the Covenant which I make between me and you c. I have set my bow in the Clouds and it shall be a signe betweene me and the earth Secondly with Abraham and his Seed and promised Christ Gen. 17.10 And that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed as you have heard and then he instituted the signe of circumcision 3. And lastly he renews the covenant in Christ to all believers and of this covenant Baptisme was the more perfect than the former Sixthly observe that he joynes two things in the Sacrament together that are valde dissimili greatly dislike Water and the Spirit the former corporall the latter spirituall the former visible and the latter invisible and herein answers to the two essentiall parts of man his body and his soule where of the former is visible the latter invisible the Water visible the Spirit invisible the Water washeth the body the Spirit works upon the soule and minde John 3.8 the manner of our regeneration is compared to the blowing of the winde The winde bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but thou canst not tell whence it comes nor whither it goes so is every one that is borne of God Now in the winde two things are observeable 1. we feel it blowing but 2. we cannot see the wind that bloweth for though it be a body yet naturall Philosophy teacheth us that it is corpus tam tenue so subtle a body that we cannot see it even so it is here we feel the sweet working of the Spirit but we cannot see that spirit that worketh The Papists that hold the Sacraments Phyficall Instruments as you have heard they say that the body is no lesse sanctified by the Water than the soule by the Spirit and they instance thus quemadmodum aqua viribus ignis intensius calefacta non aliter quam ignis vrit c. Even as Water made very hot by the fire doth no lesse burn then the fireits selfe so the Water in baptisme by the operation of the Spirit of God adjoyned to it doth cleanse the body of him that is baptized as the Spirit its selfe but as some of the sounder Schoole Divines have well considered Water being but Creatura insensibilis an insensible creature it s not capable to be the subject of any inhaerent grace as one body or element is capable of the heating by another 2. You have heard that Spiritus is not alwayes necessario sihi adjunctus the Spirit is not alwayes and of necessity joyned to it 3. And lastly the corporall substance of water cannot immediately touch or work upon the soule But even as the meat is first digested inwardly in the stomack and then by secret passage the spirit and vigour of it is conveyed to the outward parts of the body even so grace first infused into the heart and mind of a man spread it selfe into all the faculties of the soule and then into all the parts of the body so that the whole man is infected So grace when God doth infuse it spreads it selfe as farre thus in this sense in regard of parts where sin hath abounded there grace also may abound And in what sense God may be said to have sanctified us by the water of baptisme you have heard heretofore But you will say what need Christ water in baptisme as any outward signe to sanctifie us by cannot he sanctifie us by his Spirit without this I answer what needed our Saviour clay or spittle or washing in Siloam to have opened the blinde mans eyes could he not have done it onely by a word and it should have served Or why did God create man of the dust of the earth could hee not have created him of nothing I answer yes but he was not pleased so to doe but would use meanes to teach us not to despise the use of meanes but to waite upon God in the use of them when he appoints them Rom. 9.20 O man who art thou that disputeth with God shall thou teach him how he shall work his work or by what meanes Gen. 1. the latter part of the second ver it s said That the Spirit of God moved upon the Waters even so doth it upon these waters to sanctifie us by them as by an outward signe giving us by that which we see that which we see not in what sense you have heard before This water in Baptisme is thought to have been typified per aquam expiationis by the sprinkling water mentioned Numb 19.9 But ver 2. this water must have the ashes of a red Cow mingled that which was without blemish to note out that this water must have the red blood of Christ without sinne to goe with it As also by the Waters issuing out of the Sanctuary as some will have it Ezek. 47. from v. 1. forward c. as also by the Waters of the flood Gen. 7.7 and this is plain by St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.21 Seventhly he saith not nisi quis baptizatus fuerit sednisi quis natus fuerit ne quis de solo externo baptismo gloriaretur he saith not except a man be baptized but except a man be borne againe least any man should glory onely of his outward baptisme for outward baptisme with water you have heard will not serve without inward baptisme with the spirit by which the old man is put off and the new man put on or otherwise as many come through the red Sea that afterwards perished in the Wildernesse and never saw the Land of Promise so many may passe though the Water of Baptisme that afterwards perish in aeternall misery and never see the spirituall Canaan no more then they did the temporall Eightly As in naturall generation there is a concurrence of father and mother even so in this spirituall generation the Church as the mother she affords water and God as our Father he gives his Spirit and so a man comes to be born a child of Light 9. And lastly seeing that a man can but be once borne naturally no more can he spiritually as you have heard therefore Donatus of old and the Anabaptists of these latter times have been much to blame to baptize men over again seeing that their former baptisme was by lawfull Ministers and according to Christs prescription both for matter and forme Donatus upon conceipt that the Ministers were faulty in their lives that baptized them as though the efficacy of the Sacrament did depend upon the bounty of the Instrument and not upon GOD. Many that have been baptized by faulty Ministers prove good men and on the contrary many that have beene baptized by good Ministers prove bad men But before I passe this point I cannot but give you one collection from some of the Papists out of this Text. You know they
as the immediate subject of it as you have heard and then all others that are theirs by vertue of them 4 The word in the origin all is matheteusate to coyn a word Discipulate make Disciple now they might make Disciples Baptismi administatione as well as verbi praedicatione by admitting them into the visible Church by baptisme as well as by preaching unto them 5 Illustrate it thus Suppose a mighty Prince should send a Message into the West Indies into all the parts therof and make it known unto them that he would be their King and labour for their well-fare maintain and defend them against all their enemies and graciously accept of them for his subjects Do you thinke that the people then of ripe yeeres that were capable of the Message and to whom it was immediatly sent would conceive themselves concern'd in that Message and Covenant and none else Surely no but though they were the immediate subjects to receive it first yet they would conceive that it should also extend as well unto their children by vertue of them even so conceive it here 6 The Jewish children were to be circumcised at 8. dayes old and our Baptisme succeeds their Circumcision Col. 2.11 12. and why then not the like subject in the one as in th' other I know the common exception because they say there is an expresse command for the one and not for the other I answer that there is command in generall for the one from which the particular may soundly be deduced as well as for the other 2. No good reason can be rendred why the Seal of the Govenant should not as soon be applyed to the children of Christians as to the children of the Jewes they are under no lesse priviledge than they 3. There is no hinderance in the subject of Christian children but want of understanding and that also was equally wanting to the children of the Jewes and if that be the reason it might as well have hindred them But this I conceive it may be said of them as Christ did of Peter about the washing of his feet John 13.7 What I doe thou knowest not now but thou shalt know it hereafter So though what Christ doth to Infants they know not then yet they shall know it afterwards for though the act of Baptisme be transient yet the vertue is permanent 4. The Kingdome of Heaven is theirs and to such it belongs and why then not Baptisme as the way thither 7. And lastly We find in Scripture Infants baptized as thus 1 Cor. 10.1 2. All our Fathers were under the Cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all baptized unto Moses saith Paul in the cloud and in the Sea Now many hundreds of those that Paul calls Fathers were then Infants and children yet all then baptized But it may perhaps be replyed that this Baptisme was extraordinary never was the like before nor shall be the like after For answer I say it may be so granted in a two-fold respect 1. In regard of the Minister which was Moses 2. In regard of the manner as in comming through the Sea which was the outward Visible Sign Their comming out of Egypt might signifie comming out of the Kingdome of Darknesse the drowning of Pharoah and his Host in the Red Sea the drowning of all our sins in the Red Sea of Christs blood to which Micah may allude Micab 7.19 When he saith that God will cast all our sinnes into the bottome of the Sea Yet in other two things it agrees with ours in Water as in the outward wisiblesigue And in the end which was for the remission of sins August tract 26. in Joh Sacramenta illa fuerunt in signis diversa in rebus quae significabantur paeria Wee are brought visibly within the compasse of that when we are admitted members by baptisme except a man he born again of Water and the Spirit Of Water not that Water I say contains grace Physically and conveyes it to the Soul Physically but Morally not inhaerenter but concomitanter not that grace is inhaerent in the Water and there conveyed to the soule but God waits upon the the outward meanes with his grace to bestow it as hee will Not ex necessitate but ex libera voluntate not of any such necessity that whosoever receives baptisme by Water must needes also receive the Holy Ghost but of Gods free favour and will to give the Holy Ghost with the water or after it where he thinks good 2 King 5.14 The Water in which Naaman washed was not able to have healed him of his Leprosie by any inherent vertue in it selfe so the Waters of Abana and Pharpher Waters of Damascus might be as good as it But when God had appointed it by the Prophet as a means God was pleased so to wait upon it with his sanative powre that so concomitantly he was healed by the use of this appointed Element God could have healed Naaman without washing in Jordan onely by a word of the mouth of the Prophet but he would not he would appoint a visible means and must look upon that and wait upon God in his way that way he will blesse so he could regenerate us and we might be born again without water onely by the Holy Ghost yet you see God is pleased to appoint the visible signe and will have us therefore wait upon it as a morall Instrument to convey his grace by There are two extreams of this Doctrine one maintained by the rigid Papists the other of the Anabaptists and of later times some of the newly minted Separatists but before them Auxentius Arianus and his Sectaries as also the Pelagiâ—ms Petrobraisians but upon other grounds The rigid Papists attribute so much to the Water in Baptisme as Physically to conveigh grace as you have heard and makes it so necessary that none can be saved without it and St. Augustin himself was once deeply enough engaged in this way and by reason of this Text Of the Anabaptists and the other Sectaries which sleights it and think too meanly of it as if the Elect might bee borne againe of the Spirit without this either Infants or others Theodoret lib. 4. cap. 11. writes that the Messalians and the Enthusiasts attributed the means of Salvation onely to the inward work of the Spirit without any outward means but this is not to wait upon God in his way but to go to Heaven per saltum a nearer way than God hath taught us wherein they erre and are much to blame True it is Deus non alligatur mediis God is not tyed to meanes nor to outward Elements if wee respect his potentiam absolutam or absolute Power but if we respect potentiam ordinatam or that Power by which God ordained he would most ordinarily work then God usually works by meanes and wee must wait upon the means if we mean to have his grace Yet though the rigid Papists hold as you have heard the Saniâ—res Scholastici
sinne persona infecit naturam in the posterity naturain fecit personam And I answer it was not he comparative in regard of his regenerate part but it was he in the unregenerate part Rom. 7.15 I allow not that which I do v. 19. the evill which I would not that doe I For the whole man is principium quod both of good and bad actions but the principium quo of evill is corruption of good Gods grace Ob. 4. The guilt is inseparable from the sinne I answer its inseparabile quoad dignitatem paenae but its separable quoad ordinationem ad paenam and that will serve to keepe us from ever comming into the fire of Hell Obj. 5. What is properly sinne is taken away by the grace of Christ in baptisme but defect of originall justice not ergo Ans Non ut non sit sed ut non imputetur But I may not swell the bulk this shall briefly suffice for the former point that though the guilt of originall 〈◊〉 be taken away in the Elects yet remains it a sinne even in the regenerate invitis Pontificiis whether the Popish Divines will or no. To the second that their guilt is ordinarily taken away in elect Infants in baptisme for the explaining of which I must praemise the certaine proposition as thus I deny not but God may and doth give his Spirit to elect Infants sometimes before Baptisme for many such may dye before they attaine it 2. He may do it after for Baptisme is as well sigillum gratiae accipiendae when it is once had as acceptae 2. When I say in Baptisme I meane by it as the Fathers do Baptismum completum which includes three things signum significatum and analogiam the sigu is outward the signified inward the analogie mixed of both the resemblance stands us that even as Water washeth the body so doth Christs bloud the soule and this union is made by the Spirit Christ applying the one in and by the thother as by an outward Instrument and if any of these be wanting the baptisme is not compleat but onely there is an outward Sacrament of Baptisme not the grace of the Sacrament Ambros de iis qui initiantur Mysteriis lib. 4. tres sunt in Baptismate Aqua sanguis spiritus si unum borum detrahas non stat baptismatis in Saeramenâ—um that is in the sense you have heard therefore when I speak of baptisme to draw it onely to the Baptisme of Water is an insipid conceipt which no man either of learning or ordinary braines could in probability bee so voide of reason as to affirme being that I had said they were not Instrumenta Physica not no Creature not devoid of common reason and charity would have once offered for their own shame to have fastened upon a man So that I cannot meane onely the act of Baptisme or Institution without operation nor the materiale of the Sacrament or the formale of words 3. And lastly though all the Fathers that I have read speake of Baptisme in definitly yet I meane not of all in generall both Elect and Reprobate for the unregenerate and reprobate never have the guilt removed though they bee baptized but of Elect Infants to which I have said God is not so tyed to meanes as that he may not give it either before or after yet having been pleased to set up a standing Ordinance of Baptisme in the Chureh I say that ordinarily he takes away the guilt of their originall sinne in this or else it must bee an extraordinary thing to have the guilt of it taken away Bulling lib. 6. adversus Anabapt Infautes habeant rem signatam gratiam Dei remissionem peccatorum Now whereas I say the Fathers speak indefinitely we must know that an indefinite proposition in materia contingenti is but instar particularis as Doctus est pius this is contingent therefore not universall but animal est sensibile this is instar universalis because it is in materia necessaria Yet now and then a man may gather by what hath fallen from the Pens of the Ancients that their meaning is of the Elect when they speak of the efficacy of Baptisme Again when it is said in Baptisme it may either point at the tempus baptizandi or the virtutem baptismi the time of baptizing or the vertue power and efficacy of it and howsoever if we consider the outward Sacrament of the Elementary materials and the verball formale as no proxima propria or immediata causa gratiae fidei as not having grace physically in it or absolutam aliquam causalitatem ad dispositionem recipientis or any absolute eausalitie to dispose the receiver of it selfe as Bonavent in lib. 4. sent dist 1. qu 4. yet they do this as morall Instruments per quandam assistentiam divinam quae proprie est fidei acgratiae causa they doe efficere gratiam afford grace or work it So that in this sense we say with Amesius aque baptismum aliquo modo causam instrumentalem regenerationis esse non negamus in some sort we deny not saith he the baptisme of Water to be an instrumental cause of regeneration for it is an Instrument of the proper cause and of the effect of the cause which is the grace of the Spirit of God though you have heard not the proper Proxime and emmediate cause Yet I say by this morall Instrument as Scotus Durandus Henricus Bonavent Alexan. Ales and outward visible sign as the standing Ordinance of God in his Church he gives grace ordinarily to elect Infants or else it should be a prognostick of grace or a sigillum onely Dr. Featly in his Childrens Baptisme justified pag 41. speaking of its neglect saith thereby they deprive them of that ordinary remedy of that originall malady in which they are conceived and borne or cata polu but signum inane aut vacnum or concerning whom I cannot but note what I reade in that learned and worthy instrument of GOD in his Generation Mr. Taylor in his Sermons preached in the University in Cambridge and in the ears of men guifted to judge in point of Divinity and printed as a comment on Titus 1612. page 642. towards the end he thus writes distinguishing Infants into such as are elect and such as belong not the election of grace the latter receive outwardly the element and not inwardly washed The former namely elect Infants receive in the right use of the Sament the inward grace Not that hereby we tye the Majesty of God to any time or means whose Spirit blowes when and where it listeth on some before Baptisme as we have heard who are sanctified from the Wombe on some after but then marke what followes but because the Lord delights to present himselfe gratious in his own Ordinances we may conceive that in the right use of this Sacrament he Ordinarily accompanieth it with his Grace here according to his promise we may expect it and here we may and ought
about baptisme and for no other use imployed than baptisme this ought to breed no quarrell amongst intelligent Christians nor to denominate any man superstitious for the thus setting it apart and revising of it seeing that it s used in no other manner nor for any other end than the Apostles used water in their times for wee acknowledge no more inhaerent holinesse in this than in other Water as the Papists do and in this sense water in the Font is no worse than water in the Fountain nor to be accounted more superstitious being but thus used though the Fonts have been abused we know the Apostles and Apostolicall men baptized in common Water and such as was most obvious for that occasion devoy'd of any ceremonious consecration Mat. 3.6 John baptized in Jordan in the faire open River because he baptized many at one meeting and those of ripe yeers and Acts 8.38 Philip baptized the Eunuch in the Water by the high way side as they travelled and if we wanted other places as they did we might also doe the like Secondly where our Saviours mentions being borne again of Water and the Spirit but expresseth not in the Text who should apply it the second question may be who should administer baptisme I answer he that hath a lawfull calling to meddle in the Administration of the Church Sacraments and to touch the people and can shew the nature the end of them c Mat. last 19. those that went out to baptize went out also to teach such as were capable of it Yea that 's ordinarily but in case of necessity may not Lay-men baptize or Midwives c. the Papists say they may for whom thus much may be said in briefe First for private men to administer Sacraments the master of every family killed the Passeover in his owne private house Exod. 12. â— to 7. and distributed it to them why may not private men now as well minister Sacraments I answer that when the Passeover was first appointed then the Aaronicall Priesthood was not instituted but the eldest of every Family was a Priest if not uncapable and performed all Priestly duties unto God but after the Lord had chosen the Tribe of Levie and setled the Priest-hood in that then these things were done by them to whom it appertained and not by others 2. For Midwives it s usually urged that Zipporah circumcised the sonne of Moses Exod. 4.24 25. God met Moses in the Inne and would have killed him for neglecting the Circumcision of his Child Let negligent Parents take notice hence how Gods anger will bee also kindled against them if they neglect baptisme now the like to their children then Zipporah Moses his wife took a sharp knife and circumcised her son then Gods wrath ceased To which I answer 1. That one example makes no rule as one Swallow makes no Summer Judg 4.4 Deborah a woman judged Israel yet it will not honce follow for a rule that any woman may be Judge neither may we hence collect like that wise man in Norfolke who reading how Deborah judged Israel would needs hence collect that a woman might be a Justice of Peace there are divers particulars in Scripture out of which we cannot well draw generall Rules if we do we shall conclude many absurdities 2. I answer that this was an extraordinary example and therefore can no more make a rule for ordinary actions than Moses his baptizing in the cloud and in the Sea or his making of Aaron a Priest Moses and Aaron among his Priests c. this might not be drawn into a rule no more might Zipporahs Objection that neither doe they make this common rule but in case of necessity or in anticulomoâ—tis in danger of death To which I answer 1. That they make it more common many times then they need because they would be doing and be accounted some body 2. That there is no such absolute necessity as to compell them to abuse the Ordinance of God as if God had no other wayes â—o save by but by the powring on water by the hand of a woman they are no such grace-wives as to conferre grace thus 3. Moses was then sick when Zepparah circumcised the child and was not well able to do it yet what if Moses speak of this rather by way of indignation then any point of Religion or commendation of her 4. She did it not in any love or reverence to the Sacrament but for by respects she did not performe it in that reverend manner that Sacraments use to be performed but very unreverently and furiously both in deeds words and gestures In deeds she threw the fore skinne in an anger at his feet In words a bloudy husband hast thou been unto me grudging against God that instituted the Sacrament as well as Moses In gestures frowning and looking disdainfully upon him 5. And lastly though God was pleased when the Child was circumcised yet it followes not that therefore he was content with the manner of it or with the approving of the party that did it and the case I say was extraordinary Obj. 2. But howsoever they may apply the element and use the right form of words and better so than no baptisme at all I say that more is required to baptisme than water and the words and that is authority from God and a solemn calling from the Csturch to do it which they cannot have and necessity is no sufficient authority to Priest a woman though I know how some have cavelled amongst the reformed as I have known such as have been baptized by them afterwards brought to the Minister to be baptized of him and wee know that the opinion of absolute necessity put them upon the point But 1. Christ hath had a setled order of men since the beginning of the preaching of the Gospel to do this therefore no need of them 2 Mat. 28. 19. Teach and baptize this is a Sacrament of the Church and the Sex of a woman excludes her from Teaching and by consequence from administring Sacraments Joh 4.2 Jesus baptized not but his Disciples which some understend exclusively none but they did it yet no doubt but many Children were then in danger 2 Tim. 22. I permit not a woman to teach that is publiquely to instruct in the open Congrcgation 1 Cor. 14.34 Let your women keepe filence in the Church for it is not permitted them to speake their Sex deprives them of such Ministeriall functions Tertullian de velgandis virginibus it s not permitted a woman to speake in the Church much lesse to teach or to baptize or to offer neither to take to her selfe the execution of any mans office much lesse the Priests And Concil 4. Carth aginensi Epiphanius disputing against divers Heretiques and confuting Marcion complained that he also gave women leave to baptize he said the like of the Quintilian and Pepatian Heretiques and concerning the necessity of Baptisme by Water you have heard before that it s not
alwayes absolutely necessary respectu medii but necessary in some respect where God offers it and men may have it But this baptisme by the Spirit or regeneration by some means or other is absolute necessary none ever was or shall be saved without it 1 Cor. 6.9 Know yee not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God c. The reason is because no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Rev. 21. last and there shall enter into it no unclean thing Now we are all unclean by nature Ephes 2.3 and we by nature saith St. Paul were the children of wrath as well as others that is by our corrupt nature being born with Adams guilt upon us so that wee may all cry as the Lepers did under the Law I am unclean I am unclean Lev. 13.45 and as the Lord said to Jerusalem so may we say to you O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made cleane when shall it once be and you have heard how this cleansing must be by regeneration 1 Cor. 6.11 having spoken of grosse sins he addes And such were some of you but ye are washed ye are sanctified q.d. Without this washing this sanctifying this cleansing yee had been in the same estate with the unrighteous and so could not have inherited Heaven Well is this so that regeneration is absolutely necessary to salvation this then may first afford us an Use of exhortation for every one of us to use the means to be regenerate if we mean to be saved Be diligent in hearing Gods Word taught reade good bookes of practicall Divinity and of such men as have writ for thee that which they have found by experience in themselves frequent Prayer desire it from others to pray for thee that God would come and make himselfe knowne to thee God workes by means and not by any means but by such as are of his owne directing If wee use these means Gods blessing is ready to attend them and make them effectuall to as many as he will save Secondly If so then an Use of Reproofe to such as dream of salvation and say they hope for it as well as the best when in the mean time they labour not for regeneration but hates the meanes God hath ordained to save them by and cannot indure those that use them but revile them and slander them and persecute them because they affect not any such goodnesse themselves Or else 2. they use but the meanes in part and have not a care to share in all the Ordinances of God if they practice one they will not another if they heare they have no great mind to remember or practice accordingly or to joyn prayer to it that 's a wearinesse to the flesh before they durst not quando satis fuit criminis fuesse bonum when it was matter enough of accusation to have been good but now by Gods mercy they may but because its wearisome to the flesh though great comfort to the conscience they decline if Or 3. if more amply yet but of custome and superficially not as in conscience and as in obedience to Gods direction or in care to grow in grace o out of any experimentall sweetnesse they have found in the Ordinances 3. And lastly if so then an Use of Justification of such as have a care 〈◊〉 labour for regeneration and experience of Gods love in Christ so they must either do or be damned it s a matter of no lesse consequence then life and death Suppose a man had committed such a capitall Crime as for which he knew by the Law he was to be hanged or should suffer some shamefull kind of death oh how would it break his sleepe and how would he imploy all his friends how would he ride and run night and day to procure his freedome or pardon which his deeds had merited and all this but to free him from a temporall death Well and every unregenerate sinner in that estate is in as great danger of Hells eternall Torments for the sinne he hath done as this man is of his temporall death Oh! doth it not concern them thon to be disquieted in mind on the night seasan to procure the prayers of all their friends to fast pray cry and what not and say with those heart-pricked Jewes Act. 2.37 Men and Brethren what shall wo doe to be saved who would raile against such a man as he saw to he troubled or to run and ride to save himselfe from a temporall Death yet so shamelesse are many wicked men that they revile and raile against such men as they see thus troubled to escapean eternall death Fooles and blind how long will it be ere they understand the errour of their way how long would they be taught how should they see their errour and cry mightily unto God for the pardon of it Seeing then that regeneration is of absolute necessity to salvation let us lay downe some motives to inflame our affections to be in love with that estate First God himself is much affected with it if therefore we would sympathize with him let us be so too Great men what they affect their servants either affect the like or at leastwise make show of it to the end that sympathizing with their Lords they may obtaine more favour from them Well and God I say is in love with this estate 1 Thes 4.3 This is thr will of God even your sanctifieation and Rom. 6.12 he would not have sinne to raign in your mortall bodies The second motive may be the reward that men shall have when the work is over though this be painfull yet the reward is gainfull Rom. 8.13 If ye morrifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit ye shall live not as Nestor tertiam aetatem hominum as long as 3. men in this life present but eternall in the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Godlinesse is profitable to all things which hath both the promise of this life and of that which is to come The third that Christ may attaine his end in dying for them Titus 2.14 which was that he might redeeme us from all our iniquity and purge us to be a peculiar people to himselfe zealous of good workes performe them not coldly or outwardly but zealously and conscionably for as St. Augustin and Bernard haze spoken though they be not causa regnandi yet they are viâ—â—d regnum though they be not the cause of reigning yet they are the way hither and the Apostle tells us that we were created in Christ Jesus to good workes that wee should walk in them I now come to the last point in the Text the reason of the other for that which is born of the flesh is flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit First for the former branch quod natum est excarne caro est that wich is born of the flesh is flesh It s worth our observation that when our Saviour had told Nicodemus the necessity of
body by the Spirit we shall live thus againe Gal. 5.17 the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit lusteth against the Flesh these are contrary one to another that is the unregeneracie that is in man strives against the regeneracy that is in him and these are so contrary one to another even as fire and water that ye cannot do what ye would St. Paul found this by experience you have heard that hee perceived a Law in his members rebelling against the Law of his mind and when he would haved one good yet evill was present with him Rom. 7.21 and Rom. 7.18 I know that in me that is in my Flesh in me by nature in me in as much as such unregenerate there dwells no good thing In quantum renati for as much or in as much as we are regenerate so farre forth we both will and do that which is good but the defect in either is from the imperfection of regeneracie or that unregenerate part that is in us throughout the whole man in the understanding will and affections and in all parts of our bodies and that which is born of the flesh in this sense is flesh also for we must know that our children are ours naturali propagatione not spirituali regeneratione by naturall propagation not by spirituall regeneration wee beget them as we are naturall not as we are spirituall we can convey unto them all that Adam by guilt and generation conveighed unto us but what spirituall grace God conveighed unto Adam that was not in his power to convey unto us it was Gods free gift to his person not intayled upon his posterity and lineally to descend upon them as was his nature no more is grace then to any of us or to the most holy men in the world they can but convey what they have by nature grace is Gods free guift not any essentiall part of mans nature and that is the reason why many good men have oftentimes had bad children as Abraham had an Ismael Isaac an Esau David an Absolam c. because they were there by nature not by grace And before God bestowed grace upon their fathers they were wicked and walked and swayed by sinne as well as others and as they though it may be in a more remisse manner St. Aug. observes of the Jewes that though they were themselves circumcised yet they begot children uncircumcised because themselves were such by nature even as the corn which if you winnow it never so clean in fanning away the chaffe yet if you sow it it will grow with chasse on again as much as ever it had before because it was naturally so it was but by art even thus conceive of the Text that whether a man be in the flesh as to tally unregenerate uncircumcised unfanned or of regeneration yet that part of unregeneracie was naturall to him and according to that estate he begets his children even as the circumcised Jewes begot uncircumcifed children as well as did the uncircumcised amongst the Gentiles because uncircumcision was in both naturall even so regenerate men beget unregenerate children as well as unregenerate men do because unregeneracie whether in part or in whole is naturall in both and may bee called flesh in both and in either of these accoptions flesâ— quod natum est ex carne caro est that which is borne of the Flesh is Flesh and thus by this time I hope you may perceive that the vaile is taken from the sence of the Text. Whence we may observe that our Parents which begot us can convey no spirituall abilities for regeneration conversion or salvation of us unto us that we have heard is beyond the power of nature and by increasing and multiplying they can conveigh no more to us but that for if they could we should stand in lesse need to be born againe in which second birth we have our abilities from God Phil. 2.13 It s God that works in you both the will and the deed of his good pleasure your Parents can neither give you wills nor good works for the power of these come ab extra from without above the compasse of nature 1 Cor. 2.14 The naturall man perceives not the things of the Spirit of God the naturall man that is he that hath no more abilities then meer nature can afford him such as he drew from the loynes of his Father for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned as if he should have said a more naturall man wants the meanes and the light of knowing of them nature can afford him no such thing Eph. 2.3 we are by nature saith Paul the children of wrath as well as others thus we have the Doctrine illustrated This may first teach us that as wee must have a second birth as well as a first as we have heard that for this second birth we must rely upon the Lord for ability we must look higher than our Parents not they nor the Angels of God nor any creature can be the Author of the grace of regeneration or conversion onely God must do that Acts 11.14 though Peter by his preaching was an instrument of conversion to those Gentiles that heard him He shall speak words unto thee whereby both you and all thy house shall be saved yet God was the Author of that grace they then received v. 18. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life And Lam. 5.21 Turne us unto thee and we shall bee turned 2 Tim. 2.25 proving if God at any time will give repentance that they may know the truth 2. If whatsoever be born of the flesh be flesh this may let us see what free will we have to any spirituall good by nature or what grace to salvation by nature from it we can receive nothing but nature Mat. 7.19 do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of Thistles No we know that Thorns naturally bring out no such things as Grapes nor Thistles Figs even no more can we looke that corrupt nature should bring forth spirituals no but like its selfe flesh quod natum est excarne caro est that which is borne of the Flesh is Flesh It followes and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit In the former verse the words runne thus except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit In these no mention made of Water or being born of Water because that without the concomitance of this the other cannot do it but whatsoever is born of the Spirit is Spirit because the efficiencie of the birth proceeds from that though Water be the outward visible signe which it pleased God to use in working you have heard that a man may be born again of the Spirit and yet want water but none can bee borne again of Water onely if the Spirit be wanting therefore the birth of the Spirit is here mentioned that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit The Spirit in Scripture is sometimes put for the soule of a man but here the Spirit is not opposed to the Flesh or body as Heb. 12.9 where mention is made of the Father of our bodies and how we gave them reverence much more should wee bee subject to the Father of Spirits Prov. 18.19 a wounded Spirit who can beare and Eccles 3.21 Who knowes the Spirit of a man that goeth upward but that cannot be meant here 2. The Spirit is sometimes taken for the Divell the evill Spirit Mark 9.26 then the Spirit cryed and rent him sore but neither can that be meant here 3. That Spirit is put for the holy and sanctifying Spirit of God and that is meant in this place as may appeare by the vers going before except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit and Ephes 5.18 be not drunke with Wine wherein is excesse but be filled with the Spirit the Spirit of God where it is in any speciall operation is accompanied with the graces of it which are also called the Spirit and where the graces of God are the essence of the Spirit is there also to cherish and inrich those graces as Gal. 3.2 received yee the Spirit by the works of the Law c. and whosoever is born of the Spirit is said to be born of God as you have heard 1 John 5.1 that is he is regenerate and born againe by the vertue and power of the Spirit upon his heart minde and soule and so far forth as he is regenerate pure gratious and spiritually good so farre forth is be born of the Spirit for 〈◊〉 â—â—at good Spirit there can be no bad effects but whatsoever is born of it is of a spirituall and holy nature that which is borne of the Spirit is Spirit see what the Lord saith Ezek. 36.25 26. speaking of the return of his people out of Captivity and out of the Countries into which he had scattered them then saith he will I power clean Water upon you and yee shall be cleane yea from all your filthinesse and from all your Idols will I cleanse you this cleane Water is expounded in the next words after a new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your body and I will give you an heart of Flesh that is I will take away your hard and unregenerate heart from you that nothing could work on and I will give you ◠〈◊〉 eart softened with the oyle of the graces of my Spirit and by the 〈…〉 wash away your filthinesse Luke 11.3 If ye which are evill can give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Heaâ—â—â—ly Father give the Holy Ghost unto them that desire him And so make you truly spirituall being born of this Spirit Quod natum est ex spirituâ—… spiritus est that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit FINIS