not to set up our selves by them but to perfect this unity to build up one another in Faith in knowledge and that so we may in all things grow up into Christ the head vers. 7. to 16. Secondly The World towards them we must walke wisely Chap. 5. 15. First taking heed of partaking with them in any evill nay of countenancing the least evill in them Chap. 4. 17. Chap. 5. 7. 11. Secondly redeeming the time from them as much as may be for converse with God Thirdly doing as much good as we can to them while we are with them both which are included in that phrase of redeeming the time vers. 16. Thirdly those in neare relations to us whether brought home to Christ or in their naturall condition we are to observe the strict Lawes of that relation we stand debtours to them in which wee are not to faile in towards them bee they superiour or inferiour how ever they act towards us Chap. 5. vers. 22. to the end of the Chapter and Chap. 6. to vers. 10. Our engagement to Christ does not set us free from our relations and duties in any kinde to men but onely layes a bond on him to furnish us with free spirits and power to fill up what wee owe in every relation Christ gives us not freedome from but freedome unto every thing that is of God 4. To stand upon our guard not to be driven from the sweetnesse of the Gospel nor from acknowledging and admiring God in every step of his love mercy wisdome power and grace nor from this walking worthy of the Gospel by any enemy any temptation or any thing that befals us in any kind Chap. 6. 10. 11. but to stand armed against our enemies who are spiritually mighty and lay the sorest temptatious and baits in spirituall things vers. 12. We are to stand armed thus 1. With an understanding having its light clear about it and with a will having an holy disposition ready to act in any kind God shall please to call it out unto vers. 14. To have an understanding ready to put forth it selfe knowing how to carry it selfe how to obey how to suffer how to embrace how to resist and a will graciously disposed to either whensoever God shall call it forth Our loynes commonly are ungirt our light is to seek our grace hangs loose about us that we are unfit to act for God at all much more unfit to doe it in the face of that opposition which we are still likely to meet with in every spirituall undertaking And for want of this piece of armour we lie open to our spirituall enemies 2. With an holy resolution to act for Christ according to that light hee shall give in to the conscience to meddle with no evill to omit no duty of any kinde this is that brest-plate that keeps the heart or conscience pure and safe vers. 14. when the Devill doâ—s not finde us resolved against sinne or resolved for duties bee it how it will with us hee commonly takes us in his snare 3. With affections taken with the sweet truths of the Gospel as pardon of sinne c. and ready to hold out these truths for the Gospel to make out its way into mens hearts vers. 15. Troubles and â—fflictions wee meet with within and without will quickly damp our affections if they bee not well fenced with these 4. With Faith over all these defending even these as well as our selves in other respects by Faith by Faith interposing the power of Christ between us and every enemy that may come to assault us in these or in any other respects that may come to ungird us and make us unfit to act to damp our holy resolution for God to deaden our affections towards the sweet truths of the Gospel which prepare the way for Christ or to wound us with any temptation whatsoever Faith is a true shield it defends both the person and the rest of his armour as we know a shield does the Devill cannot prevaile in any point against a believing soule vers. 16. Alas we can doe nothing our selves doe no good avoid no evill all our strength lies in trusting God with our selves in every condition and with every spirituall advantage and help hee hath given us to manage it as he pleaseth for us 5. With hope of salvation by grace both for eternity and from any present distresse in GODS time Because many seeming miseries may befall the believing soule contradictions to his Prayers Desires Faith yea to all the motions of GODS Spirit in him hee must have an helmet of hope vers. 17. as well as a shield of Faith And this will keep up his spirit that hee shall not feare looking up to GOD what ever befals him 6. With the sword of the Spirit the Word of GOD the living Word the Word which is Spirit and Life This will kill all false reasonings and every thing that exalts it selfe against CHRIST this will make enemies flye from the soule for they hate the Word of life they know it is their death and it will also make the soule it selfe subject unto CHRIST vers. 17. And all this and every thing else must bee done by Prayer vers. 18. wee can doe nothing not gaine this armour not put it on not use it all must be done by Prayer by intreating another to doe it for us wee cannot believe wee must prâ—y for Faith neither can we pray we must believe for prayer we cannot doe either both must flow from the spirit and be done in the spirit praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit Oh how are we stripped when every motion sends us out of our selves to another and yet withall tells us wee are altogether unable to goe out of our selves or step the least step towards that other And wee must watch unto prayer catch opportunities to breathe out our hearts to GOD to doe that in us which he bids us doe not being discouraged with any difficulties but persevering in our requests for our selves and all the people of God vers. 18. Behold ô Christian thy spirituall employment thine easie and painfull employment easie to thy spirit painefull to thy flesh and as yet somewhat painfull to thy spirit also by reason of the cumberance of thy flesh the weaknesse of thy spirit the power and fury of thine adversaries FINIS
spiritually So that all the births produced by man are but fleshly all the changes man can make in his own heart or any else is but from flesh to flesh from grosser flesh to flesh somewhat more refined Conversion by Miracles and strong arguments is but a fleshly conversion all the wayes that man can take to bring his owne heart to believe to close in with Christ to love Christ can produce but a fleshly Faith a fleshly love all the wayes man can take to kill and subdue sinne in him it is but a fleshly mortifying of sinne sinne is truly alive for all this and will discover its life again when it sees its time Christ doth especially allude to the Miracles that were in Nicodemus his eye wer 't thou born of these thy birth is but fleshly how spirituall soever such a person may seeme how spiritually soever he may seem to act yet at the root he is but fleshly The change is made but by flesh and the thing changed is still but flesh how glorious soever the change may seeme Think well of it it cannot be said too often all the wayes and meanes man can use to bring up his heart to God they are but fleshly and can produce but fleshly operations in him all this Faith and holinesse though raised to never so great an height it is but that his heart must bee mortified to if ever he live spiritually Oh! it would be sweet and profitable to consider the abundance of fleshly changes wherewith the Devill cozens men They see a reall change in themselves and so think they are sure whereas it is but a reall fleshly change not a reall spirituall change and so indeed not reall in the true sence a change from naturall unbeliefe to naturall Faith for there is a power in nature to believe which may either bee afrighted or perswaded to put forth it selfe for its own preservation Nature being convinced of its present danger and that there is no way of safety but by believing on Christ which Faith must bee accompanied with love to Christ the truths of Christ the people of Christ and that this love must shew it selfe in obedience Nature I say being convinced of this does presently muster up all its forces of Faith love obedience laying them at Christs feet to dispose of it will trust him love what he will have it love obey what he will command it hate what he will have it hate deny it selfe its own ends interests c. there is nothing so spirituall but it will undertake and goe thorough after its manner rather then perish and alas what is this All this is but nature working from its own principle with its own power to its own end There is no new birth necessary to all this though all this doth also proceed from a new birth where it is after more a excellent manner then nature can attaine to But now that which is borne or begotten of the Spirit is Spirit that which the spirit begets which the spirit produceth is spirit That Faith that love to God which hee breathes into a man that is truly spirituall If a mans heart bee changed not by reason not by the power of Miracles but by him by his immediate power then the change is true and sound As it is the spirit who begets so that which is begotten by him with that water which he useth in his act of generation is a true and spirituall birth There are three particulars which discover the reality of spirituall things as well as of other things 1 The originall from whence they come 2 the nature whereof they are and 3 the effects which they produce Every spirituall thing it commeth from the spirit it is spirituall it selfe and it worketh spiritually there is a true tincture of its nature and of its originall in every effect it produceth As every naturall man is begotten by a man hath the nature of a man in himselfe and acteth like a man worketh the operations of a man So every new man every spirituall man is begotten by the spirit hath the nature of the spirit in him and discovereth his nature and originall in every one of his spirituall motions and actions His Faith his love every thing in him proceeds from the spirit partakes of the nature of the spirit moveth and acteth spiritually The former of these Christ argues the truth of the new birth from in this place its comming from the spirit that which is born of the spirit is spirit What ever the spirit worketh in a man is truly spirituall that light he shews is true spirituall light that grace he gives is true spirituall grace that change hee makes is a true spirituall change but all other changes are but countersets of that true spirituall one which he alone can make And this may shew us the reason why there are so many changes in this flitting age it is because most men are changed by the flesh the greatest power of flesh still changeth them A strong Objection which they cannot answer will startle any man that is changed by a power of flesh Hence men take up one practise to day another to morrow now acknowledge this or that for a truth by and by it is false then true againe why because they see not things by the light of the spirit which never varies but by a force of argument by a power of reason which sometimes appeares stronger sometimes weaker sometimes greater sometimes lesser but a soule whose light is changed whose practises are changed by the spirit that change remaineth good let all the winds and gusts of arguments blow never so strongly Take heed therefore of changing your apprehensions or practises about any thing till you can say the spirit changeth them else it will be but a fleshly change What further remaines but that every one that loveth his soule should lay this to heart and consider thoroughly according to the weightinesse and importance of it how it is with him what that religion is whereupon he groundeth his hopes what oyl feeds his lamp whence his Faith his love came and of what rank and kind they are And not to doe this slightly or determine suddenly as is most usuall with men in matters of Religion but as on the one hand to be thankfull unto God for and make much of the least hope which is not every ones lot so on the other hand not to rest satisfied or let God alone till he hath brought us to an absolute certainty then and not till then we may safely without hazard give over the debate of this question And though we may perhaps be a long while before we attaine it yet if God carry on our hearts in the pursuite we may meet with sweet pledges and refreshings in the way as may much mitigate Gods seeming tediousnesse in deferring our full satisfaction herein And indeed though God leads his people in such harsh and difficult wayes to the eye of
makes a sonne and therefore those that want the spirit of sonnes we say they are unnaturall God should beget unnaturall children if he should not endue them with a sonlike Spirit He could not be a true Father beget a true child unlesse he begat his own spirit in him There can be no life of a sonne no voyce of a sonne no motion of a sonne without the spirit Rom. 8. 9 26. Sonship and the spirit are knit together Gal. 4. 6. Because yee are Sonnes God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father It belongs to the Father both to beget and cherish a sonlike spirit in his son God hath undertaken for his as well that they shall be sons and daughters as to be a Father to them 2 Cor. 6. 18. He will beget in them and poure out upon them such a sonlike spirit that neither he nor they shall be ashamed of the relation 3. A sonlike inheritance Such an one as becomes such an heir what God now possesses he must inherit if he be his son his heir it is his priviledge what power wisdome goodnesse glory c. God now enjoyes he must have when he is grown up to it Rom. 8. 17. This all that receive Chriâ—t must have from and with Christ all this God hath given unto Christ and he giveth it all with himselfe so that take him and take all Quest But what is this same receiving of Christ who are those persons that receive him how may we know them Answ. The next words tell you It is them that believe on his Name The name of Christ is his power to save to bring men out of their misery and wretchednesse unto this This light comes to lighten men out of their darknesse into it selfe and who ever lay hold on him he fetcheth them out who ever is fastened unto him cannot abide in darknesse but must come out with him Now to believe on his name is to fasten on this power of his faith is that glue which makes the soule in whom it is stick and cleave to Christ and any such soules he fetcheth them out of the clutches of the Devill presently and from amiddest that power of darknesse under which they lay and giveth them this priviledge to become sons of God Act. 26. 18. Quest But how may we know those who believe or how come these persons to believe and receive him before others his own they receive him not how comes it about that these receive him Answ. That is resolved in the following verse vers. 13. they have a new principle of life put into them which inclines them so to doe Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God These persons come to it by a new birth they come not to faith by the powers of nature but they are new born before they believe They have a new seed of a new life put into them out of which faith growes and from which it fetcheth its ability to act Now concerning this birth that we may not be deceived about it he shewes first what it is not whence it doth not proceed and then what it is whence it doth proceed It is not a birth of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God 1. Not of blood Blood may import that instruction in Religion and disposition towards Religion which a man receiveth from his Parents There is a veine of Religon runnes along with the blood and there is a kind of naturall inclination in all persons towards Religion both which meeting together with some addition of instruction will carry a person very farre in Religious practises This was the Religion of the Iewes generally what they drank in from their parents and were accustomed to by their education that they were very strict in the observation of And this is the root of most of the Religion at this day in the Word Turkes Papists yea Protestants generally suck in their Religion with their blood indeed they all pretend to a power of God and strive to make up a kind of satisfaction to themselves one way or other whereas the ground-work whereupon they build is rotten But this is not the true birth man in the naturall way of generation cannot convey it Abraham did not thus convey it to Isaac but he was a sonne by Promise it is not the blood of Abraham through which the Faith of Abraham runnes 2. Nor of the will of the flesh The will of the flesh being distinguished from the will of man denoteth the corrupt part with the desires thereof which also doth operate and has a power to produce a birth in Religion though not the true birth This will of the flesh may work a twofold way either in ones selfe or in others and either way may effect a great change in the person in the reference to Religion though not the true one First There is the will of the flesh working in a mans selfe when a man for by-ends as vaine-glory profit quietnesse sake or any such like thing taketh up the profession and practice of Religion this is from the flesh from a corrupt principle when a man takes up Religion not from a pure conviction of conscience not for Religions sake but because it suites with such and such by-ends of his tends to advantage him in this or that respect Thus the Pharisees took up most of their practises out of a desire of honour and gaine and it hath beene observed and known of many in former times that they have been Puritanes on such termes as these to obtaine a wife to please their friends to encrease their custome and the like And thus are many things maintained among us at this day which the light that is abroad would quickly and clearly dispell only corrupt ends keep them alive And thus a man may be born anew as it were a great change may be made in him and he appeare a new man to all that behold him when as it is indeed but the working of the flesh his prosecuting some corrupt ends of his own which maketh him thus forward and zealous in Religion Secondly There is this corrupt part or will of the flesh not only working in a mans selfe but in others also and that is when other men for corrupt ends of their own strive to bring on persons specially such as may be more easily led to such and such practises in Religion and to zeale in such and such particular things Thus the Pharisees did bring the people into many practises for their own corrupt ends and thus were the poore Proselytes born they were brought into a way of Religion by the Iewes who took great paines to effect it but made them ten times more the children of hell then they were before And this we shall see will be the case of many poore soules at last who have followed
heart by the power of the truths of Christ conveyed thither and working there There are three great effects of this water It begets it washeth it nourisheth It begets a dead man to life it begets a man unto God for it is a living and active water or rather it is the seed whereof a man is begotten and born or at least the vessel that living vessel which containes it It is that also wherewith he is washed after hee is born though there be a washing with blood too And it nourisheth him after hee is both borne and washed hee lives upon the very same water that he was borne of and with It is the first of these effects that is here spoken of that stroke that water hath in the generation and birth of the new creature He is born of it It is by letting in these waters upon the soule and into the soule that God changeth it and maketh it a new Our change in our spirits and our conversion to God proceedeth from and is to be attributed to that power of truth that God lets in upon us and to that the Apostle ascribeth it as in many other places Rom. 6. 17. Iam. 1. 1â— As our first change from God was by drinking of the Devils waters which were waters of darknesse and death waters of errour and deceit so this great change to God againe is wrought by drinking of Gods waters his spirituall waters of life which are his truths which hee holds out unto us wherein there is no darknesse nor deceit at all but they are cleare living and substantiall 3. What is it to be born of the Spirit It is to have this change from these waters wrought in us by the spirit A man can never change his own heart by any of the truths of God but it must be the spirit that must doe it This water is too spirituall a seed for any man to sow in his own heart No man no creature can sow anothers seed this is the spirits seed and hee must sow it if it be sown Christ himselfe openeth and illustrateth this further in the eigth verse of the third Chapter The winde bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it commeth nor whither it goeth So is every one that is borne of the Spirit The Spirit breathes his own breath blowes his own blast makes his own sound of life himselfe in our spirits and thus are wee born of him It is not all the changes a man can make by the light of naturall truths nay by the light of spirituall truths working them upon his heart with never so much paines that will amount to a new birth but it must be the spirit of Christ breathing this seed into him and forming him into a new creature by this seed As it is water or the word of truth whereby we are begotten So it is God alone who begets and that hee doth of his own inclination too Iam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth 4. What is it to enter into the Kingdome of God The Kingdome of God is his spirituall dominion in Christ to which every spirituall thing belongs and in which all spirituall excellencies and blessednesses are laid up To enter into this Kingdome is by a spirituall act of the soule to come within the verge and bounds of it even that very act which Nicodemus was speaking of vers. 3. namely an act of true saith by laying hold on Iesus Christ and becomming one with him a man presently hath right unto and entrance into this Kingdome Now saith Christ it is impossible for any man to doe this who is not first new borne hee can never truly mount upward whose earthly nature is not first changed A man may talk of spirituall glories and his right unto them but of a truth he is not entred into the Kingdome nor cannot by true Faith who is not born againe and that both of water and the spirit To partake of the priviledges of Christ to have life and blessednesse from him requires a birth of water and of the spirit There must a new birth of water and the spirit precede there without which the person is not in a capacity of it he must bee made up againe of water and that not of his own forming neither but of the spirits forming and then by Faith he enters into the Kingdome and becomes entituled to all the priviledges of the Kingdome which without this birth fore-going cannot be done Vers. 6. In this verse Christ layeth down a position to confirme the truth he had spoken in the former verse There is a necessity of being born of water and the spirit or else a man cannot enter into the Kingdome for that is a spirituall act and a man can act no higher then hee is and hee is not spirituall he is but flesh if hee be borne but of flesh That which is borne of flesh is flesh Flesh here is not to be taken in its latitude but for that part of it which is powerfull in spirituall generation and production for that power of man together with the meanes and engines that hee can come by whether naturall or spirituall whereby he works a change in his own heart or upon others in imitation of that change which God alone doth and can work by his Spirit Nature Reason Art with all the advantages they can possibly desire or have Nature enlightened and purified by reason and art Nature furnished as much as may bee with the knowledge of God with desires to be like God to recover his image to obey him c. This is here meant by flesh and doth more directly thus reach the state of Nicodemus to whom Christ spake whose present conviction was wrought by Christs Miracles meeting with his reason and ingenuity then if it were understood in a more grosse ence To bee borne of the flesh denotes the greatest change that possibly can be made in a man by this power with all the meanes that it can use The change is so great that a man is new born becomes a new man is changed inside and outside both to his own appearance and in the thoughts of others It is an imitation of that work whereby God brings a man forth a new man The flesh will take his tooles set about his work and seem to produce the same effect bring forth the New Birth but in truth and substance it fals short of it for it is but flesh This birth when a man hath done all he can used all the spirituall meanes hee can yet it is but flesh The fruit can have no more vertue or strength and spirituality then the root had from whence it did proceed which was but flesh and though there were never so many spirituall engines in the hand of flesh yet this will not alter the case for those engines cannot work of themselves and the flesh cannot make them work