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
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
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
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.
does not say in plain terms that he is infallible yet in that Book which I have taken the pains to consider he lays claim as you will see to such an Illumination of minde by the Holy Spirit as differs very little from that kinde of Inspiration which the Apostles had But this will not hinder you from trying the Doctor 's Spirit and way of Teaching if you consider what he very well observed in the fore-mentioned Book viz. that the Bereans were highly extoll'd for searching whether the Doctrine concerning our Saviour preached by St. Paul were so or no For he must not desire to be believed more hastily than St. Paul did who we are sure spake by an infallible Spirit The more highly any man pretends to the divine Spirit the better Testimonies he had need to produce for the truth of his pretence No wise man will lightly take up that belief of another which if he once gives way to he must believe him in all things else The brighter those Illuminations are which any Teacher boasts of the less reason you have to take his bare word for it and if he be not willing that you should examine his Doctrines he gives you great cause of suspition that they will not abide the Tryal Besides the Doctor takes notice that what was praised in the Bereans is commended in the Scripture Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God because many false spirits are gone out into the world 1 Joh. 4.1 Prophets then as he goes on must be tried before they be trusted now the reason of this holds still there are many false Teachers abroad in the world wherefore try every one try his spirit his spiritual gift of Teaching and that by the Word of God I will onely adde that the reason holds more strongly now for if false Teachers pretended to an infallible Spirit even whilst the Apostles were alive to contradict them and discover them much more likely are they to do so now when they think they may do it more securely and therefore we had need to use the more diligence in trying those Teachers that pretend loftily by that Word of God which the Apostles have left us in their Writings Now if the Doctor would have you to shut your own Eyes and then trust to that New saving Light by which he pretends to explain Gospel-Truths this were enough to make you suspect that the Light that is in him is Darkness Or if he meant to except himself from being tried when he bad you try the Spirits for that reason he is least of all to be excepted I have obeyed the Apostles advice and tried him as you may see in the following Book which I was willing to make publick because those Reasons which satisfie me that he is very much out of the way in discoursing upon spiritual things after this manner may possibly seem as clear to you as they do to my self If there be any Sophistry in them or carnal Reasoning or perverting of Holy Writ 't is more than I know and I shall thank the Doctor for making the discovery which I think he is bound to do if he can not onely for your sake but for mine too For so far as I understand my self I am not less desirous to retract any errour of my own than I am to convince you of his And therefore if he be as willing as I am I shall in all probability hear further from him In the mean time I desire you to believe neither of us but to try us both If the Doctor 's friends should be troubled to find him charg'd with Nonsence in the following Book the Author has this to say for himself that he knew no other name so fit as Nonsence to call Nonsence by And he believes that he has not onely said but prov'd also that the Doctor is guilty of Nonsence where he has charged him with it He hopes also that they will not be offended with him for taking occasion sometimes to rebuke this man for those rude Words and unjust Reproaches which he has poured forth for whole Pages together upon his Adversaries of the Church of England For if it be possible he should be taught at last to manage controversies in Religion in a more Christian manner than he has done hitherto And now the Author will onely say in behalf of himself that his designe in this Book was to clear the Truth of that Question which he has undertaken to every ordinary understanding and thereby to promote the power of Godliness And the best thing he can say of the Book it self is that it hath been thought by men of far better judgement than he can pretend to not to be altogether improper for that end And if they are not mistaken may the All-wise and good God prosper the designe of it with his Blessing The CONTENTS Of the Introduction SECT I. THat the promise of the Holy Spirit is according to the Scriptures a great motive to diligence in Religion Page 1. That according to Dr. Owen's principles it seems to be none at all p. 3. The Author's designe p. 4. SECT II. The advantage which the Doctor makes by pretending that onely the Regenerate understand spiritual things spiritually p. 5. while he proves himself to be regenerate by his spiritual understanding of spiritual things p. 6. This Artifice of his discovered in some instances p. 7. That he allows onely himself and his party to be competent Judges of his Doctrine concerning the Operations of the Holy Spirit p. 11. SECT III. His interpretation of 1 Cor. 2.14 explained p. 15. SECT IV. That his meaning of the natural man is groundless p. 20. Of his not receiving the things of the Spirit absurd p. 21. And of their being foolishness to him blasphemous p. 25. The odde account he gives of the reasonableness of the Gospel in his Preface p. 27. Other reflections upon his sence of the fore-mentioned Text p. 30. That the Doctor 's pretended Gospel-mysteries need his interpretation of that Text but the real mysteries of the Gospel need it not p. 31. The pernicious consequence of his interpretation p. 32. SECT V. Another sence of the Text offered according to St. Chrysostome whose Authority the Doctor pretends in favour of his own p. 33. The scope of the Apostle in that and the former Chapter largely shewn p. 34. From whence it plainly appears what he meant by the natural man p. 40. The Scriptural notion of the state of nature p. 42. What is meant by the things of the Spirit of God and their being spiritually discerned p. 43. and by the spiritual man p. 45. The incoherence of the Doctor 's sence with the Context p. 46. Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase upon the Text vindicated from the exceptions of Dr. Owen p. 47. And shewn to agree with those passages of St. Chrysostome which Dr. Owen himself produceth p. 51. That the following Book is not to be
rejected on pretence that the Author is but a natural man which concludes the Introduction p. 53. Of the Book PART 1. CHAP. 1. What significations of the Word Spirit are needful to be noted p. 56. The difference made by Dr. Owen between giving of the Spirit and giving his Graces p. 58. And what more he understands by putting on the Spirit p. 59. The subject of the discourse stated p. 61. That Dr. Owen confounds the promise of the Spirit made to the Apostles and the first Disciples onely with that which is made to Christians in all ages p. 64. And argues inconsequently from the former in favour of his own mistakes concerning the latter p. 65. That by this way of arguing he sometimes also concludes that which is true from premises that do not infer it p. 67. His designe in all this p. 68. And the disservice that is done the Truth by it p. 70. CHAP. 2. For the producing of what effects the Holy Spirit is promised to men which is the first matter of enquiry p. 72. may be discerned in great part from Luke 11.13 p. 73. To which end the scope of our Saviour's discourse there is considered p. 74. And it is from thence proved that they are onely needful purposes for which the Holy Spirit is there promised p. 76. What effects are needful p. 77. What are necessary p. 79. What are profitable p. 81. How we are to pray for needful Graces of the latter sort p. 83. Several Consectaries useful to our proceeding in the following enquiries gained from the fore-mentioned Text p. 88. An exception to this Chapter from the necessity of Regeneration p. 94. CHAP. 3. The Doctor 's loose way of talking concerning Regeneration p. 96. But at last he concludes the word is to be understood in its proper sence p. 99. That it is absurd so to understand it p. 100. That it cannot be so understood without contradicting the Scriptures p. 101. His argument that the Scripture has no metaphorical expressions of the work of the Spirit p. 106. His manner of charging his Adversaries with turning all Scripture-expressions of spiritual things into Metaphors p. 110. His scornful hints concerning Christian Virtues p. 112. That Regeneration is a metaphorical expression proved from what he saith himself where he denies it p. 113. How Dr. Owen and the Papists do alike abuse the Scriptures p. 115. What we are to understand by the state of Regeneration p. 117. The notion proved p. 119. The Doctor represents his Adversaries notion of Regeneration falsly p. 123. And that knowingly p. 125. The distinction between Grace and moral Virtue considered 126. That the Doctor rejects the true notion of Regeneration in terms that do notoriously contradict the Scriptures p. 128. That he contradicts them also by that reason which he gives for rejecting it p. 130. The charge of Pelagianism justly retorted upon Dr. Owen p. 133. Regeneration considered as an Effect p. 136. Several reasons why the state of a true Disciple of Christ is exprest by the Metaphors of Regeneration the New Creature c. p. 139. Why the expression of Regeneration is more used than the rest p. 143. The scope of our Saviour's discourse to Nicodemus shewn p. 145. A Paraphrase of that part of it which concerns Regeneration p. 149. The reddition of our Saviour's similitude of the Wind explained p. 150. A probable sence of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by our Saviour to Nicodemus p. 155. The Doctor 's Objection against the true notion of Regeneration grounded upon the rebuke given to Nicodemus answered p. 157. CHAP. 4. That Faith is an effect of a divine Operation p. 161. In what sence it is affirmed so to be p. 162. The preparation required for Faith p. 165. That all those Christian vertues which flow from Faith are also the Graces of the Holy Spirit p. 169. That our improvement in those virtues is so likewise p. 173. What is meant by God's dwelling in men p. 175. What was signified by his dwelling in the Ark p. 176. which is applied to the state of the Christian Church p. 178. That God is said to dwell onely in good men p. 181. That their progress in Christian vertue and perseverance is from the Holy Spirit p. 185. Some Consectaries from the foregoing discourse p. 186. CHAP. 5. Gifts pretended to be from the Spirit p. 189. Immediate revelation of the true sence of Scripture not promised in St. Luke p. 191. Either to the spiritual Guides or their people p. 193. Nor absolute assurance of our particular Election p. 195. Dr. Owen's way of proving such assurance profitable p. 197. What the Author understands by the full assurance of Hope mentioned Heb. 6.11 p. 199. The reason why some will not admit of comfort without assurance p. 204. Neither is it there promised that the Spirit will dictate extemporary Prayers p. 205. That in the better sort of these Prayers there is a form of matter and usually of method and that all the variety commonly lies in shifting of Words and Phrases p. 209. That these three pretended gifts are promised no where in the Scripture p. 211. What is meant by sealing to the day of Redemption p. 214. And by the witness of the Spirit p. 216. And by praying with the Spirit p. 218. And by the Spirit 's helping our infirmities p. 219. CHAP. 6. The Holy Spirit given to whom p. 233. The difference between common and special Grace p. 234. Special Grace promised upon conditions p. 237. And not to be expected but by those that perform them p. 239. Dr. Owen's mystical talk concerning the object of sanctifying Grace p. 240. That he makes no qualification on our part requisite beforehand for Regeneration p. 243. And that according to him all praying for it is unprofitable p. 244. That he shuffles off the task of proving his main principle by pretending falsly that he had proved it before p. 246. The folly of trusting to a supposed absolute Decree p. 247. The Doctor 's insincerity in changing his notion of Election to shift off the difficulty of proving his own opinion concerning it p. 250. That he makes nothing to contradict himself as his cause requires it p. 258. What that common Grace is which is given to all p. 261. The notion proved p. 262. Why the promise of common Grace is not expresly made to all p. 266. That it is not properly part of the New Covenant p. 267. That the promises of special Grace are made to all under possible conditions p. 268. CHAP. 7. Difficult to define the manner of the Holy Spirit 's Operations particularly p. 270. Dr. Owen peremptory and fierce in this point p. 271. His definition of it of dangerous consequence p. 274. Faith and Repentance are in that manner caused by the holy Spirit that they are still properly the effects of God's Word p. 274. That according to Dr. Owen's principles they are not the effects
thereof p. 277. An instance of his excessive boldness in this matter p. 280. The manner of the holy Spirit 's Operations suitable to the rational nature of Mankinde p. 282. which is in words granted but in effect denied by Dr. Owen p. 283. His vain endeavours to reconcile this Proposition with his Physical immediate Operation p. 286. Isa. 5.4 discoursed upon p. 290. The holy Spirit operates in that manner as to leave our diligence necessary to attain the end of his Operations p. 292. What is meant by God's working in us to will and to do p. 293. And by giving a new Heart p. 296. The Operations of the Spirit suited to our spiritual estate p. 298. That his Graces are wrought gradually is an useful consideration p. 302. That the Operations of the holy Spirit are in themselves imperceptible and known onely by their effects p. 305. That to be guided by the Holy Spirit and by the Gospel and by a good Conscience is one and the same thing p. 309. That men resist the Holy Spirit when they think of nothing less p. 312. That the Operations of the Holy Spirit are Assistances p. 314. Dr. Owen falsly pretends that his Adversaries deny the Assistances of Grace p. 315. That his errour is more justly chargeable upon himself p. 318. The promise of the Holy Spirit a forcible motive to Godliness shewn from the general Heads of the whole Discourse p. 324. The Conclusion of the First Part p. 326. THE INTRODUCTION SECT I. FRom what St. Paul saith Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure it is evident that the consideration of that Divine Assistance whereof the Apostle speaks is a pregnant motive to excite our greatest care and endeavour to do the will of God For I suppose no Christian will say that St. Paul pretended to enforce his Exhortation with an Argument that had little or no force in it to perswade The forcibleness of this Motive lies principally in this Supposition that as they upon whom the aids of the Holy Spirit which are promised in the Gospel are bestowed may fulfil the conditions of obtaining Eternal Life so withal they may miscarry through their own negligence and then their sin becomes more inexcusable and their punishment will be more heavy And this is a clear reason why even those in whom God worketh both to will and to do are yet exhorted to work out their Salvation with fear and trembling Upon this Supposition the Author to the Hebrews doth earnestly exhort Christians to perseverance in the profession and practice of the Gospel For saith he of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath done despite to the spirit of grace which he saith plainly for this end to excite them to an effectual care in improving those Spiritual Aids whereby they were able to persevere This I think will easily be granted unless we can imagine that the Apostle talks at as strange a rate as Dr. John Owen frequently doth in his Book concerning the Holy Spirit where he often threatens them with the day of Judgement that look upon him and divers of his notions in Divinity to be senseless and fanatical For we shall see that his threatnings have not that charitable meaning in them which the admonitions of the Apostle have He tells us that Those by whom Regeneration i. e. his notion of it is exposed to scorn will one day understand the necessity of it although it may be not before 't is too late to obtain any advantage by it Now one would think it to be the Doctor 's opinion that those who shall one day be damned might by a timely care have prevented it and that he intended this warning to make them careful to understand the necessity of Regeneration before it be too late But if you think so you are much mistaken and you do not yet understand this man's Principles for throughout his whole Book he supposes a certain powerful illumination of the Holy Ghost given to none but those that shall certainly be saved to be necessary in order to a saving knowledge of Regeneration And as for the rest the darkness that is in them is no less effectual to binde them in a state of Sin than it is in the Devils themselves Now I do not understand how the Doctor 's Warnings could be of any use to the Devils themselves And I do as little understand why he makes such frequent excursions as he doth to threaten his Adversaries with the day of Judgement unless as one would be tempted to believe by the insulting language that goes along with it it be some refreshing to a man so naturally vindictive to think he shall one day see 'em damn'd This is one great exception I have against this Man's Book that whereas he contends so fiercely for his Opinions as he doth all along pretending in particular That it is of the highest importance to us to enquire into and secure unto our selves the promised workings of the Spirit yet supposing his notions thereof to be true it is no matter whether they be enquired into or no for neither can we have a true understanding what they are nor if we could would that excite our endeavours to secure them for according to him it is impossible for a man to understand a spiritual truth or do any thing that is spiritually good unless he be enabled by such an Almighty Power as leaves it on the other hand impossible for him to be spiritually blinde and dead any longer For this power he saith is irresistible and he affirmeth it to be false that the Will can make use of that Grace for Conversion which it can refuse Now the Doctor confesses that this kinde of blindness and deadness with respect unto spiritual things is a matter which the World cannot endure to hear of and is ready to fall into a tumult upon the mention of it And if he says true I am very glad on 't because if the World could not endure to hear such Doctrines as these are we might hope to see a great many men wiser and better than they are for he hath stated the Doctrine of the operations of the Spirit in that manner that instead of exciting men thereby to hearty endeavours after true goodness he hath laid down Principles that will excuse them if they be never so careless and so hath betray'd this great encouragement of the Gospel into the hands of lazy and wicked men I shall therefore endeavour to give a better account of what the Holy Scripture teacheth us in this matter then I think he hath done and I shall withal examine those Arguments wherewith he pretends so to demonstrate his notions that the proudest and most petulant of his Adversaries shall not be able to return any thing of a solid answer
thereunto For my part I do not think that Pride and Petulancy qualifie men either to maintain Arguments or to answer them the Doctor seems to be of the opinion that they do and much good may his advantage do him But this I see that Pride and Petulancy are good helps towards the writing of a Great Book For if this man had spar'd himself the pains of charging his Adversaries with Pelagianism Ignorance Impudence and ill Manners and his frequent Tautologies into the bargain the bulk of his Book had been taken down so considerably that the smalness of the Volume would have carried an even proportion to the truth and the profitableness of his Discourse And how much of that is to be allowed to him I will leave the indifferent Reader to judge SECT II. MY designe as I have said is to treat of the operations of the Holy Spirit but before I enter upon this work it will be necessary to remove one prejudice which the Doctor hath laid in every man's way that shall pretend to write against him concerning this or any other Divine Subject And that is that no man's reasonings about spiritual things are to be heeded till his minde be illuminated by an almighty work of the Holy Ghost i. e. till he be regenerated This is the clear consequence of his affirming that without such illumination a man cannot understand spiritual things spiritually i. e. as they ought to be understood For if he himself cannot understand them spiritually neither can he explain them spiritually to others and then let him say what he will he is not fit to be regarded And there is a very great advantage he makes by this pretence for when he is not able to answer the objections that lie against him he despiseth them under the name of carnal Reasonings and when he hath run himself upon manifest absurdities he comes off with pretending that they are mysteries not to be understood without the illumination of the Spirit and therefore Natural men understand them not because they are not enlightened 'T is true he makes use of Scripture very often and he makes a shew of reasoning also i. e. of propounding difficulties and giving their solutions and the like but then if you make it never so plain that he argues weakly and that he alledges Scripture impertinently this will not serve your turn for you must know that you have not yet received that new saving Light he speaks of which can onely make you to understand spiritual things spiritually for without the addition of this new Light which onely the regenerate have the use of Reason and Scripture is utterly insufficient to give you a spiritual understanding of them so that you can neither be convinced that another understands them spiritually till security be given you that he is a regenerate man nor when you are certain of that is he able to make you understand them so till you are regenerated your self Now if this be true then I have a very strange task for then I cannot confute Dr. Owen till I can prove him to be an unregenerate man nor can I convince any man that what I am to say is true till I have proved the truth of mine own Conversion both which Arguments I take to be very improper for a Book for though I should argue from Principles common either to all Christians or to all men with never such appearance of Reason it might yet be replied that all this is but carnal reasoning which the Doctor and his sanctified Friends discover to be no better by that illumination which because I have not I cannot understand spiritual Mysteries spiritually But for this reason you will say our Author ought consonantly to his Principles to have proved himself a regenerate man before he could reasonably expect that we should surrender our belief to his discourses of Spiritual Mysteries You must know therefore that he hath done something towards it in divers places of his Book for he supposes that whoever understands Gospel-mysteries in that spiritual manner wherein he hath explain'd them is thereby proved one that hath received the special illumination of the Holy Ghost and consequently regenerate So that if you ask how a man is qualified to understand and teach spiritual things spiritually you are told by the especial illumination of the Holy Ghost But if you would then be satisfied that the Doctor suppose is thus illuminated you must know it cannot be otherwise because he understands and teaches Spiritual things spiritually which I take to be a shameful Circle Now whether I have injured the Doctor in any thing that I have hitherto charged him with let the Reader judge by a few of many passages to that purpose which lie up and down in his Book He saith that without an effectual powerful work of the Holy Spirit creating and by his Almighty power inducing a new saving Light into the mindes of men they are not able to discern receive understand or believe savingly spiritual Truths or the Mysteries of the Gospel And again such is the darkness of their unregenerate mindes that they are powerfully and as unto any light of their own i. e. till the Almighty creating work is done invincibly kept off from receiving spiritual things in a spiritual manner Now I shall shew by two or three instances that the Doctor makes his way of understanding spiritual things to be a mark of Regeneration and an Argument that the irresistible work hath been upon a man's minde When he undertakes to shew why God doth require Holiness and Righteousness of us and affirms that he doth not require it in order to our Justification he tell us carnal Reason cannot discern of what use it should be if it serve not to this purpose or one of those which he there rejects Now that Holiness is necessary is one of the spiritual things of the Gospel and this carnal Reason may understand but if you understand this Doctrine spiritually you must understand that it is not necessary to the purpose of Justification and this forsooth carnal Reason cannot discern But what follows makes it plainer yet But the first saving Light that shines by the Gospel from Jesus Christ into our Hearts begins to undeceive us in this matter So that he who believes that God hath required Holiness of us as an indispensible condition of our being justified hath had no saving Light shining into his Heart by Jesus Christ for he hath not had the first of all and this clearly shews how the Doctor makes the rejecting of his Notions to be a mark of an unregenerate man He saith further And there is no greater evidence of our receiving an Evangelical Baptism or of being baptized into the spirit of the Gospel than the clear compliance of our Mindes with the Wisdom of God herein This is full and home to the purpose for you see that on the other hand to discard the necessity of Holiness under that
consideration is a clear compliance with the Wisdom of God and a mark of Regeneration I take this to be a competent instance of the Doctor 's proving himself to be regenerated by his spiritual understanding of things but how he came to understand them so spiritually you heard before viz. by an Almighty Power which induced a new saving Light into his minde for I suppose he has not a way by himself of arriving at this Felicity This now is very plain That if you spiritually understand the necessity of Holiness you must not understand it to be necessary to Justification But if you ask the Doctor why you cannot understand it as he doth his Answer is Because you are not enlightned and regenerated by the irresistible Work for where this work is not that spiritual thing cannot be so understood and where it is 't is impossible but it should be so understood Now then if you ask how the Doctor proves himself to be a regenerate man he proves it clearly by his understanding the necessity of Holiness in that spiritual manner wherein he understands it And at this rate I think a man may prove any thing Thus the Doctor tells us how the purifying vertue of the blood of Christ is applied to us by Faith but in so mystical a manner that he is forced to confess it himself and therefore says he when you understand these things you will not think it so strange that God should appoint this way of believing onely as the means to interest us in the purifying vertue of the Blood of Christ. For the truth is before he had done with that point he had made it so unintelligible that he had nothing to keep up his Readers in heart withal but by promising them that when they understood those things they would not think them strange i. e. when that new saving Light is once darted into their mindes by which the Doctor discerns spiritual Mysteries In the mean time he cautions them against those that pretend the believing he speaks of to be no more than a work of the fancy in these words Despise their ignorance for they know not what they say when men come to the real practice of this Duty the practise of believing that the Blood of Christ without any more ado will cleanse them from their Sins they will finde what it is to discard all other ways and pretences of cleansing viz. a sincere reformation of Heart and Life what it is to give unto God against all difficulties and oppositions i. e. though it be never so absurd to imagine this makes for the Glory of God the glory of his Attributes in finding out this way for us Again after he had given such a description of Gospel-holiness as any one would be asham'd to own that pretends to an intelligible Religion he hopes to make up all with saying The thing it self as hath been declared is deep and mysterious not to be understood without the aid of spiritual Light in our mindes So that if you do not understand what the Doctor says the reason is plain because you have not the Spirit and at this rate any man may write Nonsense safely enough and put it off for a Gospel-mystery when he has done For the thing may be understood though you do not understand it for it may be understood by the aid of spiritual Light And if you understand it not 't is because you rely upon carnal Reason and have not the Light of the Spirit For thus the Doctor tells us The reason why men have other notions of holiness than he has is their ignorance and hatred of the onely true real principle of Evangelical holiness which we have described for what the world knoweth not in these things it always hateth and they cannot discern it clearly or in its own light and evidence for it must be spiritually discerned This the Natural man cannot do 1 Cor. 2.14 and in that false light of corrupted reason wherein they discern and judge it they esteem it foolishness and fancy So that 't is to no purpose what the Natural man a man that useth the best means he can to finde out the meaning of the Scriptures says in these matters till that new Light be created in his minde by the help whereof this Author as it should seem talks of sublime Mysteries which we use to call Nonsense and yet are blamed for it though he confesses 't is impossible that we should do otherwise Now the Doctor is as safe as may be if he can thus make his Reader believe that to understand the Doctrines of the Gospel spiritually is to understand them according to his apprehensions of them and that to contradict him is an infallible signe of one that wants the special illumination of the Holy Ghost For upon these terms whoever goes about to write against him must do it at the peril of being reckoned an unregenerate man and then the Doctor is secure for we have often seen as it is said by him that such a man because he wants special illumination cannot understand the Mysteries of the Gospel spiritually and then he cannot discourse of them spiritually and then I think he may as well hold his tongue for any good he is likely to do with his carnal Reason And this is that prejudice which I am in danger of lying under with the Doctor 's party while I treat concerning the assistance of the Holy Spirit for he uses the same artifice to support his notions in this matter Thus he tells us A Command they suppose leaves no room for a Promise at least such a Promise as wherein God should take upon himself to work in us what the Command requires of us and a Promise they think takes off all the influencing authority of the Command If Holiness be our duty there is no room for Grace in this matter and if it be an effect of Grace there is no place for Duty But all these arguings are a fruit of the wisdom of the flesh Now as I shall shew hereafter in these words he belies those whom he writes against for they suppose no such matter as he talks of But the Doctor as we shall see doth in other places mean by Grace an irresistible force upon the mindes of men though he conceals it here dishonestly to slander his Adversaries Now that such a Grace is inconsistent with the commands of God in Scripture may be so evidently argued that he hath nothing to say against it but to call such arguing a fruit of the wisdom of the flesh which is his perpetual refuge But to be short he expresly tells us The whole work of the Spirit is rationally to be accounted for by and unto them who believe the Scriptures that I like very well and have received the spirit of Truth but there we are all spoil'd again for we know what he means by having received the spirit of Truth viz. being
illuminated by an almighty work of the Spirit so that none but the Doctor and his enlightned ones can possibly either give or receive a rational account of the workings of the Spirit and then if we reject his talk 't is because we want that spiritual Power without which the minde cannot receive it If you ask yet further what this spiritual Power is he gives you an admirable description of it The spiritual power of the Minde consists in a spiritual light and ability to discern spiritual things in a spiritual manner So that spiritual Light is spiritual Power and spiritual Power is spiritual Light This men in the state of Nature are utterly void of but any one that is truely sanctified hath light enough to understand the spiritual things of the Gospel in a spiritual manner for we have received the Spirit of God that we may know the things that are freely given us of God What others may think of this I know not but methinks it would grieve any Christian heart to observe the Gospel of our Saviour that Divine means of making men truely wise and good thus debased and dishonoured by such a senseless use of Scripture-phrases as this man makes of them who writes himself D. D. For that which sets off all this wilde and confused talk of his which is enough to puzzle any man at the first blush is his perverting the true use of these Phrases viz. the Natural man and the state of Grace spiritual things and discerning them spiritually with which he rings the changes so often in his Book leaving a noise of the words in the fancies of his Readers instead of the true i. e. the Scriptural notion belonging to them imprinted on their Mindes That I may therefore reconcile the Reader to an opinion that I may possibly write of the operation of the Holy Spirit with more truth than this man hath done I shall prepare my way by enquiring into the sense of this Text of St. Paul The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned For it is chiefly upon this place as far as I can understand that the Doctor builds his confidence that we cannot spiritually discern Spiritual things and as by expounding thereof the use of those Phrases and such as are equivalent to them will be understood so the understanding of them will be conducible also to the main designe of this Book I shall first examine the Doctor 's interpretation of this place of Scripture and then offer that sense of it which I take to be truer than his Before I attempt either of which things I must beg his pardon if I do not think it fit to follow him as oft as he is pleased to leave the Argument and fall a railing against those that have other thoughts of the Text than he has especially where he spends almost two whole Pages upon nothing else charging his Adversaries with the want of those Vertues particularly enumerated by him which they greatly praise and extol and accusing them of Pride Ambition Covetousness Vanity and Profaneness and I know not how many Vices more Now what is all this and a great deal more of the like stuff which he hath swelled his Discourse withal to the explanation of St. Paul's Text which he was endeavouring Suppose I had a minde to retaliate having so large a Subject as Dr. Owen's Pranks from the year 1648 to this present time to expatiate upon what goodly work were here for the Reader Therefore all I shall say to this matter is that whereas his lewd and notorious practices against the Church and State have been exposed in Print and these charged upon him not from Tales pickt up in the Streets and at Gossiping-meetings but from his own publick Actions and Writings He hath no way to be revenged upon the Gentleman that hath done him this kindeness but by letting fly upon his whole Order with all sorts of Calumnies and Reproaches though 't is very likely he is not able to fasten his Accusations upon any one of those whom he thus bespatters since his plentiful Rage against them might satisfie any man that his Will was not wanting Wherefore it being to as little purpose to attempt the confutation of such loose and general Calumnies as it had been to have answered the Doctor if he could have satisfied his implacable malice with being at a word and calling us once for all Rogues and Villains I shall leave him in the quiet possession of his Talent at Lying and Defamation and shall now onely try whether his Reasonings be as unanswerable as his Railings SECT III. I Often finde it very difficult to fasten any meaning upon so slippery a Writer as this but to my best understanding he thus explains the phrases of the Text. 1. By the Natural man he means one that hath the use of all his rational faculties or every one that is so and that is no more than so that is every one who is not a spiritual man is not one who hath received the spirit of Christ one that hath the spirit of a man enabling him to know things Natural Civil or Political but not the Spirit of Christ to know things Spiritual So that the Natural man is one who is not a Spiritual man but a Natural man onely as the Spiritual man is one who is not onely a Natural man or thus the Natural man concerning whom the Apostle saith that he cannot know the things of the Spirit of God is one who hath not the Spirit and cannot know the things of the Spirit of God And if the Doctor had rested in this Explication I think he had been safe enough for ever being confuted But he hath a further meaning which discovers not it self till we come towards the end of his Comment For he tells us the reason why the Natural man hath no ability to discern spiritual things is because the Light it self whereby alone spiritual things can be spiritually discerned is created in us by an Almighty Act of the Power of God so that at last this is his notion of a Natural man which agrees with the rest of his Book that he is one in whose minde spiritual Light is not created by the Almighty Power of God 2. By the things of the Spirit of God he understands the mysteries of the Gospel which depend wholly on supernatural Revelation and I think this is the onely Phrase he understands right If he means honestly by supernatural Revelation viz. that Revelation which was communicated to the World by Christ and his Apostles and not any particular Revelation made to himself and his Party by an irresistible work of the Spirit upon their mindes But such a custom he has gotten to confound every thing that within two Pages he understands by it all the Commands of God whatsoever for through
we finde in vers 22 23. For the Jews require a signe and the Greeks seek after wisdom But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness Here are two sorts of men concerning whom the Apostle speaks and he shews concerning each of them why they rejected the Gospel 1. The Jews were offended at it because it required the belief of a crucified Messias but their pretence was that they wanted a Sign i. e. some Prodigy from Heaven or some such amazing appearances as accompanied the delivery of the Law to Moses upon mount Sinai 2. The Greek Philosophers of those days were offended at the simplicity of the Apostles preaching who nakedly represented their Doctrines without any such Philosophical Subtleties and Reasonings as they used themselves For that which they sought after which they pretended to want in the preaching of the Gospel was wisdom or demonstration from natural Principles and therefore 't is of these peculiarly said that the Gospel was foolishness unto them viz. because they looked for Wisdom or Discourses merely Philosophical Now it is plain that the Apostles chief designe in the second Chapter is to vindicate his way of Preaching the Gospel against the fault which the Greeks found with it For to this purpose he begins directly thus And I Brethren when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God i e. I answered not their expectation who looked for Eloquence or Philosophy For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified v. 2. not to make known unto you any other Doctrines but those which God had revealed and particularly that the crucified Jesus was the Son of God And my Speech and my Preaching was not with enticing words but in demonstration of the Spirit c. i. e. and these Doctrines I proved by Miracles and other Divine Testimonies Now this way of proving them the Apostle justifies from the nature of those things which he had preached unto them shewing that they had depended altogether upon the free and Sovereign Will of God and therefore could not be known but by Revelation and therefore could not be proved to those unto whom they were not immediately revealed otherwise than by sufficient testimony that God had revealed them to others such as Miracles and this was enough to shew why he rejected excellency of speech and wisdom viz. because it was an improper way of proving things of that nature which he had delivered to them Thus saith the Apostle We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordain'd before the world unto our glory v. 7. i. e. we declare those counsels of God concerning the Salvation of Mankinde which were concealed from former ages and which God hath now honoured us with the clear revelation of Which none of the Princes of the world knew for had they But as it is written Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man what things c. vers 8 9. i. e. if it could have been found out by natural Sense or natural Reason that God would send his Son into the world c. the chief men among the Jews could not have been ignorant of it and instead of crucifying him they would have become his Disciples themselves But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit vers 10. But these things to the knowledge whereof no man by meer natural reason could attain God hath made known to us by revelation of his Spirit so that this contrivance of Divine Wisdom is no longer hidden now being revealed to us by the Spirit For the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God for the Spirit of God is acquainted with all the secret Counsels of God and we may therefore be sure that we are acquainted with as many of them as the Spirit reveals unto us For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God vers 11. i. e. what man knows the secret purposes of another man till he thinks fit to discover them himself So the things of God i. e. his Counsels concerning the Salvation of man which depend meerly upon his own Will and Choice none can know but the Spirit of God And that these are the things which the Apostle means is plain from the Argument which he useth here for those things of a man which are common to humane nature one man may know concerning another without being acquainted by him what they are In like manner without particular Revelation a man may understand the Natural Perfections of God and those Divine Truths which by the meer use of Reason may be thence inferred wherefore the things of God here meant are those intentions and designes of God which by natural reason cannot be inferred from the consideration of the divine Perfections because they depend only upon the Will and Pleasure of God and are therefore only to be known by Revelation And this is further expressed by the Apostle in the 12 vers We have received the Spirit which is of God that we may know the things which are freely given to us of God to instruct men in the knowledge of those things that could not otherwise be known Which things also we speak not in the words which mans wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual i. e. there is then no reason why they should be offended that we pretend not to prove these divine matters by Philosophical Arguments but by such Arguments only as are proper to prove them by The truth of our Revelation we prove by the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power vers 4. The sense of Revelation we prove by comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual i. e. one divine Revelation with another the Revelations of the Old Testament with the Revelations of the New Then the Apostle addes But the natural man receiveth not c. which is the Text to be explained Now if we will allow the Apostle to speak consistently we are 1. By the Natural man to understand one who rejects Revelation not excluding him that never had it offered to him But the former seems principally to be intended though upon the matter it comes all to one viz. he who rejects the testimonies whereby any thing is proved to be divinely revealed which is above the reach of Philosophical wisdom Thus did the Greek Philosophers who counted the Doctrine of a crucified Saviour foolishness as here the natural man doth the things of the Spirit of God and it is he to whom the Apostle offers the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power against the excellency of speech and wisdom wherefore the Natural man is he against whom St. Paul was proving the necessity
of Revelation and the truth of revealed Doctrines by testimonies of Revelation and consequently the Natural man is one who rejects revealed Doctrines Though as I intimated before he may be so called that is fain to rely upon his meer natural Reason for want of Revelation because it was never proposed to him For whether a man never had it or rejects it being offered he is equally forced to trust to natural Reason in his enquiry after divine Truths And therefore if the Doctor by the state of Nature which he makes such a clutter about all over his Book means the state of the Natural man here spoken of the Scriptural notion thereof though we do not finde this very phrase The state of Nature in the Scripture is this viz. the state of an heathen man who either wants or rejects divine Revelation And thus it is fitly opposed to a state of Grace as that signifies being a Believer or a member of the Christian Church And both are distinguish'd from the state of Judaism or being under the Law For the Jews did not reject all divine Revelation believing that which came by Moses and so were not in a meer state of Nature as the Heathens were But as many of the Jews as would not receive the Gospel were under the Law but not under Grace as the Apostle speaks Rom. 3. i. e. they were not in a state of Grace not as the phrase is taken now adays but as it signifies no other thing than the receiving of the Christian Faith which those Jews who received not were under the Law those Heathens who received not were in a state of nature or the natural men which the Apostle here speaks of 2. By the things of God which the natural man rejects the Apostle means those Doctrines of Christianity the truth whereof is not discoverable by natural Reason which neither eye hath seen c. vers 9. the hidden wisdom of God v. 7. but are knowable only by Revelation God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit vers 10. being they concern the purposes of God that depended upon his Soveraign Will and Pleasure even so the things of God c. vers 11 12. and therefore are to be proved only by divine Testimonies and Arguments by the demonstration c. vers 4. in words which the Holy Ghost teacheth c. vers 13. 3. Because they are foolishness unto him signifies because they are not proved by wisdom which the Greeks seek after by Philosophical Demonstrations from Natural Principles chap. 1. vers 22. 4. By being spiritually discerned is meant their being known and understood and judged of by the Revelation and Testimony of the Spirit and that external to those who are not immediately inspir'd as the Apostles were which is clear from St. Paul's former discourse for he proposes this way whereby to judge of the truth of the Gospel viz. the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power he also proposeth this way whereby to judge of the sense of the Doctrines thereof viz. by comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual that is one divine Revelation with another Now this had been utterly vain if those to whom that evidence and this help was proposed could not possibly know spiritual things without such an internal and immediate Revelation of them as the Apostles had themselves The Doctrines of the Gospel are revealed to the world not immediately by the Spirit but by the Apostles who had the Spirit of Christ and have left us the Doctrines of Christ in their holy Writings They proved that the Spirit of God had revealed those Doctrines by the demonstration of the Spirit they proved the Sense of them by comparing one divine Revelation with another And this way of Conviction St. Paul clearly opposeth to Philosophical Demonstrations which it had been ridiculous to do if he had not meant an external means of conviction by it i. e. a means by which one man may convince another which the Doctors irresistible Light cannot with any face be pretended to be wherefore to be spiritually discerned doth according to the clear scope of the Apostle signifie to be discerned and understood by the external revelations and testimonies of the Spirit As things that are naturally discerned are things discernable by Sense or meer natural Reason so things that are spiritually discerned are those which be discernible only by the revelation of the Spirit i. e. by the testimony of the Spirit in the Miracles of Christ his Apostles as to the truth of them and by comparing one divine Revelation with another as to the meaning of them So that the Apostle's Argument is this A Natural man cannot understand those things which are to be known by revelation from the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned i. e. because there is no way of knowing these things but by Revelation and Testimony of the Spirit which he rejects Now he whose Faith is grounded upon this Revelation the Apostle calls a Spiritual man v. 15. in opposition to the Natural man and he saith concerning him that he judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man i. e. either according to St. Chrysostome's excellent Note He judgeth both the Doctrines that may be known by meer natural Reason and those which cannot be known but by Revelation For he hath the Principles of Natural Reason equally with the Natural Man and moreover he hath further knowledge by Revelation which the other hath not Or He judgeth all things of that nature whereof the Apostle was speaking viz. Gospel-Mysteries He is able to prove the truth of these things by proving that they are divinely revealed and thereby to confute their pretences who reject them because they cannot be known by meer natural Reason but no man can confute him whose knowledge of these things is grounded upon sufficient evidence that they are divinely revealed For who hath known the minde of the Lord Who can pretend to know the minde of God better than God himself doth and yet those must do so who contradict what is proved by the demonstration of the Spirit and therefore this is the certain foundation of our knowledge which must stand when all the Wisdom of the wise men shall perish that we have the minde of Christ that we are instructed by Christ himself who came from God Thus have I largely shewn the designe of the Apostle in these two Chapters and that sense of the Text in hand which makes the Apostles Discourse clearly consistent And now I leave it to the unprejudiced Reader to judge whether the Doctor 's interpretation of it which I have already shewn to be absurd in it self be not also utterly impertinent to the Apostles main designe for supposing the natural man to be one in whom spiritual Light is not created by an almighty work of God upon his minde how strangely must the Apostle have wandered from his purpose which was to shew that revealed Truths
is good to all his creatures who envieth no man's happiness who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth none much less I say will he deny us his Holy Spirit if we ask him From hence it is evident that the scope of our Sayiour in this Discourse is to perswade his Disciples to pray fervently for such things as are indeed needful for them and that by this Argument that God will grant such requests as these are It is also evident that our Saviour concludes with this Argument in these words God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Wherefore I conceive we have gained one note of those spiritual Effects which the Holy Spirit is promised to work in our mindes viz. that they are such as are indeed needful For it is plain that in both Similitudes the things that were asked either by the Friend or the Childe were really such as they stood in need of the one for his friend the other for himself and that this was one reason why they prevailed Now from hence our Saviour infers that God will much more give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him i. e. for such purposes as are needful otherwise the Argument will not hold For we cannot infer from this consideration that we are ready to bestow upon our Children what they need therefore our heavenly Father will give us the Holy Spirit for such ends as are needless If the demands of Children be not within the limits of Reason and Modesty if they ask not to supply their real needs but to gratifie their wanton appetites it is consistent with the goodness of a Parent to deny such desires as those and to rebuke the folly of them too And if we should ask those gifts of the Holy Ghost which are not needful for us this would be more than we are encouraged to do by the promise of Christ and the compassion of our Heavenly Father may very well consist with the refusal of such Requests as these SECT 2. But this general Rule that we are to pray for such effects of the Holy Spirit as are needful for us would be insufficient to direct us what to pray for in particular if we did not also understand what effects are needful Now to satisfie you in this matter I might presently produce those places of Scripture where the several effects of the Holy Spirit upon the mindes of Believers are mentioned which work belongs properly to the second way propounded for the resolution of the present Question But before I come to that I shall try how far we may conclude from our Saviour's promise thus This is a needful Grace therefore we are to pray for it and then I shall in due place proceed to the second Head under which those Texts are to be considered from whence we may conclude in this manner This Grace we are to pray for therefore it is needful These methods of arguing will indeed bring us to the same conclusion concerning what those effects are for which the Holy Spirit is promised in St. Luke But by so doing they will afford mutual light to each other and infer the conclusion with more strength which I hope will not be judged unprofitable in a matter of so great weight for every Christian to be well satisfied about I begin with arguing from our needs to those Graces of the Holy Spirit which we are to pray for Now because it is some good or advantage of ours that is regarded in this promise of the Holy Spirit and in respect whereof his Graces are supposed to be needful we must in the first place set that end before us by which we are to measure what effects are needful to be wrought in us by the Holy Spirit and then consider what are indeed needful to that end for so far as we understand this we shall know what Graces to pray for since we are to pray for those that are needful and the needfulness of any thing must be judged of according to that end in respect whereof it is said to be needful 1. As for the end it self if we consider that this promise of the Holy Spirit is part of the New Covenant there can be no reason to doubt but the ultimate end of this promise with regard to our Good is our eternal Salvation and Glory For that which is the last end of the whole Covenant is the last end of every part of it Now the state which Christ came to bring us to at last is that of seeing God as he is and living for ever in the enjoyment of his Love For which reason St. John tells us This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life 1 Joh. 2.25 not as if the Gospel had no other promises but because the rest are subordinate to this and consequently that of the Holy Spirit must needs be so Wherefore in that promise of his Operations to produce all needful effects in our mindes those are supposed to be such which are needful for our Eternal Salvation Now 2. We must consider what effects are needful to be wrought in us for that end The needfulness of any means to an end consists either in this that the end cannot be attained without them at all or not so well without them That which is needful in the former sense is absolutely necessary that which is needful in the latter is onely profitable Let us therefore first consider what effects are absolutely necessary to be wrought in us in order to our eternal Salvation what these are we are plainly told in the Scripture and they may be comprised under these Heads 1. Faith in Jesus or believing him to be the Son of God and so one upon whose Authority we may safely rely as to whatever Revelations he hath made of God's Will the necessity of which Faith our Saviour hath told us in those words If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins Though indeed the Holy Spirit cannot be said to be promised in this place of St. Luke for the producing of Faith in this notion it being apparently supposed that whatever is here promised is promised to the Disciples of Jesus who do already believe him to be the Christ. 2. So much knowledge of the Christian Doctrine which is Faith in another notion as is necessary to instruct us in and encourage us to that Repentance and Holiness which the Gospel requires in order to Salvation When we believe in Christ our next care must be to know what his will is and to possess our mindes with those principles of Obedience without which it is impossible to please God For if it be necessary to salvation to do the Will of Christ it is equally necessary to understand his Revelations his Laws and Promises in that measure which is necessary to the doing of his Will and therefore a Believer is encouraged by this promise of our Saviour to ask the Holy Spirit that he may
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
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
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
be whether there be not more Metaphors than he allows not as he pretends here whether there be any Metaphors at all But since he will have it so he must not say hereafter that he intended only to prove all the expressions of the Gospel were not Metaphorical since his Argument concludes that they are all proper if it concludes any thing That most of them are proper we grant and 't is well that it stands not in need of being proved by him for his untoward way of proving would tempt a man to suspect the plainest truth he meddles withal if he had not better reasons of his own For Secondly What consequence is there in this Arguing If there be a secret mysterious work of the Spirit upon the Souls of men intended in the Scriptures then are all the expressions of the Gospel concerning it plain and proper otherwise the Scripture is obscure For 1. None of the expressions of it might have been proper and yet some of them plain and then the Scripture would not have been obscure in that thing for a Figurative expression may be plain enough to be understood by a man of common sense Sure our Author will grant that saying of our Saviour This is my body to be figurative and I hope he will not deny it to be plain because it is figurative So that his Argument by which he concludes all the expressions of the Scripture concerning this mysterious work to be proper doth not prove that any one is so 2. If some of the expressions be both plain and proper and others figurative some whereof are more and some less plain as the truth is and if those which are not so plain may be understood by the help of plainer then may this secret mysterious work be sufficiently understood by the expressions of it in the Scripture and consequently the Scripture far from being the obscurest Book in the world because all the expressions of it are not to be taken properly and literally But it seems our Author hath an opinion by himself that no Writer in the world ever used the liberty of Metaphorical expressions Thirdly his way of proving that there is such a mysterious work is a mere begging of the Question This we shall see by considering what he must mean by a secret mysterious work viz. such a work of the Spirit as is properly exprest by Regenerating Creating Quickning and Drawing the Soul of a man and this I grant to be a very mysterious work if these be all proper expressions of it Now he proves there is such a work by this Argument That otherwise the Scriptures are obscure Why so Because they are obscure if these be not proper expressions of the work of the Spirit so that he proves there is a mysterious work i. e. a work properly expressed by Regeneration Creation c. by this Argument that these are proper expressions of such a work which is to prove a thing by it self And he proves also that these are proper expressions because there is such a mysterious work that is a work properly expressed by them which is to beg the Question So that if you will grant the Doctor that they are proper expressions he can then prove there is a a work properly expressed by them or if you will grant there is such a work he can prove those to be proper expressions And now I understand the Doctor when he saies The Difficulties which seem to be in these things arise from their mysterious Nature and not from any obscurity in the Declaration of them and I am fully of his minde for if any one tells me that a Body may be greater than it self and lesser than it self and that Transubstantiation may be true Doctrine or that a man may be properly Regenerated Created Quickned Drawn and Awakened all at once I grant he does not obscurely declare his minde to me and that I finde no difficulty to understand the meaning of his words But the onely difficulty which seems to be in these things ariseth from the mysterious nature or rather the nonsence of the things themselves contained under these plain expressions for the more plain any nonsence is the more easily it is understood to be so This I think is a sufficient answer to that slender proof which the Doctor brings for the judgement of his party concerning the propriety of these Scripture-expressions but it will not be amiss to consider how he represents the judgement of those others whom he speaks of For he saith SECT 4. 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 So that if the Doctor may be believed there are some who think the effects of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts are not expressed by any proper words at all in the Scriptures but as he saith they turn all Scripture-expressions of spiritual things into Metaphors If any such senceless people there be they are I should think most likely to be found among those that separate from the Church of England for many of their Preachers if we may judge of their Sermons by their Books do so train them up to Metaphorical talking that some of them may possibly believe the Scripture affords little or nothing else But as for those who think the things intended by these expressions suppose the assistances of the Divine Spirit are ordinary and obvious to the natural Reason of every man I never heard there were any such before if by obvious the Doctor means discoverable by mere natural Reason for the knowledge of these things is by all granted to depend on divine Revelation But being revealed I would fain know what reason we are to understand them withal besides our natural Reason But if by ordinary and obvious he means plain and intelligible by an ordinary capacity I am one of those who think the things of the Gospel whereof we are speaking to be ordinary and obvious and that they are not the less but the more excellent for being so our Author must grant unless he will revoke his Argument that the expressions of these things are not Metaphorical taken from hence that otherwise the Gospel is dark and unintelligible So that we are both agreed in words at least that Perspicuity and Intelligibleness is an excellent thing But the truth is he and his Party have a notion of Intelligibleness and Perspicuity by themselves as any one would guess by their Writings For Example the Doctor here tells us that if the Gospel intends nothing but moral Duties and their observance in its Doctrine of Regeneration then it is dark and unintelligible Now this is very strange for â—f as it is confessed on all hands moral Duties are easily intelligible and if the Scripture intends 〈◊〉 more by the Doctrine of Regeneration than the performance of moral Duties then is the Scripture very intelligible in the point of
from this charge of contradicting the Apostle but that his meaning is not that the carnal man can mortifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit and that he can walk after the Spirit i. e. that he reforms himself thus universally as he is supposed to do by the Spirit but onely that he may be such a reformed man that he may mortifie the deeds of the body that he may walk according to the rules of the Gospel and yet all this proceeds from the Old Nature and this work belongs but to the old Creation And this I finde indeed to be his sence for he tells us Whatever is in the Soul of Power Disposition or Ability or Inclination unto God or for any moral action by nature i. e. before regenerating Grace comes it belongs unto the old Creation it is no new Creature Now by comparing these words with his 17 Section we may now discern that by the inherent habitual righteousness which the moral man wants as he saith he does not mean an internal disposition and inclination to Virtue correspondent to that righteousness which he practiseth in his life for he supposeth that in the state of Nature or Vnregeneracy such a disposition and inclination such a power and ability he may have But he means by it a principle of spiritual life and holiness infused by the Holy Spirit as he explains himself afterward So that this is the defence he must make for himself out of his Book when I charge him with contradicting St. Paul viz. that he onely saith the carnal man may mortifie the deeds of the body may be universally righteous and obedient in his life but this is no more than a natural work all this while all his actual righteousness and his internal disposition to it belongs unto the old Creation it is no new Creature whereas the spiritually-minded man of whom St. Paul saith that he walks after the Gospel walks after the Spirit too and when he mortifies the deeds of the body does mortifie them by the Spirit This pretence so derogatory from the grace of the Holy Spirit contradicts the Scripture which saith He that doth righteousness is born of God I shall now onely observe that our Author whatever he pretends to the contrary is discovered to be a rank Pelagian I speak it with great seriousness for the thing is plain and he cannot with any modesty now deny it He makes it possible for a man to mortifie the deeds of the body without the Spirit and to walk after the Gospel though he be not led by the Spirit to keep the commands of God by the mere abilities of Nature to be universally righteous in his life and to be disposed and inclined thereunto in his Soul without an infusion as his phrase is of a new principle of spiritual life and holiness And he plainly supposeth that all that righteousness which the Gospel requires viz. an universal performance of God's commands proceeding from the belief of the Gospel may belong unto the old Creation and be no new Creature nor the work of the Spirit Now Pelagius his great Heresie was this That a man by his natural Faculties might do that which God required without any further help from God than that of declaring his will For setting that aside he thought our willing and doing needed no divine assistance as St. Austin reports him and that God gave us the power of choice in vain if we cannot do his will unless he always helpeth us as St. Hierom saith concerning him It is the same which the Doctor saith while he makes all the righteousness and disposition thereunto which we have been considering even that of the faith and obedience of the Gospel to be the effect of nature and to belong unto the old Creation so that a man may believe the Gospel and keep the Commandments of God without the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit If the Doctor saith that however in all the Regenerate he ascribes that righteousness to the Holy Spirit and his Grace this will not bring him off For Pelagius himself was brought to confess though not the same thing yet what would serve his turn as well as this can the Doctor 's For at length he said Therefore is the Grace of God given that what we are able to do by Nature we may more easily do by Grace But the Doctrine of the Catholick Church was that Grace is necessary to our doing the Will of God and if that be true it does equally conclude both him and Pelagius to be the same Hereticks though he saith doing the Will of God is sometimes the effect of the gracious Aids of the Spirit and Pelagius said doing it more easily was always so Our Author I confess speaks divers things in this Book which destroy this Pelagian Doctrine for he is sometimes in the humour of a Manichee which is an Heresie of the other extream and will not allow that a man can do any good action whatsoever without an irresistible determination of his Will thereunto as in due place I shall put him in minde again How he came by the knack of believing such inconsistent things if he believes them I know not but he makes great use of his Talent that way as I shall have further occasion to shew him hereafter But whether he believes these Contradictions or not as long as he asserts Pelagian Doctrines he is to be judged from his own words and to go for a Pelagian I grant that the sence of what a man saith in one part of a Book is to be judged of by what he saith in another but that always is upon supposition that his words are capable of that sence which is that way endeavoured to be put upon them But our Author 's arguing in Sect. 17. compared with Sect. 20. is in my judgement so notoriously for the Pelagian Heresie that if Pelagius himself were here we could not discern the least difference between them in the point of man's natural ability to keep the Commandments of God Indeed he gives the Pelagians ill words enough in many places of his Book and he would perswade his Reader that his Adversaries are a kinde of Pelagian Hereticks but for ought I see he is more angry at the name of Pelagius than at his errour or he hopes that he may unsuspectedly broach the opinions of Pelagius while he falls foul upon other men as if they were his followers And truely this insincerity he might happily learn from Pelagius himself who was wont to say and unsay to contradict his own Concessions one while and his Assertions another when he was to save himself now against the Catholicks and then against his own Party as St. Augustin tells us which being considered I leave it to others to judge whether our Author is not to be esteemed a Pelagian though he elsewhere affirms things inconsistent with Pelagianism I believe he has but one way to come off and
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
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
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
purpose it is observable that God's dwelling thus in the Most Holy place is called his dwelling amongst the Israelites Thus when he commanded the building of the Ark Let them saith he make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell amongst THEM Exod. 25.8 And after he had promised to sanctifie the Tabernacle with his Glory he tells Moses And I will dwell amongst the Children of Israel and will be their God Exod. 29.45 Now that the presence of his mercy and favour towards them was meant in this promise appears by the following words And they shall know that I am the Lord their God that brought them forth out of the land of Aegypt i. e. he would so manifest his power in protecting and defending them from all their Enemies that they should know he had the same care of them which he shewed in delivering them from the Aegyptian bondage But this is yet more clearly signified by those words In all places where I record my NAME I will come unto thee and BLESS thee Exod. 20.24 For the Name of God as we find in 2 Sam. 6.2 was The Lord of Hosts that dwelleth between the Cherubims And this is that account which the Psalmist gives of God's dwelling in Sion where the Ark of his presence was The Lord hath chosen Sion he hath desired it for his habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it I will abundantly satisfie her poor with bread I will cloath her Priests with salvation and her Saints shall shout aloud for joy Psal. 132.13 Thus in times of distress and danger they began their prayers for deliverance by invoking the Lord God of Israel that dwelleth between the Cherubims 2 Kings 19.15 and Psal. 80.1 By all which it appears that Gods dwelling there signified the peculiar favour which he had towards the house of Israel before all other people And accordingly we may observe that the Scripture doth use to express the presence of God amongst them when they were punished for their sins not by dwelling with them but by visiting them which you know is a word that does not imply continuance and long abode as the other does and is therefore much fitter than that to express the presence of his angry Justice who delighteth not in Vengeance but in Mercy and who is more easily prevailed with to withdraw his displeasure than his favour and kindness Thus saith the high and lofty One I DWELL with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit which that it signifies the lasting presence of his favour is plain from the following words For I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth for the spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made Isa. 57.15 16. Although God is said to visit men both when he is present to punish them as in Exod. 32.34 Psal. 89.36 c. and when he is present to deliver and bless them as in Exod. 3.16 Psal. 106.4 yet 't is in respect of the latter onely that he is said to dwell amongst them Now as I observed before the Apostle cites that promise of God made to the Israelites that he would dwell in them applying it to the state of the Christian Church as you may see 2 Cor. 6.16 Wherefore God's dwelling in men as this phrase is used in the New Testament signifies also his peculiar grace and favour toward them as the Apostle himself explains it by subjoyning that other place thereto And I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord God Almighty And this is that testimony which he hath given us hereof that the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth John 1.14 By whom we have received God's blessings and favours and the clear revelations of his Will more freely than the Israelites ever did by the dwelling of the Ark amongst them They prayed towards their most Holy place where God was extraordinarily present that he would stir up his strength and come and save them But we look up to the more Holy Mercy-seat where God is more gloriously present than he was between the Cherubims even to Jesus whom all the Angels of God worship and in whom the fulness of the God-head dwelleth bodily that through him we may have help and salvation The Name of God which he hath now recorded amongst us is The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and by this name we invoke him that he would come unto us and bless us And there is as great difference between the Blessings that God's coming to us and dwelling amongst us implies and those which were promised to the Israelites as between the testimonies themselves of God's presence amongst them and amongst us They were temporal favours and deliverances which they promised to themselves from God's presence in the most Holy place But we look for a salvation incomparably more excellent God having blessed us through Christ with all spiritual blessings in things that concern Heaven Eph. 1.3 The Enemies we are to subdue by the strength of the Lord and the power of his might are those which would hinder us of our heavenly Canaan viz. our sensual Lusts and earthly Affections and the temptations of the World and the Devil For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickednesses in high places Eph. 6.12 against all the suggestions of evil spirits whether to more gross and sensual or to more refin'd and spiritual vices And they are Enemies so much more dangerous than those which the Israelites had to deal withal that theirs do not deserve to be called Principalities c. when they are compared with those here mentioned by the Apostle Thus by the Spirit of God dwelling in us twice mentioned by St. Paul Rom. 8.9 11. we are to understand the presence of his Grace whereby we are constantly enabled to mortifie the deeds of the Body vers 13. For then our Bodies shall have a blessed Resurrection vers 11. and the Spirit is life because of Righteousness vers 10. our Souls shall then be qualified for eternal Life and Happiness Now this being certain to come to pass if the Spirit of God dwelleth in us it is plain that the peculiar grace and favour of God towards us which is signified thereby is that by which we may be kept from living after the flesh which if we do we shall die and enabled to mortifie the deeds of the Body to subdue our spiritual Enemies more perfectly and to prevail finally against them that we may live vers 13. Therefore to conclude this point as God's dwelling amongst the Israelites signified his peculiar favour to them in protecting and defending them and bringing them to the Land of Canaan and blessing them with plenty and increase c. so is the peculiar presence of his Grace
was in general promised by our Saviour Luke 11.13 and proved also that they are in the Scriptures severally ascribed to his Operations Now upon the whole matter we cannot but conclude that in respect of the end of this divine Grace God hath made us a very large and bountiful promise thereof and given thereby such an abundant demonstration of his good-will towards us that indeed he desireth not the death of a sinner but had rather he should turn and live as we ought to acknowledge with our utmost Thanks and Praises But after all this it will be pretended by some men that if we say the Operations of the Holy Spirit are limited to those effects we have been speaking of we confine the Promise within too narrow a compass and do in effect deny several divine Graces and works of the Holy Spirit upon the Hearts of God's people such as darting the true sence of Scripture into their mindes suggesting words and matter to them when they pray Extempore and giving them absolute assurance that they shall be saved at last Hence it is that if we take the liberty of dissenting from their sence of a place of Scripture the next thing we hear is that we want the Illumination of the Spirit and all that we can say is at once turned off for carnal reasoning If we dare not pretend to any other than a conditional assurance of our Salvation we are those that have not the testimonies of the Spirit And if we make use of pious forms of Prayer and other exercises of Devotion we do not pray by the Spirit Therefore I think my self obliged to enquire upon what grounds they pretend to these spiritual Gifts But before I do so I shall premise by way of Caution these following things 1. That those dispositions which qualifie us for a profitable understanding of the Scriptures such as Teachableness Humility Attention and Industry are the graces of the Holy Spirit and consequently that our success in endeavouring after the knowledge of divine Truths depends upon his blessing and grace 2. That it is our duty to labour after a right understanding of our spiritual estate and that this knowledge of it is a grace of the Holy Spirit 3. That those affections which make our Prayers acceptable to God such as love to God trust in him hatred of sin zeal and fervency and the like are likewise the effects of divine Grace All these things I heartily acknowledge and they are no other things than what may be concluded easily from the foregoing discourse concerning the graces of the Holy Spirit But that which I have some reason to question is this Whether we can conclude that the Spirit will convey a right understanding of the Scripture into any mans minde by an immediate revelation of the meaning of it or that he will give to some men an absolute assurance of their salvation while they live here upon their trial or that he suggests to them by Inspiration what they say in their extemporary Prayers For whatever he may do in this kinde I do not finde that he hath promised any where so to do And I think we are not to promise to our selves that divine Grace which God hath no where promised to us And that he hath not promised these things I shall shew 1. By comparing the contrary pretence with that promise of our Saviour concerning the Holy Spirit in Luke 11.13 2. By considering what ground there is for it from other places of Scripture 1. By comparing the pretence with Luke 11.13 and here I shall shew that whatever countenance it may have from other Scriptures it can have none from this which as I have already proved contains a promise of such gifts as are needful to our eternal happiness 1. As to that of coming to the sence of Scripture by inherent Revelation I say that such a Revelation is not needful for us to make us wise unto salvation because those places of Scripture which are necessary to be understood by us need no infallible Interpreter for all Truths necessary to be known are plainly delivered in the Scriptures and there is no need of a new Revelation to acquaint us with the meaning of those Texts the sence whereof is plain and obvious There are indeed many passages hard to be understood in the Scriptures but there is no necessity of an Infallible guide or of New revelation to come to the sence of them unless they were themselves necessary to be understood If you say that because all Scripture is profitable the revelation of the true meaning of those Texts at least which have the greatest difficulties belonging to them must be profitable also I answer 1. It does not follow in every particular that because such a thing is profitable therefore if I ask God will give it which you know was proved in the explication of St. Luke's Text Chap. 2. Sect. 2. Wherefore if I pray onely that God may prosper my industry in endeavouring to understand such a difficult place it does not follow from the promise in St. Luke that God will grant my request in that particular For he may give me something as good or better instead of it As I may get advantage by understanding that place so I may also get advantage by finding that after all I do not understand it which may through the grace of God be improved by me into an occasion of more Humility Modesty and Charity which if St. Paul may be believed is better than Knowledge as my trying to understand did before excite me to Prayer and Industry But much less does it follow that God will grant my request if I pray yet more particularly that the meaning of the difficult place may be revealed to me by immediate Inspiration For 2. Though that be profitable yet 't is profitable also to come to the knowledge of it by study and the industrious use of means common to learned men if I am a Teacher of others or by the help of a spiritual Guide if I am merely a Learner And if I come either of these ways to the understanding of a difficult Text God hath not been less good to me for not communicating it to me by immediate revelation Especially if it be considered 3. That if God giveth me the understanding of a difficult place by blessing my industry in Reading Hearing Conferring with others Meditating and Comparing place with place this will in all probability be more useful to others not to say to my self than if he gave it to me by immediate Illumination because the knowledge which is gained the former way may be more easily imparted to another than that which might be obtained by the latter For I can lead another into my knowledge of Scripture which comes by the way of industry and study by shewing him the reason that convinced me and discovering the method of my coming to it Now Reason you know is a thing common to you and me
Saviour thought it was needful for us and therefore we have good reason to believe that God will not be angry with us because we are afraid to provoke his angry Justice nor disregard our care to do his will ever the more because we are moved thereunto by Fear since it is an argument that he himself perswades us withal especially since the Scripture makes those divine benefits which challenge our utmost gratitude and that goodness of God towards us which is so powerful an argument to make us love him with all our hearts a reason also why we should fear him For if we may believe the Psalmist we are to fear God because there is forgiveness with him Psal. 130.4 i. e. because the abuse of his Mercy will yet more provoke his Displeasure and bring a more dreadful punishment upon us Lastly since the Scripture tells us that we are not onely to begin but to perfect holiness in the fear of God and that too in consideration of those promises whereby we are encouraged to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 all this makes me wonder at your presumption in saying that by the want of your absolute Assurance Duties are discouraged spiritual Endeavours and Diligence are impaired Delight in God weakened and Love cooled when the Scripture is so plainly against you And for your saying that we bewray our Ignorance while we make the fear of God's threatnings lest they fall upon us needful to quicken our industry in all duties of obedience might we not requite you by saying more justly that you do but bewray your confidence in making your self wiser than Christ who thought we stood in need of this argument and would have it take impression in our mindes as I have already shewn you It is you say very sad that any man should so far proclaim his inexperience and unacquaintedness with the nature of Gospel-grace the Genius of the New Creature c. as to be able thus to argue viz. that the â—â—â—â—rance you speak of tends to carelesness c. But it is more sad that men under a pretence of greater acquaintance with Gospel-grace should take upon them to undermine the usefulness of so excellent a Grace of the Gospel as the fear of God's threatnings Now as to that experience you have of the nature of Gospel-grace and of the New Creature and which makes you so confident I have a good while considered what it should be and cannot finde a more probable sence of your words than this That you finde your selves made new Creatures and put on to good works by an irresistible grace which is the darling opinion you contend so fiercely for in your Book And if that be your meaning and your meaning be true then I confess there is no need of the Argument of Fear to constrain such as you And I will adde also neither can there be any need of any motive whatsoever to make you as good as you say and as we hope some of you are 3. Neither is this Assurance needful to encourage and comfort us while we are performing our duty nor must the want of it needs cast us into Perplexities Discouragement and Despondency as the Doctor will have it For the Scripture supposeth that the conditional promises of the Gospel are a sufficient ground of comfort while we are careful to keep the Commandments of God and if we are not Comfort is a thing that belongs not to us St. John saith We declare the Gospel unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you that your joy may be FVLL If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth 1 John 1.3 4 6. Now that joy which is full is encouragement enough to our duty and yields sufficient comfort in the performance of it but if we may believe the Apostle this fulness of Joy may be grounded upon the conditional terms of the Gospel viz. that if we do not walk in darkness we have fellowship with God if we obey the Gospel God will love us and if we persevere therein he will save us eternally wherefore it may be had without absolute assurance that we shall be saved The Gospel will afford us no other comfort than that which depends upon the performance of our duty and seeing it hath given us abundant encouragement by the promises of God's Grace to be diligent in our duty it hath also abundantly provided for our comfort But 't is a most unreasonable thing to pretend that we cannot begin to serve God with any comfort till we have a comfortable assurance as the Doctor very truly calls it that we are personally elected and that it is absolutely impossible for us to miscarry for this is a comfort proper onely for them that have finished their course and are now ready to receive the Crown of Righteousness Suppose a good man should employ his Servant in a business of some difficulty promising him sufficient means to go through with it and for his reward a considerable inheritance in his Family If after he has taken the charge and before he has well begun it he should come to his Master and fall down at his Feet intreating him to settle that Inheri-upon him beforehand and to give him an absolute Estate in it promising upon his ingenuity that he would not be the less careful of his work but think himself rather the more obliged to perform it to the utmost of his power sure his Master would tell him that he desired an unreasonable thing since he had never found him worse than his word and there was some reason to suspect that his impatience was a signe of no honest intention in him but that for his own part he would give him no better assurance of his reward than upon condition lest afterward he must get somebody else to do his work Now if for all this the loitering Servant should lie groveling upon the ground wringing his Hands and beating his Breast protesting that he cannot go about his work nor so much as think of it with any joy till he hath full assurance that fair Estate he is so enamoured withal shall be his whether he doth his service required of him or whether he doth it not that nothing will comfort him and keep up his Heart from sinking within him but such a comfortable Assurance that he is all over lame and stiff and cannot stir a foot nor move a hand in his Master's service as long as he hath any the least fear of missing that Reward By this time we may suppose the good man to have a better opinion of his Servant than to think him a Knave but he would certainly conclude that he was not very wise The Parallel is so easie that I need not make it Indeed if a man be
extemporary praying and to pass for one that hath a double measure of the Spirit with them who are apt to ascribe all Heat and Eloquence in matters of Religion to a divine Principle I do not speak this to undervalue any man's abilities in this kinde but onely to shew that they may be set too high As for them that do so they may undeceive themselves by observing the very Prayers of those persons whose gifts this way are most remarkable for although these men are sometimes pleased to decry the use of Forms as not savouring of the Spirit yet it is plain enough that their own Prayers as spiritual as they look may be as purely Humane as the Prayers of a Book are by them judged to be For it is evident that they tie up themselves to those usual Topicks of Prayer and Heads of Devotion according to which Book-prayers as they call them are framed They usually begin with the Invocation of God by the acknowledgement of his Attributes and then they run through the common places of Confession Petition and Thanksgiving which are the subjects that furnish set Forms of Prayer They confess the same Sins they beg the same Graces they praise God for the same Blessings in all their Prayers Now this is that which I suppose none of them will deny and then I think they must confess that their Prayers as to the matter of them are as formal as those of the Liturgy But further as the matter of their Prayers is confined to certain Heads so for the most part they use the same expressions onely with this condition that they are laid in with such good store of them that they need not use them all at once but may keep some against another time And thus indeed they do not tie up themselves to a form of Words because they have as many Forms to use as may be made by the shifting and transposing of those Phrases which they have in stock and so many Forms they have more or fewer according as that stock increases more or less And thus as we pray out of our Books so do they out of their Memories and the difference between their way and ours for I speak now of those that do not use to talk idly and extravagantly in their extemporary Prayers is this that ours hath the advantage of Safety and theirs of Popularity and Ostentation But I am not able to divine what that is in Extemporary praying as that is distinguish'd from using a set Form which must needs be ascribed to the immediate suggestion of the Spirit The matter of such Prayers is certainly the most considerable and the knowledge of that we see may come another way which seem'd to be the minde too of the late Assembly who although they threw aside the Book of Common-prayers to make way for Extemporary Performances yet thought fit to give the Minister a Directory for the Matter without leaving him to be guided in that by the suggestion of the Holy Ghost which made some men think they might e'ne as well have prescribed a set Form unless they intended to leave the meaner office of supplying him with words to the Holy Spirit But the words and phrases as I have shewn you may come from a more familiar Principle And then there is nothing left but that shifting and changing of places with them which makes the great show of variety But this is so unworthy to be ascribed to a divine principle that I may conclude extemporary Prayers allowing them to be never so useful and profitable need not to be dictated by Inspiration and therefore no such Inspiration was promised by our Saviour when be promised the Gift of the Holy Spirit to all his Disciples Thus have I shewn that neither of these three things come under the promise in St. Luke 11.13 For they are not Gifts of that kinde which are there promised to them that ask the Spirit And I adde it may be strongly presumed that they are promised nowhere else since they do not fall under this general promise of the Spirit which comprehends all the rest But because there are some men so vehemently perswaded that the Holy Spirit is given for these purposes that they reckon it little better than Blasphemy to gainsay it I shall proceed to those places of Scripture upon which such mighty confidence is grounded to see whether they afford any reason for it SECT 4. And first as to those testimonies which are alledged out of the Bible in favour of interpreting or understanding Scripture by the immediate revelation of the Spirit I refer the Reader wholly to Dr. Hammond's Postscript concerning New Light and divine Illumination annexed to his Paraphrase c. upon the New Testament where they are all considered and shewn to infer no such thing as is desired to be concluded from them But if after all any man should say that he knows by the Light of the Spirit that Interpretation which Dr. Hammond hath given of those Texts to be nothing better than carnal Reasoning and come over with Dr. Owen's talk of the Natural Man and the impossibility of understanding the spiritual sence of Gospel-truths without the Almighty Illumination of the Spirit I confess it will prove a matter of as great difficulty to reply to such a pretender as it is to finde out a way to convince a Quaker For what success can any man promise himself by replying to a confident Enthusiast who perpetually appeals from the most evident reasons the plainest testimonies of Scripture and the most rational inferences from them to the testimony of the Spirit However this I will venture to say that if it were granted impossible to understand these Texts without that New Light which the Papists call an Infallible Spirit and Dr. Owen and his party an Almighty work of the Holy Ghost for in effect they are both the same thing then it must be granted withal that these Texts are impertinently produced to convince us who do not pretend to this Infallible Spirit that there are a sort of men upon whom God bestows that priviledge For that theirs is the true sence cannot be proved to us but by rational means i. e. either by arguing from the original words or the Context or parallel places or the like or else by some clear divine testimony proper to convince us that they in particular are inspired such as real and undoubted Miracles This latter way is pretended to onely by the Papists and though the frauds they have been deprehended in sufficiently shew those amongst them that have raised the noise of their Miracles to be Impostors yet it is to be acknowledged that they pretend to offer a rational means of Conviction that their Church interprets the Scripture by an infallible Spirit which the men I am at present speaking of do not offer in the least As for the former way of convincing us by rational evidence from the Text it self it is that which we are
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
Christian Virtue is ascribed both to the Holy Spirit and to the Word of God in that Prayer of St. Paul for the Colossians that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work c. that is by the means of a fuller understanding of the Will of God Col. 1.9 10. And the co-operation of both these Causes for the producing of the same Effect is yet more plainly expressed in those words of our Saviour's Prayer for his Disciples Sanctifie them through thy TRVTH thy WORD is TRVTH where nothing can be more plain than this that the holiness of Believers is ascribed to the Operation of Truth upon their mindes viz. that Truth which is revealed in the Gospel Seing then that the Gospel is not onely in it self a proper means of converting the Unbeliever and the Disobedient of confirming and improving the sincere Convert but as you see the Graces of the Holy Spirit are those effects also which the Scriptures frequently ascribe to the weightiness of those Reasons and Considerations that are offered to our understandings by the Word of God We must be careful not to define the manner whereby the Holy Spirit worketh in the mindes of men to produce these Graces so as to deny them to be the Genuine and proper effects of divine Truths which is done by assigning such a manner of Operation to the Holy Spirit as must needs be inconsistent with ascribing Conversion to the Operation of Truth Wherefore it is too boldly done of Dr. Owen and his Party to affirm that Conversion is an effect of such an Operation of the Holy Spirit upon the minde as makes it impossible for a man not to be converted and withal that Conversion is impossible without such an irresistible Operation For 1. If a man must necessarily resist the whole strength of God's Word till Conversion be wrought in him by an irresistible action of the Spirit as these men teach then 't is plainly absurd to make Conversion to be an effect of God's Word For upon this Hypothesis it contributes no more to a man's conversion than the hurling of a Pebble does to the throwing down of a mighty Wall that is falling by the fury of the Cannon If as the Doctor saith the Will cannot make use of that Grace for conversion which it can refuse if also it can resist all kinde of Perswasions Reasons Arguments and Motives as he himself supposes and by consequence that Operation of the Spirit whereby Conversion is caused be irresistible What can be more evident than that Conversion must upon these terms be onely and wholly the effect of an irresistible power and not at all of Reasons and Motives To say that the Operations of the Spirit produce their effects irresistibly because they are joyned with the Word is to ascribe an irresistible Operation to the Word as well as to the Spirit or rather to make the irresistibleness to arise from the concurrence of both those Causes Now besides that upon this Hypothesis all men to whom the Gospel is made known would be converted seeing we have proved the ministration of the Gospel to be accompanied with the Operations of the Spirit in all that hear it Besides this I say these men do not place the irresistible force by which Conversion as they say is wrought in the concurrence of the Word and the Spirit but in the sole Operation of the Spirit Now that Conversion should at the same time be an effect of God's Word which as they say a man cannot but resist till he is converted and of such an Operation of the Spirit too as is altogether irresistible is to me as unintelligible as Transubstantiation For if it were onely said that 't is possible for a man to resist the Operations of Truth and withal granted that Conversion must as well be an effect of the truth of God's Word as of the Holy Spirit 's Operating in our mindes it would plainly follow that his Operations were resistible The reason is because where an Effect depends upon the concurrence of two Causes he that hath it always in his power to resist the force of one is at any time able to frustrate the other and consequently to hinder the effect Now they themselves grant and it is plain by daily experience that the Word of God may be resisted and heard in vain as it was even when preached in the demonstration of the Spirit and Power Wherefore when the Operations of the Spirit conspire with the power of the Word to convert a sinner if he can be obstinate against the latter he may also quench the former and then they are not irresistible Furthermore it may be said if Conversion be wrought irresistibly by the sole Operation of the Spirit then the Word which may be resisted is unnecessary But if the Word cannot but be resisted till the effect is wrought by another power that is invincible viz. that of the Spirit then 't is plain that the effect is owing onely to that power which is to render the whole Ministry of the Gospel utterly vain and useless and to contradict all those passages of Scripture which attribute our Conversion to the force of divine Truth But 2. It is further evident from the manner of their explaining this irresistible Operation that they exclude all the influence of God's Word from being a means of Conversion Dr. Owen tells us that the Holy Ghost is the immediate Author and cause of Regeneration and he is often putting us in minde that we are converted by an immediate Physical Operation of the Spirit which he endeavours to prove for many Pages together Now a Physical Operation he opposeth to Moral and thereby excludeth from it all use of any Reasons Arguments and Motives whatsoever as he doth industriously more than once Now what is more plain than that to ascribe Conversion to such an Operation as this is wholly to exclude the Word of God from being any way subordinate to that Grace whereby we are converted For although the Doctor tells us sometimes that he grants a Moral Operation of the Spirit and that he onely denies the concurrence of that with the Word to be the total cause of Conversion yet by his leave he does not make it so much as a partial cause For if this Physical Operation onely is that Grace which can remove all obstacles and overcome all oppositions and infallibly produce the effect intended as he speaks if this Operation doth not consist in the use of any motive whatsoever contained in the Word of God Finally if this Operation be the immediate cause of Conversion if nothing intervenes between this Operation and the Effect it is then plain I conceive that the Word of God is wholly excluded from being a means of Conversion for neither is the use of any
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
purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more i. e. God would afford them the means and opportunities of Conversion no longer because they had already obstructed the efficacy of them so long together And then by his purging Hierusalem it is plain nothing can be meant but his doing all that was proper for him to do in order to that end and which would certainly have accomplished it had they complied as they might with his gracious methods Thus also the goodness of God is said to lead them to Repentance who are not actually led by it being such as after their hardness and impenitent hearts treasure up wrath unto themselves against the day of wrath Rom. 2.4 5. The meaning is plainly this that the forbearance and Grace of God is a most sufficient means of bringing those to repentance who do not onely neglect what they ought to do in compliance with the goodness of God but harden their Hearts against it Thus we see the holy Scripture does ascribe unto God the honour of what he does toward the conversion of those Sinners that continue in impenitence by saying that he has converted and healed them even while they are yet in their sins hereby intimating to us that it was not through any defect of Grace on his part but onely through their own failing to excite such endeavours as they might have done that they were not actually reformed Now in like manner and according to the usual stile of the Scripture God may be said to Work even in those men to Will and to Do who are still unwilling and disobedient and therefore that Phrase does not necessarily import that God does more than excite and stir up our Wills by his Grace or that he does not leave it possible for us to obstruct the efficacy of his Operations For we see the Scripture supposes God's administring of those gracious Helps which are abundantly sufficient to make us true Converts to be ground enough for saying that he hath converted us Wherefore if the Words themselves are capable of such a meaning if the scope also and designe of the place does necessarily require such a meaning I know not what can be required more to prove this to be the true meaning of them viz. that God worketh in us to Will and to Do in that manner that if our own care and diligence be wanting we may neither will nor do but continue in our sins and perish everlastingly Further whereas God is said to give Repentance and a new Heart it is from hence plain that the meaning of such places is not this that he does all himself and leaves nothing for us to do that we may be converted because he commands us often to do those things which he is yet said to do for us Thus as it is said in Ezek. 36.26 A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and cause you to walk in my statutes which words considered by themselves run as if God had absolutely undertaken to do this for his People and they needed not now to trouble themselves with doing any thing towards it So by the same Prophet God requires them to Cast away from them all their transgressions to make themselves a new heart and a new spirit for saith he why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 18.31 From whence it is plain that notwithstanding God's promise of giving them a new Heart it was necessary for them to Renew their own Hearts And what can this signifie but that the Promise is not absolute but supposeth the concurrence of our own endeavours and consequently that it was given to encourage them but not to make them needless And this will be more evident to you if you consider that what the Lord promised to do in this kinde for his People was not done for some of them as you may see in Ezek. 11.19 20 21. I will put a new spirit into them and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh That they may walk in my statutes c. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations I will recompence their way upon their own heads saith the Lord God From whence the needfulness of their own care to walk in God's Statutes is most evident for if no such condition had been implied in the Promise none of them could have walked after their Abominations Finally Since the Holy Spirit is not onely promised to work in us all needful Qualifications for eternal Life but we are also Commanded Exhorted Entreated and that most Seriously Affectionately and Frequently to Repent and be Converted and to persevere in Holiness and all this with promises of an eternal Reward if we do and with threatnings of everlasting Punishment if we do not it follows that the Spirit is not promised to work his Graces in our Hearts in such a manner as to make our own endeavours unnecessary to the attainment of them For this were to make all those Commands and Exhortations of God's Word a solemn piece of Pageantry and to say that God hath required us under the greatest penalties and with the most alluring promises to obtain those Qualifications which will be thrust upon us though we do nothing to obtain them Wherefore I conclude that the Holy Spirit worketh no otherwise in the mindes of men than to leave them under as great an obligation to be diligent in the use of all proper means for their recovery and perseverance as if they had not the benefit of any such divine Operation but were left if it had been possible for them to do all themselves SECT 4. 4. It may be added that the Operations of the Holy Spirit upon the mindes of men are suited or proportioned to their present spiritual state He does not produce those effects in us all at once which the Scripture ascribes to divine Grace but in such an Order and by those Degrees that suit with our capacities and qualifications This is partly evident 1. From what hath been already said concerning the communications of special Grace the promises whereof are made onely to Believers and good men the Holy Spirit doth not form his other graces in us till he hath wrought an hearty belief of the Gospel in our Souls Nor does he dwell in them till they are purged from the love of sin and this world And since there are various degrees of holiness according to which good men differ from each other since also our Saviour hath told us that to him that hath more shall be given we may conclude that the communications of the Holy Spirit are not made in equal measures to all good men neither but according as their mindes are more or less raised towards the heavenly state And that the more perfect Christian enjoys a more plentiful influence of Grace from above and is
more sensibly affected with those joys of the Holy Ghost which increase the love of Virtue and confirm him in every divine disposition 2. This is further evident from those passages in Holy Writ where we are required to grow in grace to abound in the work of the Lord and to go on to perfection For these places and the like do strongly imply that we cannot on a sudden arrive to any degree of goodness which we fall greatly short of at present much less that we can presently be filled with the fulness of God Wherefore it plainly follows that the Holy Spirit does not affect our mindes when we begin the Christian life in the same manner and measure that he moveth us in after we have made some progress in it or shall arrive to such an eminent degree of Christianity as may answer that expression of being filled with the fulness of God For if it were thus then we might become Men in Christ assoon as we are Babes and come to the fulness of our stature without growing and going on to perfection It is further observable that the Word of God is affirmed to be the means of our increasing in holiness we must desire the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby as St. Peter tells us and in Col. 1.9 St. Paul instructs us that the way whereby the Spirit maketh us to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing being fruitful in every good work is by filling us with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding From whence I observe that our improvement in holiness is greater or lesser according as we consider and meditate upon divine Truths viz. for this end of governing our lives by them which is to know them in Wisdom and spiritual Vnderstanding Now since the effects of the Holy Spirit 's Operation in our mindes are as I have shewn the genuine and proper effects of the Word of God seriously considered and laid to heart it follows that the Holy Spirit worketh in us according to that measure wherein divine Truths are considered by us Therefore since our fruitfulness depends upon our increasing in the knowledge of God or that spiritual Vnderstanding which the Apostle speaks of the Holy Spirit who worketh in us by the Word of God does not make us capable of arriving to that state of walking before the Lord in all well-pleasing all at once but by degrees viz. as we increase in the knowledge of God by daily Meditation Lastly since by the experience we have of Humane Nature we see that customes are not easily and presently put off and that matters of difficulty cannot be made familiar to us but by use and practice more particularly that they who are accustomed to do evil cannot of a sudden learn to do well that ill habits are not wasted but by degrees that the difficulties of a Religious life press most upon us when we first enter upon it and that they wear away insensibly by continuance in well-doing likewise that vertue is improved by exercise and that the Path of the just as the Wise man speaks is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day I say this being considered we must needs acknowledge that the Holy Spirit does not produce the effects of his Grace in the mindes of men all at once but that he accommodates his Operations to the state in which they are at present prompting them to that amendment which the measure of their capacity will admit And this I take to be a Consequence also of what the Doctor so fully grants viz. that the Spirit acts the mindes of men onely as they are meet to be acted according to their own Nature Power and Ability and according to their natural Operations For if we may trust the constant experience of Mankinde both of the good and the bad although an evil habit is sooner contracted than a good one yet none is gained without some use and exercise and ordinarily it cannot be otherwise Now if the Spirit moves us no otherwise than according to the Nature Power and Ability of our mindes we must not think that by his Grace we may leap out of a wicked course of life in a moment into the habits of Piety and Virtue but that he is in that manner present with us as to enable us to make a good beginning and if we do so that by his more abundant Grace we may proceed and so by degrees come to a divine temper of minde and to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing There is no doubt but God if he pleaseth can in an instant change the most vicious man into a Saint but we have no more reason to think that he will do so than that he should work new Miracles to convert us But we have great reason to perswade us that he will not do so for if we may judge of the Manner and Measure of the Holy Spirit 's Operations by the promises of special Grace which belong onely to qualified and prepared persons or by the Commands of the Scripture to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of Christ or by the general experience of Humane Nature we may conclude that an habitual Sinner cannot become a good man in an instant He must first learn to be afraid of God's angry Justice he must be heartily sorry for his sins he must deeply consider the promises of the Gospel he must avoid the occasions of sin and fortifie himself with vehement resolutions to forsake his wicked course and he must make many earnest prayers before he can subdue his Lusts and overcome the world and yield a sincere obedience to all the Commands of God And by consequence he cannot expect that the Operations of the Holy Spirit should make him a holy man but by the former means and therefore by degrees This Consideration ought not to have been omitted because it may be of great use to two very different sorts of men 1. To those who have been long accustomed to a sinful course of life and think it impossible to recover themselves although they have the opportunities of amendment before them For it happens sometimes that such men wish they had taken an early care to live in the fear of God and the practice of Religion and Virtue but they believe it is now in vain to strive against those fatal habits which are so deeply rooted in their mindes and so they abandon themselves to carelessness and desperation The reason whereof is commonly this that when they attempted their own reformation and had purposed to lead a new life they soon found themselves surprized again by their former temptations and carried away as strongly by their sensual appetites as ever they were before which makes them conclude it is to no purpose to take any more pains with themselves as if because their freedom from the servitude of sin could not be effected in a