speaks of we agree that those Doctrines which were to be known by his Revelation are meant But this by the by it is however clear that our Saviour challengeth the Jews of unreasonable incredulity for disbelieving what was sufficiently testified and proved to them 2. Christ assigneth the true cause of their unbelief This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil vers 19. i. e. The truth of that Doctrine which I bring is so bright and clear that the cause why men believe it not is not because they want Reason and Argument to induce them thereunto or supposing that our Saviour means himself by Light it is so evident that I am the Son God that if you do not perceive it 't is not for want of means of Conviction but because your deeds are evil because my Doctrine is so contrary to your Lusts and Vices that you are not willing it shoud be true and so you do not attend to the evidence of its truth and therefore greater shall be your Condemnation Every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved But he that doth the truth that is sincerely disposed to do whatever is the will of God cometh to the light that his deeds may be manifest is not unwilling to have his actions proved that they are wrought of God whether they be according to the Will of God or not I think it is thus sufficiently plain that the scope of our Saviour in this his discourse to Nicodemus is to shew the necessity of coming to him or believing in him i. e. of being his Disciple in order to everlasting Salvation and to convince those of unreasonable obstinacy and incredulity who would not be his Disciples It is therefore plain that supposing the true Disciple of Christ is to be understood by the Regenerate man then the beginning of our Saviour's discourse concerning the necessity of Regeneration is consonant to his plain designe which was to shew why we must be his Disciples and how inexcusable we are if we be not But that the connexion of the whole may be clearly seen I shall here subjoyn a Paraphrase of that part of it which concerns Regeneration proceeding upon our notion of it It is probable as Grotius observes that after Nicodemus had acknowledged our Saviour to be sent from God he asked him what Qualifications a man must have to see the Kingdom of God which in his preaching he had made so much mention of To which question our Saviour's answer was Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God as if he had said No man can enter into the Kingdom of God except he become my Disciple which you seem unwilling to be because you come secretly to me for fear of the Jews but I tell you it is not sufficient for you to acknowledge to me that I am a Teacher sent from God but withal you must become one of my Disciples and own your self so to be though you forfeit thereby the honour you have in the Jewish State for you must forsake all to follow me Nicodemus not understanding this to be our Saviour's meaning replies as if it was required that a man should be born again in the literal and proper sence How can a man be born when he is old as I am can he c. Jesus answered Verily I say unto thee Except a man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God q. d. It is not such a Birth that I mean but that of Water and the Spirit you must be born of Water you must by Baptism become a professed Disciple of mine whom you acknowledge to be a Teacher sent from God and this is not all you must be born of the Spirit too it is equally necessary that by the Operations of the Holy Spirit the promise whereof is part of my Doctrine you become obedient in Heart and Life to those Laws which I deliver which are so holy and divine that they are hated by them whose deeds are evil who will not be perswaded to leave their sins vers 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit That which is born in the literal sence as when an Infant is born of his Mother is discernible to your eyes and the change made thereby is evident to your grosser Senses it is not this change which I mean but I say you must be born of the Spirit and it is a spiritual change that I mean thereby viz. that of the Dispositions of mens Hearts and the manner of their Lives which change together with those Operations of the Spirit whereby it is produced are not discernible the same way in which the natural Birth is vers 7 8. Marvel not that I said unto thee Ye must be Born again The Wind bloweth where it lifteth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of Spirit By this it should seem that which was most troublesom to Nicodemus to understand was this viz. How a man could be born of the Spirit and that the difficulty which he stuck at in this matter was the Imperceptibleness of that Operation of the Spirit whereby this change was produced for how should a man know when he is born of the Spirit This being supposed our Saviour's answer to him removes the doubt for it shews 1. That the Operations of the Spirit though they are not perceptible to the Senses yet they may be otherways known to this purpose he useth a familiar similitude to explain himself by viz. that of the Wind which blowes hither and thither but is not discernible to the eye and though we see it not yet we are sure there is such a thing because we hear it Now as every Body is to be judged of by its proper Sense so is every thing to be judged of by its proper faculty and as we do not deny the existence of some Bodies because they are not evident to one sense if they are evident to another so we are not to deny the existence of some things because they are not evident to our Senses if they be evident to our Mindes as the Operations of the Holy Spirit upon our mindes may be 2. Our Saviour's answer shews that we may know an effect the immediate cause whereof we do not know and that by the same Similitude of the Wind the natural cause whereof the generality of men who are yet sure there is such a thing are ignorant of Now in like manner we may perceive or feel an effect in our mindes viz. that change which the Spirit makes there though we do not perceive and in that sence do not know the Operations of the Spirit themselves which are the causes
God we are not to ask them so particularly or if we do not so absolutely as the former I may and ought to pray for them in general and particularly for those degrees of them which are proper for my condition if I govern a Family for so much knowledge as may well serve me to bring up those that are under me in the fear of God and the way of Salvation or if I am a Minister for that underderstanding in Religion which may best fit me to discharge that duty I owe to God of guiding those souls to Heaven that are committed to my trust but if I pray more particularly for the understanding of such a difficult Point in Religion which I would satisfie my self or others about I must not do it absolutely but with submission to God's wisdom and pleasure Thus have I endeavoured to shew what qualifications of minde we are to pray for under this notion of their being needful to Salvation and consequently what those effects are for the producing of which the Operations of the Holy Spirit are promised to Believers in Luke 11.13 Dr. Owen indeed thinks that there is a certain change of the minde of a very different nature from any that I have named necessary to Salvation which he makes to be the Great work of the Spirit upon the Souls of Believers I shall not be long before I come to consider what reason he has for it In the mean time it may not be amiss to observe what conclusions may be made from this promise of the Holy Spirit which we have begun with the Consideration of And the first is SECT 3. 1. That we ask the Holy Spirit in the Lords Prayer which as it may be concluded from the perfection of that Form in general so more particularly from the coherence of our Saviour's Discourse in this place upon occasion of that request made by one of his Disciples that he would teach them to pray For to satisfie the request fully he did these two things 1. He taught them what things to pray for by prescribing to them the use of this Form Our Father who art in Heaven c. 2. He taught them in what manner to pray for these things that they might obtain them viz. to pray importunately and fervently for them as 't is plain from vers 9. compared with vers 8. and one reason given by him upon which they may conclude God will grant their requests is this that they ask onely needful things Now it is very improbable that our Saviour should have left out so needful a Request as that of the Holy Spirit in that Prayer which he had taught them for then he did not instruct them so fully what needful things to pray for by prescribing that Form as he did in what manner they should pray for those things by the following directions But much more improbable is it that he left that Request out of this Form considering that he chose the gift of the Holy Spirit for an instance of what might be obtained by Prayer so soon after he had commanded his Disciples to use the Form of his prescribing For this gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest blessing that is now to be obtained under Heaven and it is not credible that he should immediately as it were tax his own Form of so much imperfection as the want of that Request must suppose in it Or that he should let his Disciples know there was no other way to obtain the Holy Spirit but by asking though he had not before taught them to ask it in the Prayer which he had given them But lastly there is no necessity of inferring this Conclusion from the coherence of our Saviour's Discourse since the gift of the Holy Ghost comprehends the gift of all those Heavenly Graces which we ask in the Lords Prayer and therefore the meaning of those words God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him is this God will give the Disciples of Christ such needful Graces as he hath taught them to ask in that excellent Form which he gave to his Disciples And this indeed makes the coherence of our Saviour's Discourse most clear and accurate For upon this supposition you see that he does at last instance in such a request viz. that of the Holy Spirit which is a brief Summary of all the most considerable matters that he had taught them to pray for before Wherefore observe that 2. We pray for the Holy Spirit when we pray for any Grace or Virtue or for any Disposition of minde which is needful to qualifie us for the Kingdom of God In the Lords Prayer wherein the Holy Spirit is asked the Petition is not formally express'd but contained under other words for instance under these amongst others Thy Will be done as in Heaven so in Earth For in this Petition we pray That till we come to the perfect heavenly state we may by the Divine Spirit be disposed to such a submissive and cheerful performance of the Will of God upon Earth as may bear some resemblance and carry some proportion to that absolute readiness of minde wherewith the Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect and wherewith we our selves do hope ere long to perform the Will of God in the Kingdom of Heaven I say although in that Petition we do not expresly ask the Holy Spirit yet in effect we do because we pray for such a temper of minde as may qualifie us for the heavenly Life hereafter And to ask of God so needful a Grace as this is is as I have already shewn by the plain scope of our Saviour's Discourse the same thing with asking the Holy Spirit Now for the same reason in every Petition wherein we beg of God that we may be able to subdue any Lust that we may be endued with any Christian Virtue or grow in any Grace In every such Petition I say we ask the Holy Spirit because this is to ask those needful things for which his Operations are promised to us Therefore those Prayers of our Church that God would make us to have a perpetual fear and love of his holy Name that he would give unto us the increase of Faith Hope and Charity that he would keep us from all things hurtful and lead us to all things profitable for our salvation together with all the yearly Collects are Prayers for the gift of the Holy Spirit i. e. for the several Graces of the true Disciple of Christ which are expresly ascribed to the Spirit in that Prayer that God would grant to us his Spirit to think and to do always such things as be rightful that we who cannot do any thing that is good without him may by him be enabled to live according to his will And this I have by the way observed that you may see how fully our publick Prayers agree to that rule of our Saviour concerning what we are to pray for viz. that we
of that change And as that original or cause of that change is not perceived by us as we know not whence the Wind cometh so the end of it is not perceived by us neither for that is eternal Life which yet we do not see as we know not whither the Wind goeth but onely believe 3. Our Saviour's Similitude likewise shews that a thing may be discoverable onely by its effects as the Wind is by the noise it maketh and other effects thereof so likewise the Operations of the Holy Spirit upon our mindes though they are not in themselves perceivable by us yet in their effects they are for if Christian Virtue and Piety cannot be attained or preserved without the Operations of the Holy Spirit then where there is this change in a mans state there we are sure have been and still are the Operations of the Spirit and though he doth not feel the cause it self yet he discovers it in its effects Dr. Owen indeed tells us that the Work it self is discoverable in its Causes and brings this very Text to prove his saying which proves the contrary 'T is true we know that the Spirit of God is the cause of this change but how not by the Work it self but by the Revelation of Christ who withal hath informed us that we have no other way to discern the Operations of the Spirit in us but by their effects i. e. those alterations that are thereby produced in our Hearts and Lives Thus then we may understand our Saviour's words Let not this startle you that the Operations of the Holy Spirit whereby you must be changed and as it were born again are not discernible and sensible for though you cannot feel them yet you may understand them by the effects and alterations in you that are caused by them Now whereas Nicodemus answered How can these things be I suppose the reason of his Hesitation was either 1. That he did not understand this to be our Saviour's meaning or 2. That he thought as Dr. Owen does that to be born again was too Hyperbolical an expression of that which he now perceived our Saviour meant by it I cannot positively say which it was But suppose whether you will our Saviour's Reply to him rebuked his Ignorance either way Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things vers 10. q. d. Art thou one of the Great Council a learned Jew and yet ignorant of these matters Do you not perceive that I speak to you of the necessity of becoming my Disciple in such language as any man who is vers'd in your Customs and in the Writings of the Prophets may easily understand Is not being born again that very phrase whereby you express the making of a Proselyte Is not washing one of the Ceremonies whereby a Proselyte is made amongst you and therefore when I tell you a man must be born of Water what should you think I mean but that he must become my Disciple by Baptism I have also told you that he must be born of the Spirit too and can you be ignorant that those Prophecies which speak of the days of the Messias do mention the Operations of the Holy Spirit upon the Hearts of men which shall then be liberally bestowed upon the Subjects of his Kingdom to make them good and holy persons viz. that God will circumcise the Hearts of his people that he will take away their Heart of stone and give them an Heart of flesh with his Law written in it that they may be the true Disciples of the Messias that Prophet to whom you are to hearken in all things I say unto thee We speak that we do know and testifie that we have seen and ye receive not our testimony vers 11. Now I am that Prophet but how credible soever that testimony is which is given hereof ye regard it not If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things vers 12. This last is a place of some difficulty for although by heavenly things are meant Doctrines which were to be known by the Revelation of Christ yet by those earthly things which our Saviour had told Nicodemus already we must not understand truths merely natural for that Jesus was the Messias that it was necessary for the Jews to become his Disciples by Baptism and to be born of the Spirit which none but his Disciples could be these were heavenly Doctrines too in this sence that they were knowable onely by Revelation Wherefore I conceive that by heavenly things here may probably be meant such revealed Doctrines as were most contrary to the worldly and sensual expectations of the Jews who had long cherished in themselves the notion of a Messias who should fight their Battels for them as their other Saviours and Deliverers had done and rescue them from the Roman Power Now these Doctrines were that Christ should be delivered into the hands of the Romans and be Crucified for the sins of the World that those who believed in him should not perish but have everlasting Life Divers Considerations make it probable that these are the heavenly things meant by our Saviour in this place for 1. After he had made way for it by telling Nicodemus that he onely ascended up into Heaven i. e. knew the secret purposes of God concerning the way of Salvation he falls upon the mention of that Death which he was to undergo for the sins of the World And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in c. 2. The Cross of Christ was that which made the Jews most of all offended that his Disciples should still pretend him to be the Christ. It was to the Jews a Stumbling-block and to the Greeks Foolishness and therefore it is probable this was the thing which the Jews would hardly believe viz. that God would save Mankinde by the death of his Son 3. When St. Peter rebuked our Saviour foretelling his own Passion he said unto Peter Get thee behinde me Satan for thou savourest not the things that be of God or heavenly things i. e. the wisdom of God's way to save the World but the things that be of man thou speakest according to the imaginations of the Jews who perswade themselves that the Kingdom of the Messias will be of this World Lay all these things together and it will appear probable that by those heavenly things which our Saviour intimated would be more difficulty believed by the Jews than those which he had already mentioned to Nicodemus are meant his Sufferings and Death by which Believers should be saved and which he discoursed to Nicodemus of presently after And then by the earthly things on the other hand we are to understand those truths which were indeed divinely revealed but were not so contrary to the worldly expectations of the Jews as the other viz. that Jesus was the Christ and that all men were to be his Disciples which
call this Exposition of St. Paul's Text which I have offered carnal Reasoning and the Wisdom of the Flesh and perhaps he will finde little else to say against it there will be small hope left of doing any good upon him nor is any thing to be done with him but to turn him over to the Quakers and with them at present I leave him PART 1. An Account of what we are taught in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Operations of the Holy Spirit CHAP. I. The General Subject of the following Discourse stated § 1. THrough the Assistance of that Holy Spirit whose Operations I intend to treat of I shall endeavour the performance of these two things First to lay down as clearly and methodically as I can what I finde the Holy Scriptures have taught us concerning his Operations and as I go along to remove those erroneous and as I am yet perswaded dangerous Opinions of Dr. Owen and his Brethren concerning this matter which may seem needful to be debated in order to the present clearing of the Truth and this shall be the work of the First Part. Secondly to confute some other pernicious Doctrines of his relating to the same subject the consideration whereof may be fitly enough reserved till we have concluded what the Holy Scriptures affirm in this matter and that will be my designe in the Second Part of this Discourse I shall begin the First part with stating the general Subject of my intended Discourse as plainly as I can Amongst other significations of the word Spirit that may be met with in the Scripture it will be sufficient for my present designe to take notice of these that follow 1. It is sometimes used to signifie the Minde of man as in Joh. 4.24 to worship God in Spirit is to worship him with our Souls and in Gal. 6.18 and Col. 2.5 and in divers other places This is so plain that it needs onely to be mentioned for where the word is used in that sence the Context does easily lead a man to the right understanding of it 2. It sometimes signifies the Temper and Disposition of a man's minde Thus we are to understand that spirit of Faith mentioned by St. Paul 2 Cor. 4.13 which the Christians and God's Servants also in former times had viz. the same pious temper of Minde in bearing Afflictions for Gods sake and looking for deliverance and reward from him So likewise God hath not given us the spirit of Fear but of Power of Love c. 2 Tim. 1.7 contrary to that timorous cowardly temper of being afraid to endure Persecution for Righteousness sake Hereby saith St. John we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And what that spirit is we see plainly by the former words Chap. 4. vers 12. If we love one another God dwelleth in us It is that spirit of Love that Benignity and charitableness of minde whereby we become like unto God 3. By the Spirit we are frequently to understand the Holy Spirit of God the third person in the blessed Trinity as in 1 Joh. 5.7 There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost or Spirit So also when St. Paul saith There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 we are by Spirit to understand the Holy Ghost for vers 6. he saith it is the same God which worketh all in all which compared with vers 11. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will makes it plain that by the Spirit here St. Paul understands God the Holy Ghost This is the sence wherein I understand the word Spirit when I speak of the operations of the Holy Spirit in us I mean the person of the Holy Ghost But we must observe 4. That the Holy Spirit is frequently used to signifie his Operations or those Effects which are wrought by his Operations Thus the pouring out of the Spirit mentioned Acts 2. plainly signifies his bestowing supernatural gifts in great measures upon the Apostles and Disciples of Christ. So Received ye the Spirit i. e. the gifts of the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith Gal. 3.2 Thus also are we to understand that promise made to the Apostles of sending the Holy Ghost Joh. 14.26 For this being the promise of the Father mentioned Acts 1.4 which was foretold in these words I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh Acts 2.16 17. must needs signifie the same thing with pouring out of the Spirit which phrase as Dr. Owen truely notes hath respect unto his Gifts and Graces So likewise the phrase of giving the Spirit Luke 11.13 is explained in Matth. by giving good things i. e. such good things as the Spirit of God is the Author of to Believers Indeed nothing can properly be said to be given to us but what is capable of becoming our own therefore when the Holy Spirit is said to be given some spiritual good or benefit is meant which accrues to us by the Operation of the Holy Spirit But the Doctor tells us that where the Spirit is given he is given absolutely and as to himself not more or less but his Gifts and Graces may be more plentifully and abundantly given at one time than at another to some persons than to others So that he makes two different things of having the Spirit of God given to us and our being partakers of his Gifts and Graces for according to him a man may have these limitedly That he must have absolutely These more or less That not so And this is a mystery which he hath found out in that expression of giving the Spirit Whatever he intends by this conceit it is plainly contrary to the use of that Phrase in the Scripture for John 3.34 it is said of our Saviour that God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him from whence it is evident that the Spirit may be given in measure Wherefore this Phrase doth not necessarily imply that the person of the Spirit is properly given as the Doctor pretends for he confesseth that as to himself he is not given more or less Nay those words of St. John Baptist imply that the Spirit was given to all other Prophets and Righteous men in measure and consequently the giving of the Spirit unto men cannot signifie the giving of his Person or the giving of him absolutely neither more nor less for he is alwaies given to them in measure i. e. in the same measure wherein his Gifts and Graces are communicated to them The same thing is otherwise exprest Matth. 12.18 I will put my Spirit upon him which being spoken concerning our Saviour Christ is parallel to Gods giving the Spirit to him mentioned John 3.34 Indeed there is little difference in the expressions if it be observed that the passage in St Matthew is cited out of
what he hath been pleased to declare concerning it by himself and his Apostles Lastly I mean those Operations of the Holy Spirit upon our mindes the continuance whereof is promised to the Church in all Ages removing those from the matter of our enquiry which were peculiar to the first i. e. such as shewed themselves in the extraordinary and miraculous Gifts of the Apostles and the Believers of that time who were to confirm and establish the Christian Doctrine in the world by the demonstration of the Spirit and of power by supernatural effects evident to sense and such testimonies of divine Revelation When the Doctrine of the Gospel was once fully demonstrated to be divinely revealed there was no need that God should appear in every Age to own it by new testimonies of Revelation because the knowledge of those that were given thereunto at first is conveyed down to us with sufficient evidence that they were then given Now Miracles and such extraordinary works of the Spirit are ceas'd But the Scriptures mention such a Promise of the Spirit which will never be out-dated while the ministration of the Gospel lasts and this is one of those promises made in the Gospel which argue the constant bounty and affection of our Heavenly Father towards us Now they are these Operations of the Spirit viz. which are continued through all ages of the Church to which I shall confine my thoughts in the following discourse But before I proceed it may not be amiss to make this plain Inference that since these Operations of the Spirit differ clearly in their nature and end from those which were peculiar onely to the first ages of the Church therefore those places of the Holy Scripture which onely concern the work of the Holy Spirit in gifts extraordinary and miraculous are not to be produced for the proof of any opinion concerning his ordinary and constant Operations And whatsoever is affirmed concerning those must not presently be affirmed of these unless it can be shewn by some clear Text or other good Reason that what is so affirmed is common to them both And therefore to be sure some care must be had not to mistake those places of Scripture which speak of the extraordinary gifts of some Believers for Texts which mention those Operations and Graces that are common to all But as obvious as the difference between these things is I finde Dr. Owen frequently confounding them as if there were no difference to be put between them Thus after he had recited those promises of our Saviour made to his Disciples The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatever I have said unto you I have many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he shall shew you things to come He supposeth that these are instances of that general promise of the Spirit which belongs unto all Believers unto the end of the world than which nothing can be more apparently false as is plain from our Saviours words themselves He shall bring to your remembrance whatever I have said unto you c. and he shall shew you things to come which and the like expressions no sober man can apply to Believers now And this the Doctor himself is so sensible of that he tells us in the same breath The Holy Ghost was bestowed on the Primitive Christians in a peculiar manner and for especial ends Now I would gladly know of him what other ends besides those that were peculiar to the state of the Primitive Church are mentioned in the foresaid promise of the Holy Ghost Many instances of this nature might be produced against him were it not for wasting of time I shall onely give the Reader a Specimen how he argues from those Texts which speak of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit He tells us that in some the Spirit works Conviction and Illumination without intending to work saving Grace in them which therefore shall never be effected and that the reason why some Believers are not so good as others is because the Spirit carrieth on the work to a great inequality And this Doctrine he makes a shift to countenance by saying that the Spirit worketh in all these things according to his own will aiming at that place of the Apostle to the Corinthians where he faith The Spirit worketh all these things dividing to every man severally as he will Now I think we have as good as his own confession presently after that this place belongeth to another â—â—tter viz. the distribution of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit For thus he faith And this is that which the Apostle mindes the Corinthians of to take away all emulation and envy about spiritual Gifts that every one should orderly make use of what he had received to the profit and edification of others Now either the Doctor alleadged this place to no purpose or he must be supposed to argue in this manner Because the Spirit distributed extraordinary gifts for the edification of the Church according to his own will therefore it is sometimes the will of the Spirit to enlighten and convince those men in whom he intends not to work saving Grace That the Spirit of God worketh always according to his own will and wisdom there is no question but we may well question whether in bestowing that Grace which is necessary to the salvation of every Believer he worketh in the same manner and method as he did in conferring extraordinary gifts that were none of them necessary to the salvation of those particular persons on whom they were bestowed and therefore that the Spirit of God in the distribution of these worked according to his own will can be no proof of the affirmative And the Doctor might have observed the inconvenience of referring to this Text in favour of his opinion from what he himself concludes So that it is an unreasonable thing for any to contend about them i. e. about those spiritual Gifts For if what is affirmed truely of the distribution of them be true also of all the effects of the Holy Spirit upon the mindes of men it is also an unreasonable thing to contend about any of them i. e. it is as unreasonable for the Doctor to reprove any man because he is not converted or because he hath no more Grace than he has as it would have been for him that could speak with Tongues to finde fault with his Christian Brother to whom that gift was not imparted Again it is plain enough that the promise of the Father concerning the Spirit which the Apostles were to wait for Acts 1.4 and the power which they received after the Holy Ghost came upon them
use the means of arriving to such needful knowledge in that manner as not to miss of it 3. All those Vertues and Graces which make up practical Christianity and consist in having our mindes set free from the dominion of all sensual and worldly Lusts and in sincere obedience to the Commands of Christ So that we make it our greatest care to keep every one of his Laws endeavouring to grow better in some proportion to those means which we enjoy by the good providence of God What these Vertues are in particular we may know by the precepts of the Gospel and principally by our Saviours Sermon from the Mount where he directs his Disciples in the way to everlasting Blessedness obliging all whose office it is to teach and all his Disciples whatsoever to do the very least of his Commandments upon pain of being excluded out of the Kingdom of Heaven All those dispositions of Minde therefore which are supposed to the keeping of these his Commandments are effects necessary to our eternal Happiness and such as we are to ask of God that they may be produced in us by his Holy Spirit And look whatever Vertue or Qualification of our Wills and Affections the Gospel lays so great a stress upon that if we want it it is not possible for us in that state to see the Kingdom of God that is an effect so needful to be wrought in us that we may be sure our Heavenly Father such is his compassion towards us will no more deny us his Holy Spirit to that end if we importunately ask him than we can refuse to give our most beloved Children Bread or any other good thing as necessary for them as that 4. After we are brought into this state and thus become the sincere Disciples of Christ it is equally necessary to our eternal Salvation that we persevere therein For it had been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness than after we have known it so as to escape the pollutions of the world to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto us 2 Pet. 2.20 21. And therefore constancy and unweariedness in well-doing is also a Grace for the obtaining of which we are encouraged by our Saviour's Promise to ask the Holy Spirit that we may be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation I know not any effects that are absolutely necessary to Salvation which are not plainly implied and readily deducible from some of these And thus much for the former sort of needful Graces viz. such as without which Salvation cannot be attained at all being indispensibly necessary thereunto Secondly I come to speak of those Graces which are profitable to Salvation and these are such as regard our improvement either in Goodness or in Knowledge Of the former sort are those degrees of goodness according to which sincere Christians who are all careful to avoid wilful sin and endeavour to grow in Grace do yet excel one another These degrees consist in being more or less free from sins of mere infirmity an absolute freedom from which is that which our condition in this world cannot admit of but every degree towards Perfection which we attain unto in this kinde must needs be so much the more profitable by how much greater it is We are the better able to conclude certainly of our good estate towards God which is a matter of great advantage in the course of a Godly Life whereas a man may be conscious to himself of so many of these sins that it may be a difficult matter for himself or any body else to pronounce certainly concerning his Spiritual estate and therefore the onely good advice that can be given him in that case seems to be this to put the matter out of doubt by using more effectual endeavours after a further amendment Besides the nearer we come to Perfection the further off are we from Apostacy and the less in danger of back-sliding into a wicked course of Life we are the more confirmed in ways of Godliness and Vertue and more likely to persevere therein to the end Finally the degrees towards Perfection wherein some good men excel others are profitable because they will encrease their reward in Heaven For God will judge every man according to his works and therefore they that have done better shall have a better reward they that have done worse than others shall be beaten with more Stripes and there seems to be the same reason for a proportionable difference in Rewards When St. Peter exhorts us that Christian Vertues should not be in us onely but abound he gives this reason for the Exhortation viz. that an entrance may be ministred unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord 2 Pet. 1.11 Upon all these accounts those degrees towards Perfection which consist in prevailing against sins of mere Infirmity are highly profitable in the way of Salvation The latter sort of profitable things are such degrees of Knowledge in divine matters as are not simply necessary for Salvation The more knowledge a Christian hath the better able he is to avoid all errours that are dangerours and thus that knowledge which is not absolutely necessary may be profitable to himself Likewise the more a man understands in Religion the more useful he may be to others in promoting their Salvation by rescuing them from dangerous Errour and removing Doubts and many other ways If it now be demanded whether we can conclude from our Saviour's promise that if we ask the Holy Spirit for needful Graces of this sort God will grant our Request I answer 1. It follows in general from our Saviours promise that God will give the Holy Spirit not only for what is necessary to Salvation but also for what is profitable and advantageous to us in the way of Salvation For our Saviour assureth us that God in bestowing his Holy Spirit will use us with the Kindness and Bounty of a Father Now we know that although the affection of wise and good Parents towards their Children will not carry them to gratifie their wanton and unreasonable Desires yet neither will they deal so straitly and narrowly with them as to give them what is but barely needful to keep them from perishing To this purpose we may observe that two of the good things mentioned by our Saviour viz. the Egge and the Fish which Parents are not wont to deny their Children are instances of that Food which is not absolutely Necessary but Convenient and of ordinary use for the preservation of Life Now the Affection of our Heavenly Father being much more than that of Earthly Parents it may strongly be concluded in the general that God will not deny us what is profitable any more than what is necessary to Salvation But 2. It doth not follow in every particular That is I have no reason thus to conclude This is usefull therefore if I Ask it shall be given me For you must observe that our
are to ask of God to give us the Holy Spirit which is done both when we use the formal Petition and when we pray for any Divine Grace or Christian Virtue And when our Souls breath after true Goodness when they hunger and thirst after Righteousness when they zealously strive against every evil desire and every evil work that we may perfect Holiness in the fear of God then do we importunately ask the Holy Spirit we do effectually invoke him and attract those Divine Aids to our selves which will make us what we desire to be the true followers of Christ and holy as he was holy in all manner of Conversation 3. And by consequence the Operations of the Holy Spirit are supposed in those places of Scripture where God is said to give or work any Grace or good Disposition in our mindes for if it be the same thing to ask any such Grace and to ask the Holy Spirit then the same thing is meant by Gods giving the one and his giving the other i. e. as Dr. Owen very often and very truely notes when God bestoweth any Blessing of this nature he doth it by his Spirit So that all those Texts which ascribe Christian Vertues to a Divine Operation and consequently those Prayers of St. Paul in behalf of the Christians that God would make them eminent in all kindes of Goodness are places pertinent to this subject and proper to inform us what we are to believe concerning those Operations of the Holy Spirit which I am now discoursing of But that which is most necessary of all to observe is this 4. That this promise of our Saviour concerning the Holy Spirit does equally regard the Church in all ages to the end of the world For those Effects which his Operations are here promised to produce are needful for all Christians and not onely for those to whom Christ spake in person Now the reason why God would give his Holy Spirit to them being this that they needed those things which he had taught them to pray for and because God was their Father it follows that upon the performance of the same condition we shall obtain the Holy Spirit for God is our Father too and those things we ask in the Lords Prayer are as needful for us and for all Believers as they could be for them to whom the Promise was made at first Therefore the gift of the Holy Ghost here promised did not determine with the age of Miracles Lastly it is not improbable that as by the latter Similitude where it is observed that Children obtain of their Parents things needful for themselves our Saviour doth encourage every one of his Disciples to ask the Holy Spirit in his own behalf So by the former Similitude where the man is said to prevail who requested of his Neighbour what was needful for his Friend we are encouraged to pray for one another that God would give us his Holy Spirit to convert us from all our sins and to encrease his Graces in us This I conceive may be one intention of our Saviour in that Similitude viz. to excite us to this â—…nd of Charity by letting us know that we fare the better for the earnest Prayers we make in each others behalf and it is the more probable because he used that Similitude immediately after he had taught his Disciples to pray for one another by prescribing to them a Form of Prayer in the use of which they could not do otherwise These things seem to be clearly implied in that place of St. Luke which we have been considering and not improper to be observed And now I should forthwith proceed to those places of Scripture which expresly mention the several Graces of the Holy Spirit and shew that those needful effects for the producing of which the Holy Spirit is here in general promised to Believers are in several of them particularly ascribed to his Operations But I am sensible that I should then leave behinde me a great Objection against what I have already said viz. that I have given a very lame account of those Qualifications which are needful to Salvation For Dr. Owen comes and tells us that there is a Qualification of quite another kinde than any I have named absolutely necessary to Salvation and that you must know is Regeneration Now indeed our Saviour saith Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God John 3.3 And this Regeneration our Saviour likewise ascribeth to the Operation of the Holy Spirit Except a man be born of the Spirit he cannot c. vers 5. Wherefore God forbid that any Christian should deny Regeneration to be needful even in the degree of necessity to qualifie us for eternal Life or to be an effect of the Holy Spirit wherever it is But I cannot think it to be so unintelligible a thing as our Author represents it who makes it to be somewhat distinct from believing and obeying the Gospel of Christ. Wherefore I shall in the next place particularly enquire into the true notion of Regeneration and because this is not onely a matter of great Consequence but the great Out-cry which has been long raised by the Doctor and his Brethren of the Separation against the present Ministers of the Church of England is this that we are not Orthodox in the point of Regeneration I shall throughly consider what the Doctor hath written Pro and Con in this Book of his concerning it CHAP. III. Of the state of Regeneration SECT I. THat we are Regenerated by the Operations of the Holy Spirit and thereby qualified for eternal Life is agreed between us but I can by no means grant our Authors notion of Regeneration to be true and I think his mistake in that may have led him into divers others To proceed therefore with the more clearness I come to shew what it is to be Regenerate or born again And here I shall be forced to consider the Doctors notion of Regeneration as far as I can understand it because if the principle upon which he goes in stating his notion be true it fundamentally overthrows that which I take to be the true Scriptural notion thereof For he contends that these Expressions to be born again to be a new creature and to have a new heart and the like do properly and literally signifie that which is intended by them I say they signifie it figuratively It must therefore be debated in the first place whether they be proper or Metaphorical expressions before we can settle the true notion of the words This must be done by inquiring whether to be born again to have a new heart and to be created anew can properly be affirmed of those that are qualified to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven If not we are next to consider what figurative sence it is in which these expressions are to be understood By determining which according to the Scriptures we shall come to the right notion of Regeneration
But so troublesome a thing it is to deal with a Writer that plays fast and loose I must yet go further about to come to the business and begin with making good my charge against our Author that he contends for the proper use of these words For some passages he hath himself that look another way and might perswade a man that he did not understand those Scripture-expressions literally and properly but figuratively Thus he tells us This new creature therefore doth not consist in a new course of actions but in renewed faculties with new Dispositions Power and Ability to them and for them These Dispositions he saith are the Divine Nature spoken of by St. Peter a divine principle of operation and hereunto saith he St. Paul exhorts in these words Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mindes If now the new Creature the state of Regeneration consists in the renewing of our Faculties our Wills and Understandings that is in furnishing them with new Dispositions Power and Ability for a new course of Actions then it is not literally true of that man who is thus fitted for the Kingdom of God that he is a new creature but onely figuratively i. e. that he is the old creature still onely bettered hath the same Will and Understanding that he had before but these renewed and made better than they were before and that God doth not properly give a man another Understanding or another Heart which he had not before when he is said to Regenerate him but that he reforms the old furnishing them with new Abilities and Dispositions Again he saith in the same Section that the New creature consists in the universal Change of the whole Soul as it is the principle of all Moral and Spiritual Actions If that be true then here is the same Soul there was before only it is changed from bad to good and whereas it was hitherto dispos'd to evil Actions it is now byassed by better Principles than it was before and disposed to those Actions that are good and pleasing to God Consequently it is not true in the Literal sence of that man who is fit to see the Kingdom of God that he is Born again and is a New Creature and hath a new Heart Will and Understanding Now these and other such passages in the Doctor 's Book were either inserted by him that he might the more fairly retreat in case he should be forced to quit the Literal and proper sence or else which sometimes happens he spake the truth against his will For whatever he hath said to this purpose he earnestly contends that those expressions of the New Creature and Regeneration are to be understood in their proper sence And even in this very Section he tells us It is called the New man because it is the effect of Gods creating Power and that in a way of a new Creation Now the object of a creating Act is an Instantaneous production whatever preparations there may be for it the Bringing forth of a New Form and Being by creation is in an instant Which words plainly suppose that there is a New being properly created in man when he is said to be Born again and to become a New creature and he argues from the Literal sence of Creation to prove that a man is made a new Creature in an instant for the object of a creating Power is an Instantaneous production Again he saith The new creature is produced in the Souls of men by a creating Act of the Power of God or it is not a Creature and it is superinduced into the essential Faculties of our Souls or it is not a New creature for whatever is in the Soul of Power Disposition and Ability or inclination unto God or for any moral Actions by Nature it belongs unto the old creation it is no New creature And it must be something that hath a being and subsistence of its own in the soul or it can be neither New nor a Creature This passage is strangely perplexed for by what our Author saith concerning the disposition and inclination of the Soul to God one would guess he was for the Metaphorical sence and all the rest carries it clearly for the Literal But that we might know his meaning he falls foul upon them that say the expression is Metaphorical and consequently that the New creature is a Moral man that hath changed his course and way and in a triumphant manner tells us This is good Gospel at once overthrowing Original Sin and the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I may in time convince the Reader that he is neither to trust this Author what those Doctrines are which overthrow these things nor what the Judgment of our Conformable Divines is in these matters At present my business is to fix this man to a certain sence and to make it good that what I charge him with is his opinion He saith plainly that the New creature hath a being and subsistence of its own in the Soul and 't is superinduced into the essential faculties of the Soul otherwise it could not be New nor a Creature that is literally and properly so for it may figuratively so that besides the heart which the Sinner had before he hath now another and then I grant the expression is not Metaphorical He tells us That which is born of the Spirit is a new spiritual being creature nature life as shall be declared Now he declares what his meaning is by these expressions very solemnly where he renounceth at large that opinion which makes them to be Metaphorical and hath these remarkable words among the rest So long as we can obtain an acknowledgment from men that the writings of the New Testament are true and in any sence the word of God we doubt not but to evince that the things intended in them i. e. the things signified by Regeneration New creature c. are properly expressed i. e. by those Phrases so as they ought to be which no body denies and so as they are capable to be expressed i. e. if he be consistent to himself that they cannot be expressed more properly Again Some meaning himself and his Party judge the things of the Gospel to be deep and mysterious the words and expressions of it to be plain and proper Others meaning his Adversaries think the words and expressions of it to be Mystical and Figurative but the things intended to be ordinary and obvious By all which and much more to the same purpose it is plain that this he must stand to as his opinion That the forementioned expressions are not to be understood Metaphorically but literally and properly And now my next work is plain which is this 1. To prove that they are not so to be understood as he saith they are 2. To answer those Arguments which are produced by him to the contrary SECT 2. I shall first prove that these expressions ought not to be understood
way clearly contradicts what the Scripture saith concerning the state of Regeneration which is the thing I am concerned to prove for the Scripture makes the state of Regeneration to consist in having the Heart of stone taken away as well as the Heart of flesh given in putting off the Old man as well as in putting on the New and when St. Paul saith He that is in Christ is a new creature we are not to understand that he is the old creature too for he tells us all old things are pass'd away and all things are become new Now thus I argue If these expressions are to be understood literally then it is literally true that the old man the old creature is put off c. as well as the new man put on and therefore it is contrary to Scripture to affirm Regeneration to consist in the addition of a new creature literally understood to the old Lastly since the Scripture doth express the state of Regeneration by phrases which literally and properly taken do some of them signifie the addition of a new Nature to the old and others the removal of the old Nature with a substitution of the new it is impossible that the literal and proper sence should be intended Thus I have proved the literal sence of these expressions to be inconsistent with the Scriptures and having before proved the absurd consequences which understanding them in this manner is chargeable with I hope it is sufficiently proved that they are not so to be understood which was the first thing to be done The consequence of what hath been said is clear that if they are not to be understood literally and properly then are they to be understood figuratively and metaphorically and nothing can be reasonably desired for the farther clearing of this point but to answer our Author's arguments against it which was the second thing proposed SECT 3. All that he saith to the contrary which can pretend to 〈◊〉 arguing we have Sect. 7. where his Arguments against the Metaphorical use of these expressions are two though they are there jumbled together by him without any distinction whereof one lies against affirming Regeneration to be a metaphorical expression or rather such an expression of what he saith his Adversaries understand by it the other lies against the supposition of any metaphorical expressions whatsoever whereby the Scripture is said to represent the work of God's Spirit upon the Souls of men The former Argument is to this purpose If Regeneration be no more than a metaphorical expression of amendment of Life according to the rules of the Scripture then our Saviour proposed unto Nicodemus a thing which he knew perfectly well before onely under a new name and notion which he had never heard of before so to take an advantage of charging him of being ignorant of what indeed he full well knew and understood But this he saith is a blasphemous imagination therefore Regeneration is no metaphorical expression of c. The latter Argument if you will be so civil as to call it an Argument is designed against the opinion that the Scripture useth any Metaphors at all in this matter For thus he concludes Some judge the things of the Gospel to be deep and mysterious the words and expressions of it to be plain and proper Others think the words and expressions of it to be mystical and figurative but the things intended to be ordinary and obvious to the Natural Reason of every man Now that which he thinks is that the things are mysterious and the words proper His Argument to prove this is contained in these passages If there be not a secret mysterious work of the Spirit of God upon the Souls of men intended in the Writings of the New Testament they must be granted to be obscure beyond those of any other Writers whatsoever If they are the Word of God the things intended in them are clearly and properly expressed The difficulties which seem to be in them arising from the mysterious nature of the things themselves contained in them and the weakness of our minds in apprehending such things and not from any obscurity or intricacy in the declaration of them Therefore some do well to judge the things of the Gospel to be deep and mysterious and the words of it to be plain and proper If there be any coherence in this Arguing I think it would be this If there be a mysterious Work of the Spirit upon the Souls of men intended in the Scripture then the words and expressions of the Gospel concerning it are plain and proper and such a mysterious work there is otherwise the Scriptures are obscure beyond all other Writings because the words of the Gospel are proper expressions of such a mysterious work I begin with this latter Argument First of all let us consider the Doctor 's Conclusion that we may afterwards see whether it is to be found in the Premises If he concludes any thing against his Adversaries he concludes that the Scripture hath used no Metaphorical expressions at all of the things of the Gospel For he saith Herein indeed consists the main controversie whereunto things with the most are reduced viz. that he and his friends judge the things of the Gospel to be mysterious and the words and expressions proper that is ALL the words and expressions of it For if he concludes only that some or the greater part of them are proper and not figurative expressions he concludes what none of his Adversaries deny and unless he concludes universally he proves nothing Now by the way I shall convince our Author that he hath concluded amiss for himself by putting him in minde that he elsewhere acknowledgeth that very thing of the Gospel which is the subject of our Debate to be in the Scripture Metaphorically exprest The work of the Spirit is exprest there by Quickning from Death to Life it is also exprest by Turning from Darkness to Light Now as to the latter our Authors words are these The term of Darkness in this case is Metaphorical and borrowed from that which is Natural As to the former these There in is men a spiritual Death called so Metaphorically from the Analogie and proportion that it bears to Death Natural Let us see whether the Doctor 's Argument will not Vnmetaphor these expressions again If there be a secret mysterious work of the Spirit intended in these expressions then they are not Metaphorical if no such work be intended by them then are the Scriptures obscure beyond all other Writers If he can Answer his Argument for himself he can Answer it for us too and then Regeneration in particular will prove a Metaphorical expression for if Death be so then Life is so too and being Born into that Life will unavoidably be so likewise Some of the expressions of the Gospel concerning these matters the Doctor allows to be Metaphorical so that the controversie we have with him one would think should
that is to renounce the Doctrine here by him maintained viz. That a man may do Righteousness without the renovation of the Spirit or without being born of God and then he must say with the Apostle that He that doth righteousness is born of God which is one of those Arguments whereby I have proved that a state of Regeneration is a state of inherent personal Righteousness and which together with the rest I have produced does prove that to be Regenerate as it signifies the state of a man is no other thing than to be a sincere Disciple of Christ to believe and obey the Gospel of our Blessed Saviour which was the first thing to be shewn SECT 8. 2. If we consider Regeneration as an effect we are to enquire into the causes and means of that state which we have described Regeneration to be These our Saviour affirms to be Water and the Spirit vers 5. viz. when he repeated his Doctrine to Nicodemus Concerning which Grotius well notes Exponit jam qualem nativitatem intelligat nè Nicodemus diutius Allegoricae locutionis ignorantiâ fallatur Our Saviour now explains what Birth he understood that Nicodemus might no longer be deceived by his ignorance that Christ spake figuratively For after it was told him that this Birth was effected by Water and the Spirit he could not dream that our Saviour meant being born again in the literal and proper sence as he conceived at first when it was onely told him Except a man be born again be cannot c. Now whether one cause of the state of Regeneration or more be expressed in these words by Water and the Spirit is not generally agreed upon there being some whereof Grotius himself is one who conceive that by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those words signifie the sanctifying or cleansing Spirit of God Non loquitur de Baptismo saith Grotius but withal he saith Sed locutiones sunt alludentes ad Baptismum our Saviour alludes to Baptism as he supposeth him to allude to the Eucharist in those words Except ye eat the Flesh and drink the Blood c. But by the leave of so great a man I think the other opinion more generally received and in particular maintained by Dr. Hammond viz. that by Water Baptism is here meant to be to say no more far more probable than the supposition of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that for these two reasons 1. Because Baptism was that ceremony of Proselytism among the Jews which our Saviour borrowed from them To be born of Water was no new Name or Notion as Dr. Owen pretends for the Jews called their Proselytes Recens nati as Grotius himself observes new Born men and as such counted them to have quitted their Relation to their former Country Parents and Kindred and since the Jewish Proselyte was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a baptized person and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or immersion in Water was one of the indispensible ceremonies of his Proselytism or Regeneration we may well conceive that by being born of Water our Saviour meant becoming a Proselyte to his Church by Baptism as by Baptism the Jews admitted Proselytes to theirs for otherwise it would not have been so strange that Nicodemus a Master of Israel should not understand what our Saviour meant by being born of Water 2. St. Paul does expresly call Baptism the laver of Regeneration which what it signifies but a means whereby we are regenerated or become the Disciples of Christ I cannot understand and then that is the very same with being born of Water Now where there is not onely no necessity to finde a figure in Scripture-phrases but the proper sence also contains a truth very pertinent to the Subject spoken of in all reason there the proper sence and consequently here of the word Water ought to be followed And then being born of Water signifies our being admitted into the Church as the Disciples of Christ and engaged to be so for the future by Baptism To be born of the Spirit is to be made the sincere Disciples of Christ and true to the profession of Baptism by the Operations of the Holy Spirit and what the Scripture teacheth us concerning them is the main designe of this Treatise to shew therefore I shall say no more of them in this place but onely adde that we are not to understand the Spirit of God to be the immediate cause of our Regeneration or becoming good Christians but we are to suppose those other Causes viz. those means which the Scripture ascribes our Regeneration unto to be included under the Spirit who is indeed the principal cause of this effect without whose operations those means cannot be effectual to their end And these are the Doctrines of the Gospel For St. Peter tells us 1 Pet. 1.23 That we are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever But this shall be more fully considered when I come to speak of the manner of those Operations of the Holy Spirit whereby we are born again And thus have I given you an account of the true meaning of being Born again both as it signifies a State and as an Effect and the sum of all is this That our Saviour doth require us to become his sincere Followers and Disciples if we hope to see the Kingdom of God SECT 9. I come now to shew the Reasons why our becoming the sincere Disciples of Jesus is exprest by being born again And I shall likewise shew how fitly the same thing is exprest by the other Metaphors that are used in the Scripture for that purpose and this because our Author seems unable to conceive how so mean a thing as to believe and obey the Gospel of Christ should be intended by such grand and Hyperbolical expressions as those of the new Birth the new Creature c. I shall first observe the similitude between our becoming true Christians and being Born First the greatness of that alteration which is made in a man's state by his becoming a sincere Disciple of Jesus is one good reason why the state of such a Disciple is exprest by this Metaphor for it expresseth a very great change Thus Mr. Baxter tells us very well that Regeneration is a Metaphorical term taken from our natural Generation because there is so great a change that a man is as it were another man If we consider how great this change is we shall finde it so to be There is first of all an Intrinsick change peculiar to the state of adult Christians their understandings being informed with the knowledge of those truths concerning God and themselves and a Life to come which they are most of all concerned to know which is the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Hereby also is produced a proportionable change in their Wills and Affections which the belief of the Gospel hath wrought such effects upon that
from being addicted to sensuality and worldliness they are come to love God with all their Hearts and to be strongly inclined to Holiness and Virtue This likewise produceth a suitable change in their lives which now are led not according to the lusts of the Flesh and the examples of evil Men but the Laws of God and the Example of Christ. And thus we come to the true use of all our Faculties as an Infant after it is born falls into those natural motions which are hindred by its imprisonment in the Womb. Now when our mindes are thus purified from sin when the Spirit that was in Christ is in us and our bodies and souls are become the Instruments of Righteousness there follows a Relative change in our state as considerable as the other For then are we the Sons of God Heirs with Christ Brethren to God's Children in heaven and on earth we are of kin to the Family of God we enjoy his Favour and Blessing and have an actual right to that promise which he hath promised even eternal life Lay all these things together and nothing will be more evident to you than this that so great a change of our state is implied in our being the true Disciples of Christ that we are as it were other men by being so and so may fitly be said to be Born again when we become such persons But that Intrinsick alteration which seems to afford the clearest Similitude regards that sense of good and evil which is proper to a true Christian. We know that all living Creatures have such a sense of things hurtful and destructive to them that they are thereby generally prompted to avoid them 'T is thus I say in the natural life that we readily apprehend what is contrary to it and therefore we do not run into the Fire nor venture down Precipices because these things are contrary and destructive to our Natures And this is a very fit Emblem of the state of a true Christian for by reason of that divine temper of Soul which is wrought in him by the Holy Spirit he hath such a like sense of good and evil with regard to his Minde and Conscience as all living Creatures have with respect to their Natures He therefore that is in Christ i. e. who is a true Christian is said to be Born again and to become a new Creature for he hath a new sense of things which he had not before he hath other apprehensions of sin than sensual and worldly men have he looks not upon any immorality as a harmless thing but apprehends all kindes of wickedness to be what they are pernicious and detestable which is the reason as I have already intimated of what St. John saith He that is born of God sinneth not In like manner that which in the Relative change seems to be most visibly intended by this Metaphor is our being qualified to enter into the Kingdom of God which is the Inheritance of the Saints or the true Disciples of Christ for by becoming his Disciples we are as it were born to this Inheritance we are the Sons of God and if Sons then Heirs as the Apostle tells us Now if faith in Christ and obedience to his Laws make men so much better and more excellent persons than they were before and qualifie them also for an everlasting reward then here is another visible reason for the choice of this Metaphor to express the state of a good Christian by viz. the great advantages they gain by it we have as it were a new being given unto us when we truely believe in Jesus and conform our selves to his Doctrine and Example we are so much altered for the better as if we had never lived till then and we have infinitely more reason to think of this alteration in our state than to remember the day of our Birth with joy and gladness Hence we finde that the Scripture does not onely represent the advantages we gain by the Gospel of our Saviour under Metaphors taken from things most grateful to our natural Appetites as Liberty Life and Light but withal it assures us that the good implied in those things does in a more eminent manner belong to the true Disciples of Christ than to any body else as when our Saviour saith Joh. 8.36 If the Son shall make you free then are you free indeed Now what this freedom is we are told vers 32. The truth shall make you free and vers 34. He that committeth sin is the servant of sin So that this freedom consisteth in the knowledge of the Truth and in obedience to the Laws of God which is that very state that the Scripture elsewhere calls Light and Life and being Born again and created in Christ Jesus Lastly Since it is by the Operations of the Holy Spirit in us that we become true believers and good men it is visible that our being then said to be born of God does fitly express the concurrence of that Divine power whereby this change is effected in us There are other Metaphors whereby the Scripture expresseth the same thing but none of them seem to be so full of signification as this although the use and meaning of all of them is easily discernible Those expressions of Creating and Drawing seem principally to respect that divine Grace by which we are enabled to overcome the world and to live to God Converting or Turning peculiarly notes that alteration that is hereby made in our state Taking away the Heart of stone expresseth the same thing but chiefly with regard to what we were before as giving the Heart of flesh also doth with respect to what we become afterward Making a new Heart and a new Spirit signifies that change which is wrought in the Dispositions of the Minde as causing us to walk in God's Statutes notes the reformation that is made in the life Purifying Cleansing and Purging are Metaphors that express the excellency of this change and how much our Natures are bettered by it But Quickning and making Free and turning from darkness to light do express all the advantages which we gain by the Faith and Obedience of the Gospel whether they be Inherent or Relative And this may serve to shew in what divers respects these Metaphors conspire to express the same thing But you may observe that the Metaphor of Regeneration or the new Birth contains all those Similitudes to the state of a true Christian which are severally discernible in the rest And this probably is the reason why it is more frequently used in the Scriptures than the rest are as that is the reason I suppose why it hath obtained amongst Christian writers to treat of the conditions of eternal Life more frequently under the name of Regeneration than under any other phrase whereby they are Metaphorically exprest And possibly this common use of the word may have been an occasion to some unwary Christians of imagining that it is to be understood in
the Jews would have been much more willing to be had it not been for the meanness of his outward appearance and his ignominious death afterwards This I take to be a probable interpretation of this difficult place but I do not think every body is bound presently to believe it or to yield to it any further than he judges those reasons to be of weight which I have offered for it And if Dr. Owen or any other Divine can shew me a more probable sence of these words or of any difficult passage in this discourse of our Saviour than what I have propounded I shall make no difficulty to forsake my own and come over to his In the mean time we may safely suppose that our Saviour spake to this purpose If I have proved to you by those miracles which you acknowledge that I am the Messias and consequently that you ought to be my Disciples and yet you will not believe me and become my Disciples how much more unlikely is it that you will be so after I tell you that I who am your Messias must be lifted up upon a Cross and die for the sins of the World this will go down more hardly with you than any thing I have told you hitherto And yet this is the purpose of God for the salvation of the world as I know and am come to tell you who have ascended into heaven and am acquainted with these heavenly things these secret Counsels of God which so far transcend all the wisdom of men and this is that too which was prefigured by Moses lifting up the Serpent in the Wilderness c. Our Saviour thereupon proceeds shewing it to be the purpose of God to save Mankinde this way viz. by faith in Christ that there was no salvation to be expected but by becoming his Disciples and that they who would not be so were inexcusible as we have already shewn And now I leave it to the Reader to judge whether the Paraphrase which I have given of the former part of our Saviour's discourse to Nicodemus does not make the connexion between all the parts of it very clear and also whether our understanding the Regenerate man to be a true Disciple of Christ which is the notion this Paraphrase doth proceed upon does not agree with the scope of our Saviour's whole discourse in this place SECT II. I come at last to answer the Doctor 's objection against our notion of Regeneration which as he saith we suppose to be a Metaphorical expression of reformation of Life His objection is this Nicodemus knew the necessity of Reformation of life well enough if he had ever read Moses or the Prophets And to suppose that our Lord Jesus Christ proposed unto him the thing which he knew perfectly well onely under a new name or notion which he had never heard of before so to take an advantage of charging him with being ignorant of what indeed he full well knew and understood is a blasphemous imagination To this I answer 1. That reformation of Life which we say our Saviour meant by Regeneration Nicodemus did not understand so perfectly well as our Author imagines For though he understood well enough that Reformation of Life which was required by Moses and the Prophets he did not yet understand the necessity of that reformation which was required by our Saviour under which is supposed the believing of Jesus to be the Christ the becoming of his Disciple and the keeping of his Laws which were better than the Laws of Moses Now as I have already told the Doctor none of those conformable Divines whom he endeavours to represent as odiously as he can do mean any thing less by that reformation of life which they affirm Regeneration to consist in than such a reformation as supposeth faith in Christ and being his Disciple and a sincere change of the Minde to the love and obedience of God and our Saviour Jesus This is what we mean by that Reformation and it is sufficiently plain out of the Writings of those men whom the Doctor so tragically complains of that they mean nothing less by it And I am confident so well do I know them that there is not one of them who would not with all their Hearts forbear this use of that expression of reformation and amendment of Life if they either thought it dangerous or offensive which hitherto they have not because the state of Regeneration is thus described in the Scriptures themselves He that doth righteousness is born of God and he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven he is my Brother c. Now this is my first answer to the Doctor that that reformation of Life which his Adversaries mean which namely implies being a sincere Disciple of Jesus Nicodemus did not understand the necessity of but was that very thing which our Saviour designed to make him understand 2. So mistaken is the Doctor every way This thing was proposed unto Nicodemus not under a new but under an old name or notion for 1. The name and notion of being born again was not new since the Jews counted their Proselytes Recens Nati New-born men and as such to have quitted their Relation to their former Country Kindred and Parents and become the Children of Abraham 2. To be born of Water was no new notion neither since purifying by Water or Baptism was one of the Ceremonies of this Regeneration by Proselytism 3. Neither was it a new notion to be born of the Spirit it was to be found in the Old Testament and the Doctor himself findes it there in those words where God promiseth to Circumcise the Hearts of his People to take away their Heart of stone and to give them an Heart of flesh with his Law written in it Had Nicodemus therefore talked like himself when our Saviour spake to him of the necessity of being born again of Water and the Spirit then instead of asking that strange Question Can a man when he is old c. and afterward How can these things be he should either have offered himself to be a Proselyte or Disciple of Christ and to submit to his divine Laws which he that observes is born of God hath a new Heart c. or offered some reason to the contrary Thus then I answer the Doctor that supposing Regeneration to be a Metaphorical expression of becoming a true Disciple of Jesus our Saviour did not propose an old thing to Nicodemus under a new name and notion to puzzle him as the Doctor pretends but on the contrary he proposed a new thing to him under old and familiar expressions And thus though the Doctor knew not how we could do it I hope we have freed our selves from the guilt of that Blasphemous Imagination he would fain fasten upon us The sum of what hath been said is this That Regeneration which is an effect of the Holy Spirit consists in being a true Disciple of Christ i. e.
but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 This is the substance of what I can finde in the Scripture concerning this matter and I suppose it is sufficiently shewn that faith or a firm perswasion that Jesus is the Son of God and that his Doctrine is the Word of God is an effect of a divine Operation upon our mindes and that the first preparations within us towards Regeneration are from the Holy Spirit And consequently that the Semipelagian opinion introduced by the Massilienses upon occasion of the Pelagian controversie viz. that there is no necessity of preventing Grace though Grace be necessary to make our Faith fruitful of good works but that Faith and the first inclinations of the Will to that which is good are merely from our selves is contrary to the Scriptures SECT 2. Now when we are once perswaded that Jesus is the Son of God that which still remains to be done by us is to overcome the world and keep the Commandments of God Indeed if we believe in Jesus we have entertained into our mindes such forcible and prevailing considerations as will not easily suffer us to disobey him in any thing and they have so much power to lead our Affections after them and to govern our practices that I always thought the Semipelagians might with more appearance of reason have questioned the Doctrine of the Church concerning those divine Operations by which the Faith of a Believer is crowned with all other Christian Virtues than concerning those which are preparatory to Faith it self for of the two he is a more unreasonable man who believing God's Word is yet so mad as to go on still in his sins than he who believes it not and since the Lusts of men make them so unwilling to attend to those truths which are against them we might think it were an easier matter to keep the Faith of Christ from entring into their Hearts than to resist the power of it when it is once admitted But now as the evidence of those Reasons by which the Gospel is proved to be a divine Revelation is far from excluding all need of a divine Influence upon our mindes to create a firm Faith in us So neither does the power of those motives which are contained in our Faith render the concurrence of the Holy Spirit needless to move our Wills to that which is good and upon good principles but still our sufficiency is of God without whose Grace the temptations of the World and the lusts of our corrupt Nature which make us unwilling to entertain the truth would always suppress the force and vertue of it afterwards Thus our Saviour told his Disciples Without me ye can do nothing John 15.5 but he did not suppose that they were incapable of doing any thing with him too but that they had power to bring forth fruit unto God and that it was from him Now that this power imparted to them was not merely the effect of the Revelation of his Doctrine to them is plain from hence that they already believed the Revelations he had made Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you vers 3. and yet he tells them that without him they can do nothing which must needs imply some grace distinct from the bare revelation of the Gospel by which they had already bore some fruit and were capable of bringing forth more vers 2 3. But that all those dispositions and vertues wherein our obedience to the Gospel doth consist are as well the graces of the Holy Spirit as the effects of our Faith is clearly and fully affirmed in those words of the Apostle Phil. 2.13 It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do which being again spoken to Believers manifestly suppose a divine Operation distinct from the Revelation of the Gospel which enabled them to will and to do i. e. to perform that obedience from their very souls which would qualifie them for eternal happiness For this is the motive by which the Apostle encourageth them to work out their Salvation vers 12. by universal obedience as hitherto they had done Now because the motive extends to engage us to every part of our duty therefore God worketh in us that we may be every way so disposed in minde and will and obedient in life as to become meet for the Kingdom of Heaven Wherefore the fear and love of God and godly Sorrow and true Repentance and the hope of eternal Life together with all Christian Virtues such as Righteousness Mercy Patience Love Peace Joy Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness and Temperance are the Graces of the Spirit Wherefore Lastly our doing that which God requires and with that fear and love of him which he requires too are the effects of his Operations in us If any thing were yet wanting to satisfie us fully in this matter our being taught to pray that we may not enter into temptation and to pray always that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil would leave no room for doubting whether of our selves we need or by promise have this great encouragement to the study of Godliness and Virtue or not For these directions were unprofitable if we either needed no strength from the divine Spirit against our Temptations or if it were not to be gained by our Prayers Much less would those Prayers of St. Paul for other Christians which we so often meet withal have signified any thing to their advantage or encouragement if there were not a divine Grace obtainable by them for the producing of those effects which he so much desired to see in their conversation And these effects were no other than all kindes of Christian Virtue and Goodness as we may learn by the following places Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of Faith with power 2 Thess. 1.11 i. e. that God would make their Faith fruitful of all good works acceptable to him that the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in them as he speaks in the following verse Again we do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work Col. 1.9 10. Thus in another place For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the Inner man Now that which the Apostle prays for in these and many like places is plainly this That those Christians to whom he wrote might attain all those Qualifications which the Gospel requires in Believers And from hence it follows that God hath not left the success of the Gospel to
ready to submit to and then I desire Dr. Hammond's interpretation may be considered But if they neither use this way nor the other nor any like it it is an absurd thing to produce those testimonies of Scripture at all to convince us by them because upon these terms it is utterly impossible they should convince us till we have received that New Light which they themselves pretend to And this is all that I can hope to bring them to viz. to confess their own impertinency in offering any testimony of Scripture for the justifying of their pretence and that when all is done they have nothing to say but the Spirit tells them this is the true sence and meaning of Scripture without enabling them to make it appear to any body else And so we are to let them go either for errant Hypocrites or rank Enthusiasts whom the State hath reason to be jealous of lest they should have some dangerous design against the Government or be prompted to Sedition and Rebellion by the heats of their own fancies or the suggestions of the Devil which by an Enthusiast may be so easily mistaken for the Impulses of the Holy Ghost If last of all it should be said that although God hath not promised this Inspiration we are speaking of yet for ought we know he may do more than he hath promised and reveal the true sence of what passages in Scripture he pleaseth to whom he pleaseth I answer that as I am no way obliged to contradict this supposition so withal I must adde 1. That supposing a man to be thus inspired he cannot prove to another that he is so otherwise than by Miracles which if he doth not neither can he justly expect to convince another that the sence revealed to him is the true sence otherwise than by such rational means as he must have used if it had not been revealed and 2. That therefore if one man hath nothing to say in conclusion for his interpretation of a place of Scripture but that the Spirit led him to it and that to put any other sence upon it is the fruit of carnal reasoning and of the wisdom of the flesh and a signe of Vnregeneracy and the state of a natural man that hath not the Spirit of God which is always Dr. Owen's last refuge and another plainly shews either by the words themselves or by the designe of the discourse to which they belong or by some other way apt to convince a rational man that the foresaid meaning does not belong to them but one that is different from it In this case I say the former is convinced to pretend falsly to Inspiration and in plain English he must be a very Fool that will prefer his interpretation before the other And so much for that matter SECT 5. 2. The principal passages of Scripture which seem to imply Assurance to be a gift bestowed upon the regenerate by the Holy Spirit are two The first I shall mention is that of St. Paul to the Ephesians Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 Now by the Believers being sealed c. some have thought that a testimony of the Spirit whereby they are absolutely assured that they shall be saved must needs be meant But first the words are fairly capable of another meaning viz. that the gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Believers were an evidence that God was now preparing them for the Kingdom of Heaven since upon their believing he had blest them with so many advantages in order thereunto and therefore that he had now a peculiar right to their obedience For this we know is one use of sealing to distinguish that which of right belongs to our selves from what is common Thus are all Believers marked out for God's portion and peculiar by the eminent advantages of the Gospel which he hath made them partakers of and therefore are they said to be sealed by the Holy Spirit because the Gospel is a divine Revelation and the ministration of the Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit Thus when it is said that God the Father hath sealed Christ John 6.27 the meaning is that by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him he owned him to be his Son that great Prophet who was to declare the will and pleasure of God to men In like manner God's giving his Holy Spirit to them that believe in Christ is as St. Chrisostome speaks excellently upon this place his marking them out to be a Royal Flock it is a token of their peculiar designation to the service and obedience of God and a pledge of that Inheritance 2 Cor. 1.22 they shall be rewarded with if they walk as becomes the Gospel But all this is very far from inferring an absolute assurance in them who are thus marked out for God's people that they shall infallibly persevere in that duty which belongs to their peculiar relation to God and the performance whereof is the condition of receiving the Inheritance And therefore such assurance cannot be proved to be spoken of in this place But 2. The words are not onely capable of that sence which I have offered but their coherence with the foregoing and following verses and the force and reason of St. Paul's Exhortation requires it Let him saith he that stole steal no more and let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth c. Let all bitterness and wrath c. be put away The Argument wherewith he enforceth these Exhortations is this that otherwise they would grieve the Holy Spirit by which they were sealed c. i. e. they would plainly contradict the end for which God had bestowed the gifts of the Spirit upon them who were thus marked out to be his Servants and Children This would be to grieve the Holy Spirit i. e. to bereave themselves of his gracious presence and to come in danger of being excluded for ever out of the Rest of God as it was with the Israelites in the Wilderness with whom God was grieved forty years and he swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest Heb. 3. And the note which the Apostle makes thereupon is this that we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end vers 14. i. e. if we hold on resolvedly and patiently in the course of a Christian life It is the like Argument which the Apostle useth more concisely to the Ephesians when he disswades them from impure and evil courses lest they grieve the Holy Spirit of God and by consequence never enter into that Rest God had designed for them But this consideration could have been of no force at all if they had been absolutely sure of their Inheritance as some from these words have pretended they were whereas it must be granted to be very prevailing on supposition that by sealing is here meant their being as it were
consecrated to a life of obedience by the Spirit of God which they were made partakers of for then they would finde little excuse and a greater punishment for their unchristian practices if being so greatly obliged they should prove unthankful and disobedient The second place is that of St. Paul to the Romans The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God Rom. 8.16 But 1. This testimony of the Spirit is that publick Testimony which was given by the Spirit that true Christians are the Sons of God for it is said in the former Verse that they had received the spirit of Adoption which being opposed to the spirit of Bondage shews the Apostle's meaning to be this that the Christians were the Children of the promise and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Free-woman as he expresseth it Gal. 4.28 whereas the Jews those of them that were under the Law answered the condition of Ishmael who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of the Bond-woman to whom there was no promise of an Inheritance Now that none but true Christians were the Sons of God and Heirs of the promised Inheritance was that which was testified against the Jews by the Miracles and supernatural gifts of the Apostles and primitive Believers i. e. by the testimony of the Spirit And then this Text is very far from intending any immediate testimony of the Holy Ghost to our mindes that we are God's Children And yet 2. All that is here affirmed regards onely our present state that we are the Children of God which if we be it is certainly possible for us to be assured of it nay we cannot be ignorant of our spiritual condition without our own fault since we have so plain a rule to try our selves by as the Word of God By this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments Now our keeping of God's Commandments is that which our own spirit or Conscience must witness and then upon this condition the Revelations of the Gospel wherein to be sure is the witness of the Spirit witness to us that we are the children of God and if children then heirs c. All which may very well be without our believing that it is absolutely impossible for us to forfeit our Inheritance by any future miscarriage and therefore from this place it cannot be concluded that such assurance is given by the Holy Spirit SECT 6. 3. For the pretence of uttering the suggestions of the Spirit in Extemporary Prayers I know likewise but two places of Scripture commonly urged in favour of it The former is St. Paul's saying I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also 1 Cor. 14.15 Which I confess is a Text that I never heard produced for this pretence but by those that have nothing but mere zeal to defend their opinions withal I mean some of the people that follow Dr. Owen and his Brethren of the Separation I do not wonder that after they have been possest with a strong perswasion that the Spirit of God helps them to Words or Sence or both in their Prayers they conceit this Text to be a proof for their purpose for the words sound that way if a man believes what they do about Extemporary Prayers before-hand But I have often wondered that they who take upon them to be their Guides who pretend to learning and if they minded the Text at all can hardly be ignorant that the praying by the Spirit there meant was using the gift of Tongues in Prayer and the praying by the Vnderstanding was praying in a Language understood by the people that they I say should suffer their people to run away so long together with a belief that this Text gives them Authority to expect that the Spirit of God will take care they shall speak good sence in their Extemporary Prayers this is that which I cannot but admire I do not say they are all so dishonest but I have reason to think that many of them are and they cannot deny it I suppose unless they grant that we are acquainted with the talk of their Followers better than they themselves are But dismissing this place which is so very wide from the purpose which it is produced for I proceed to the second which indeed carries a more likely appearance and in the judgement of Dr. Owen contains a sufficient proof that the Spirit of God carries out the mindes of Believers in requests which for the matter of them are far above their natural contrivance and invention i. e. that when Believers venture to pray Extempore the Spirit of God prompts them as they go along to pray for such things as otherwise could never have come to their mindes For his words signifie thus much at least if not that the very knowledge of those things is communicated to them at that very instant before they pray for them and that by immediate Revelation The place is this Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the Hearts knoweth what is the minde of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Rom. 8.26 27. I shall endeavour to shew the true meaning of these words and leave it to the Reader whether the foresaid opinion of the Doctor can be concluded from them His other thoughts of this matter I shall not pretend to confute because I do not so well comprehend what he means viz. when he tells us with respect to the subject of Prayer the sanctified Heart that by the Groans which cannot be uttered are meant that bent frame inclination and acting of the Inward man in prayer from the power of the Spirit which they themselves in whom they are wrought do not fathom nor reach the depth of unless he means that a man may desire the Graces of God with inexpressible vehemence and yet not understand that he does so If he intends this I need onely to tell him that because these groanings are unutterable it follows not that they are unintelligible If he intends it not I do not fathom nor reach the depth of his meaning Again when he tells us with respect to the object of Prayer that the mysterious things which Believers pray for are now made nigh now realized unto them I do not well know whether he means now at their Prayers or now at some other time before If when they are praying 't is somewhat hard to conceive that the Spirit represents the truth of those things in and by the Word as he saith if at some other time before then certainly the things themselves were represented before too and they knew they were to pray for these things and then it is above my apprehension how the matter of their Prayers should be far above
their natural contrivance and invention either just before or while they are praying It seems strange likewise that by the Prayers of men low and weak in their notional apprehension of things we may see them led into Communion with God in the highest and holiest mysteries of his Grace and that they have an experience of the life and power of the things themselves in their own Hearts For what have we to see this by but their Words and Gestures c. But it is past my reach how by these helps we can see that which he told us before God onely sees viz. the fervent workings of the New Creature when acted by the Holy Ghost in supplications And to do him right he seems not to ascribe the extemporary utterance but onely the present conception of matter to the Spirit Other observations of this kinde might be made which I shall not clog the Reader withal But upon the whole matter Rom. 8.26 27. seems to me much easier to be understood than any thing that he saith with relation to it and unless he shall please to explain himself further one may sooner I think understand St. Paul than him though there be considerable difficulties in the Text which need an Interpreter Therefore I shall 1. Consult the sence of good Authors and such as the Doctor I hope will not take upon him to say were Proud Carnal Ignorant and Profane persons words which he throws so fiercely about him whilst he is discoursing of Prayer the very mention of which one would think should have taught him more meekness 2. I shall compare what they say with that which seems to me to be the designe of St. Paul in the foregoing and following Verses This I take to be a good way both to understand the Text and to avoid the Doctor 's displeasure if we should not altogether agree about the meaning of it at last St. Chrysostom saith that in those words Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for c. St. Paul instructs us not always to judge those things profitable which seem to be so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to mere natural Reason For it was likely that they who suffered so many evils wished a relaxation asking it as a grace from God But saith he do not think that would be best which presently appears to be so upon this very account we need divine assistance for man knoweth little or nothing what is for his welfare wherefore the Apostle saith We know not c. And then he shews this was St. Paul's case too when he prayed that the Thorn in the Flesh might be removed 2 Cor. 12. but obtained it not For he proves that this Thorn were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Dangers and Persecutions he lay under In like manner St. Austin tells us It is not to be believed that St. Paul or those to whom he spake knew not the Lord's Prayer why should he therefore say We know not what to pray for as we ought but because temporal afflictions are mostly profitable either to cure us of the swelling of Pride or c. but we not considering this desire to be exempted from them From which ignorance the Apostle shews himself not to have been free when lest he should be exalted by the abundance of Revelations there was given to him a Thorn in the Flesh a Messenger of Satan to buffet him and he besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him herein not knowing what to pray for as he ought Therefore in these tribulations which may be either profitable or hurtful we know not what to pray for i. e. whether it be better to have them removed or not and yet because they are hard to be born we do as men altogether desire to have them removed And not long after he saith The Spirit causeth the Saints to intercede with unutterable groans inspiring them with the desire of a thing yet unknown which they patiently expect for how should that which is desired be uttered when it is yet not known To the same purpose St. Hierom saith the Spirit helpeth our Infirmities that we should not desire earthly but heavenly things we know not what to pray for They are commonly hurtful things which we think profit us and therefore our desires are not granted as he saith himself elsewhere For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me He maketh intercession for the Saints Here saith he St. Paul by the Spirit means the grace of the Spirit For the Spirit intercedes because he maketh us to pray with unutterable groans as God is said to try us that he might know us that is that he might make us know our selves And to intercede according to the will of God is to desire Holy and not Secular things Thus St. Ambrose if he was the Author of those Commentaries We know not c. for we are deceived thinking those things will profit us which we desire when they are not profitable and here he useth the same instance likewise of St. Paul's desiring that the Messenger of Satan might depart from him to which he addes that of James and John desiring the pre-eminence in Christ's Kingdom who asked they knew not what But withal he supposeth that the Spirit doth properly intercede with God in our behalf that we may have such things as are profitable for us Theodoret saith the Apostle speaks to this purpose Pray not to be delivered from troubles for you know not what is profitable for you as God doth who governs all Resigne up your selves to him that holds the Helm of the Vniâ—â—â—se c. But saith he by the Spirit is meant the grace of the Spirit which is given to them that believe for being thereby stirred up we pray more earnestly c. And he addes that the Apostle spake this from the experience of what he had suffered referring probably to that passage concerning the Messenger of Satan so often already mentioned To mention no more Origen thus paraphraseth upon the Text Sometimes through infirmity we desire things contrary to our welfare as a sick man would have the Physician prescribe him what is agreeable to his present appetite instead of that which is for his health so in this infirm state of ours we ask sometimes what is not expedient for us And I Paul who had the Messenger of Satan given me thrice asked c. not knowing what I asked and received this answer My grace is sufficient for thee The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit but when the Spirit of God seeth our spirit striving against the Flesh he reacheth out his help Now saith he if any one can finde out a more sublime sence than this let him enjoy it to himself But they are to be admonish'd who desire of God the prosperity c. of this life because in these respects they know not what to pray for
do so yes without question he may and if he please he may let it alone too Our Author having told us that the spirit of Regeneration was promised onely to the Elect and then falling upon that point of praying for the spirit of Regeneration tells us that he might give directions in some enquiries which indeed deserve a larger discussion if his present designe would admit of it but he would instance onely in one i. e. May a person who is unregenerate and knows not his election c. But now there is another enquiry that deserves a larger discussion than this viz. Whether the Prayers of an unregenerate man can avail any thing towards the obtaining of the Spirit of Regeneration whether he knows his election or whether he knows it not But there was good reason why this enquiry was not to be meddled withal namely because our Author 's present designe would not admit of it which was to serve an Hypothesis that would not bear the enquiry That he was well enough aware of it we may see by the last Answer he brings to that one gentle Question he took in hand May an unregenerate man pray for the spirit of Regeneration Doubtless he may for persons saith he under such convictions as put them upon praying for Regeneration have really sometimes the seeds of Regeneration communicated unto them and then as they ought so they will continue in their supplications for the increase and manifestation of it Now if the Doctor had not been asham'd of his meaning he might have express'd it plainly and undisguisedly in this manner All may and ought to pray for Regeneration for some i. e. the Elect happen to be regenerated while they keep on praying and then they will be sure to pray on still that they may know it This is the most that can be made of his final Answer and it comes to no more than this that the Prayers of unregenerate men will do them no hurt but for any thing I can see he has not yet satisfied us that they will do them any good which I should have thanked him to have shewn me according to his principles if his present designe would have admitted it But what if the Scriptures teach that the promises of regenerating Grace are made onely to those who are absolutely elected to Glory I answer If that can once be shewn I have done or if it can be made to appear but probable by the Scriptures I shall begin to suspect all my reasoning against it to be as carnal as the Doctor can believe it For I heartily believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God and all my Reasonings shall submit to this one Proposition Whatever God hath said that is true Now the Doctor having repeated the first Proposition of the forementioned Scheme viz. that the Spirit of Regeneration is promised onely unto the Elect tells us that the promises concerning the communications of the Spirit unto this end have been before explained and vindicated These words I confess surprized me for they suppose that he had elsewhere produced some promises in the Scripture inconditionally made to some certain persons that they should be regenerated or at least some Texts to prove that the promises of regenerating Grace were meant onely to some men whom God from all eternity had absolutely chosen to Glory Now one would have thought there had been a former Chapter with this Title The Elect are the onely Object of regenerating Grace But there is no such thing however I have looked backward and forward to finde where he had explained and vindicated these promises he speaks of but after a long search I was satisfied that my Memory had not failed me in this particular and that I looked for what was not to be found unless it be in the first Chapter of the third Book where he dogmatically tells us that the Souls of God's Elect were the matter designed of God for the work of the New Creation to be wrought upon without offering one syllable of proof to make it good Now to flip over the great difficulty when one comes at it by pretending that it is satisfied elsewhere without referring to the particular place is the Artifice either of a bad writer or one that serves a bad Cause and a man may fairly put it in practice that writes so largely as the Doctor does for 't is hard if some of his Readers are not so courteous as to distrust their own Memories after they have gone above half way through so great a Book as his rather than to question his honesty But for his sake I shall be very sure of an Author before I trust general References again Now till I see those promises produced that I have look'd for in vain viz. that God will regenerate these Elect I shall not onely conclude that God will enable us to forsake our sins and to keep his Commandments if we believe the Gospel and implore the assistance of the Holy Spirit but also that without these qualifications we have not the least ground to expect that special Grace which is proper for that end that is to make us regenerate or holy persons If it should be said that for ought we know there are some persons whom God hath absolutely decreed to save and whom therefore he will take care to regenerate that they may be fit for salvation which is the Doctor 's notion of Election as is plain from his Scheme here in this place and from the second Chapter of his fifth Book though he hath disguised it there with many intricate sayings as his manner is I answer without assuming the boldness to pronounce concerning God's secret Decrees that it is a monstrous vanity for any man that may become a regenerate person and obtain eternal Life by a method determined by that Will of God which he knows to trust that he shall be regenerated and saved by force of a supposed Will in God which he knows not If the Scripture had told us there were some persons absolutely elected to Glory hereafter it had been a very dangerous thing for any man to neglect the care of becoming a regenerate person trusting to his particular election for the certainty of his Regeneration unless withal the Bible had given us the names of these special Favourites of Heaven and he had found his own amongst them But if the Scripture had mentioned no such thing at all it is little better than madness to venture our Regeneration upon so great an uncertainty And thus much I think may be gathered from Dr. Owen where he saith The expectation and hope of any man for Life and Immortality and Glory without previous holiness can be built on no other foundation but this that God will rescind his eternal Decrees and change his purposes that is cease to be God merely to comply with them in their sins And who knows not what will be the end of such a cursed
or intellectual Operation whatsoever and whether the power of his Physical Operation be not such a power Again if Conversion be the immediate effect of this Physical Operation is it not plain that the Minde is merely a passive Instrument in its Conversion And yet further if till the effect be irresistibly wrought by this Physical work the Minde is unperswadable by any Reason and Argument does it not follow that Violence and Compulsion is in the highest manner offered to the Will that is for I know not what he should mean else by it that Conversion is not an act of the Will but that a man is converted without his Will and that it is not his act but God's onely Can our Author tell me what it is to work upon a rational intellectual Being in a way sutable to its nature but to work upon it in an intellectual way i. e. by convincing by perswading by prevailing by the power of Truth But that irresistible power which he makes to be the immediate cause of Conversion worketh not this way at all but is contradistinguish'd to all use of reason whatsoever and produceth its effect by natural necessity So that you may as well say that a Clock strikes and the Clapper makes the Bell sound in an intellectual manner as that such a power converts in a way suitable to the rational faculties of Mankinde If the immediate Operation of the Spirit by which a man is converted be Physical as our Author will have it and carries no force of reason with it the Soul is then moved just as if it were a senseless Machine which obeys indeed if you will so call it the necessary Laws of Motion but I think is not suited to be wrought upon and be affected according to the nature and the natural Operations of a reasonable Creature as such If the Soul were a mere Engine our Author 's Physical Operation would suit it well enough and then Perswasion would be as improper a means to make it do any thing suitable to its nature as his Physical Power is to produce a free consent immediately and irresistibly in an intellectual Agent The work of the Spirit which he contends for if you will take his word carries no more repugnance to our Faculties than a prevalent perswasion doth This is one of his bold sayings but he was wise enough not to say a word of the Physical Operation in all that Paragraph to which it belongs for then the slowest Reader might have marked the Contradiction since every body knows that a perswasion be it never so prevalent carries no repugnancy at all to our Faculties because perswasion is the proper way of working upon a free Agent But now I appeal to him whether any Operation can carry a more direct repugnance to them than that Physical Omnipotent Operation he speaks of And therefore if he will stand to this saying of his he must confess if he does like an honest man that he was out in affirming Conversion to be the immediate effect of such an Operation I know indeed he talks much of the Perswasion or moral Operation of the Spirit but as I shall let him see further in another place it is onely to reproach it with insufficiency to convert the Sinner And it is plain from his Hypothesis that he does not make Conversion to be the effect of perswasion at all For 't is impossible it should if 1. It be an immediate effect of the Physical Operation and 2. If no perswasion will serve the turn till that comes like a Hurricane and carries all before it that is till all opposition is born down without the assistance of Perswasion For this man makes every unregenerate soul as inflexible by the perswasions and gentle breathings of the Holy Spirit as the very Rocks are by a whispering Wind. Now if Perswasion can do nothing then it is the Torrent of irresistible Power that must do all or else a man can never be converted And if this be the way of Conversion a man may become a Convert when he thinks of nothing less as well as when his thoughts are busied about it nay 't is all one whether he be sleeping or waking whether he dreams of it or of something else The habitual Villain stands as fair for Conversion as a man of the most ingenuous Nature And he may be converted as easily at the point of Death as if he were to begin his Race again and were not hardned by a custom in sinning All which is contrary to the common sense of Mankinde and the constant experience of Humane Nature One would have thought that if the perswading Incitations and Motions of the Holy Spirit himself be long resisted by a Sinner he is growing past all the methods of divine Grace But while he is thus immoveable by the most convincing Arguments and most powerful perswasions little does the proud soul think that there is a Physical Operation still behinde and the moment may come when his stubborn Will shall be brought down in spight of all resistance But our Author knows 't is so and withal that no man is converted but in this manner viz. by an irresistible Operation which moves the Soul no otherwise than as if it were a stock or a stone because it is incurable by any method that is suited to the Nature of Man But after all we must not pass by our Author's attempt of reconciling Conversion by this Physical work of the Spirit with its being an act of our own choice for saith he since this Grace doth irresistibly prevail against all this opposition and is without the mediation of any reason effectual and victorious over it 〈◊〉 will be enquired and well it may how this can any otherwise be done but by a kinde of violence and compulsion He shews that no violence is offered to the Will upon these terms by two Answers whereof the first is this viz. That the enmity and opposition that is acted by the Will against Grace is against it as objectively proposed to it So do men resist the Holy Ghost that is in the external dispensation of Grace by the Word And if that be alone they may always resist it which you are not to wonder at because the enmity that is in them will prevail against it Ye always resist the Holy Ghost The meaning of all which is this that a Sinner may resist the force of all reason and perswasion whatever and that indeed his Will is invincible by it Now thus he proceeds The Will therefore is not forced by any power put forth in Grace in that way wherein it is capable of making opposition unto it but the prevalency of Grace is of it as it is internal working really and physically which is not the object of the Wills opposition for it is not proposed unto it as that which it may accept or refuse but worketh effectually in it That is to say the Will is not forced by