that no leisure can be found for the Concerns of Eternity Shall sinful Delights nay shall important Affairs draw you off What is this but to indulge your Bodies or to feed your Families while something nearer to you than both these is suffered to lye and perish for Hunger without any seeming Concern But farther yet Remember who it is that invites you Your Father your Friend your King your God And is there no respect due to these Characters It is your Christ that calls he who hungered and thirsted and wept and bled and dy'd for you He calls you to that health and happiness which you could never have had unless he had in mercy condescended to do and suffer all this for you He earnestly intreats you in this Sacrament to accept the pledges of his future and the tokens of his past Love to strengthen your Faith in the One by these lively remembrances of the Other And not refuse to be found by one who hath taken so much pains to seek and to save you when you were lost How can you then so rudely so unworthily absent your selves How unpardonable is this Coldness this Refusal this Contempt of so great a Mystery and your own Mercy Is this a suitable return for so much Kindness And would you forgive your selves for using any Patron upon Earth so ungratefully But you want no inclination if Business and troublesome Engagements would permit you to come Alas vain Man Your Fields and Yoke of Oxen the following your Employment and providing for your Children will not discharge you from attending here If these things ought to be done yet the other ought least of all to be left undone Nor hath God so ordered the matter but that Both may very well be done and each in their due place will be highly acceptable to him But if our necessities were truly considered this is the much more necessary For hither we come to find Cure for our Sins Food for our inward Strength Comfort for our Sorrows a Sanctified use of our Enjoyments a Blessing upon our honest Labours and which is more worth than all the rest a Fore-tast of Heavenly Bliss in peace of Conscience pure Devotion and an intimate Union with our dear Redeemer These are the Benefits of worthy Communicating and They who will consent to be thus happy here shall by these means be happy for ever hereafter Do not then turn the deaf Ear to so kind so advantagious offers nor let Gods empty Tables any more reproach you Defraud not thus your Souls whose dangerous Sickness is want of Appetite to this Spiritual Food And that Inappetence is caused by too long abstinence Frequent and devour approaches will quicken your desires will heal your distempers will refresh all your Languishings And believe me it highly concerns you to make up for past neglects while you have time For fear these precious opportunities rise up in Judgment and draw on that Sentence of my Text That They who will not taste this Supper here shall not be suffered to partake in Heaven of That which this represents even the Glorious Presence of the King of Saints the Company of Angels and Blessed Spirits the everlasting Festival of the Faithful and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb of God Which Condemnation God give us all Grace to escape for the sake of that Lamb the blessed Holy Jesus who takes away the sin of the World and to whom with God the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen SERMON XII THE CASE OF A Weak and Imperfect FAITH St. Mark IX 24. Latter part Lord I believe help thou my Vnbelief WHILE our Saviour was discovering his Glory to some of the Disciples in his Transfiguration on the Mount a Person in grief for his Son who was grievously vexed with a Devil brings him to the remainder of those Disciples left behind to have the evil Spirit dispossest Providence in great Wisdom had so ordered the matter that They were not able to effect this Cure which gave occasion to the Scribes to attack them And in the Heat of that Dispute our Saviour returns * Vers 1. to 14. to inquire into the Cause of their Controversy †Ver. 16. and is answered by the Party concerned that he had made Tryal of the Disciples in Vain which gave him some distrust of their Master too For so it is manifest it had by that doubtful form in which he begs his assistance V. 22. But if thou canst do any thing have compassion on us and help us Our Saviour hereupon gives him to understand that even the Power of working Miracles was under some confinements and not to be exerted except in favour of such Persons as met it with a ready Faith But where it found Men duly qualify'd nothing was or should be wanting on God's part Jesus said unto him If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth V. 23. The Father of the Child full of concern for his Son sadly sensible of his own Defects and desirous of greater perfection replies with a very moving earnestness and an over-flowing of Tears Lord I believe help thou my unbelief This manner of Address plainly speaks the State of the Man's Mind and shews he wanted a full and absolute perswasion and such an entire confidence in the Power and Goodness of Christ as he wished and ought to have had Nay such as we find several instances of in the History of our Saviour's Life and Actions But though he had not all Faith yet it seems he had Enough for his purpose He did not come up to the highest and foremost Rank but he was accepted and thought worthy of Compassion though not of Commendation Accordingly the following Verses declare the success of this imperfect condition of Soul for our Lord commanded the dumb and deaf Spirit and wrought the Cure though with some pain and difficulty to the Patient A difficulty which seems to have born proportion to the Father's Faith * Ver. 26. For the Spirit cried and rent him sore and he was as one dead But however the Command was too mighty to be disobey'd for the Spirit came out of him and as St. Matthew adds in his relation of this Passage the Child was cured from that very Hour My design from hence is to apply this instance at large by enquiring into the nature of a Weak and Imperfect Faith and that chiefly for these two Reasons First For the Humiliation of those who imagine themselves more perfect than really they are And Secondly for the Comfort of Them who are in reality Better men than they imagine themselves to be And I do not doubt before I have done but to convince the most exalted Christian that though he may truly say with this person in my Text Lord I believe yet there is need enough still of joyning in the latter part of the Verse and of praying as he did Lord help my Vnbelief And
any other Science such particularly as Learned Mens differing in their Judgment about some difficult Points of it This is but too plain a Discovery that something else is cast into the Scale besides the real Merits of the Cause And that such People cavil at Religion not because they have Reason to think it is not true but because they wish it were not and apprehend it for their Ease and Interest that it should not be true 3. Lastly I cannot upon this occasion forbid my self addressing to you the Members of our established Church in particular most earnestly beseeching you to consider the Privileges you enjoy and to make a right Improvement of them You have not the Word of Truth lock'd up from you in an unknown Tongue nor are prohibited to use it freely You are permitted entreated commanded to peruse it diligently And we are very sure the more you do so the more ready you will be to give a reason of the hope that is in you and the less liable to be driven about by every blast of Doctrine Let me only beg that along with this Diligence you would bring Meekness and Modesty an honest Disposition and godly Fear That you would reflect very seriously upon the End for which God hath thus imparted his Will to Mankind which is not to entertain so much as to edify men to make them wise indeed but wise unto Salvation And consequently that keeping constantly this end in view and avoiding intricate and unseasonable Questions which the Apostle tells us do but ingender strife and perplex the minds of the unwary stick close to those plain profitable passages which may stand you in good stead at the last great Day of Account Such as may excite your Piety enflame your Devotion reform your Manners and render you useful and exemplary in your respective Stations and Capacities Such as may bring advantage to the Publick by reducing and mortifying all those unruly Passions and Affections which obstruct Peace and Order Charity and Justice For be very confident that He who lives best does in the Christian Sense know most And every one of competent Parts and Industry may know enough for these purposes * Micah VI. 8. God hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God This is a short and a plain Lesson and yet even this well learnt would not fail to bring us all to Heaven I shut up all with two memorable Passages of Moses and the Son of Sirach to this purpose The Former in the XXIXth of Deuteronomy at the last Verse Secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and unto our Children for ever that we may do all the words of this Law The Latter in Ecclus. III. 21 c. Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee neither search the things that are above thy strength But what is commanded thee think thereupon with Reverence for it is not needful for thee to see with thine Eyes the things that be in secret Be not curious in unnecessary matters for more things are shewed unto thee than Men understand For many are deceived by their own vain opinion and an evil Suspicion hath overthrown their Judgment Without Eyes thou shalt want light profess not therefore the knowledge that thou hast not This wholsome Advice God gives us all the Grace to follow that we may receive the Truth in the Spirit of Meekness and obey it in the Love thereof for Jesus Christ his Sake To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit Three Persons and One God be all Honour and Glory now and for evermore Amen SERMON II. THE HOLINESS Required in a Christian's Conversation Ephes V. 11. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness GREAT part of this Epistle and particularly this Chapter is employ'd in urging the Advantages these Ephesian's had receiv'd by being converted to Christianity and the Improvements it was expected they should make of them To this purpose the Apostle advises them * Vers 8 9 10. to walk as Children of Light To prove what is the good and acceptable Will of the Lord and in order to their doing so to shake hands with their old Corruptions and have no Fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness In treating of these Words I design to speak to these four following Particulars I. I will shew What those things are which the Apostle here commands us to avoid under this detestable Title The Works of Darkness II. What it is to have no fellowship with them III. I shall press the Reason for avoiding those Works which the Text hath couched by calling them unfruitful and then IV. I shall apply my self from the whole to the persuading every one of us to act like men duly convinc'd of the former Heads and the Engagements that lie upon us with regard to them I. I shall shew What those things are which the Apostle here commands us to avoid under the detestable Title The works of Darkness And here it is fit I put you in mind that all sins indeed of what nature or Quality soever are such Works and that we are absolutely forbidden any kindness for and Intimacy with them all For whether by Darkness we understand Ignorance and Error or whether those Regions of horrour inhabited by Devils and damned Spirits the Title will very properly belong to them in both respects Every Sin is owing in some measure to a defect in the mind and wrong Apprehensions of things Every one leads to those dismal Regions of Death Every one derives it self from the Prince of Darkness and is originally his Work But because even of sins there are differences to be made both as to the degree and as to the malignity of them since some do more manifestly carry the Character and Features of that old Serpent whose Spawn they are I will just mention some few which seem by way of Eminence to challenge this Title Now Of These Some were more peculiar to the Pagan World and such as St. Paul had an immediate respect to in this Chapter particularly that Idolatrous and Polluted Worship and all those vain Superstitions which even the wisest and most Learned Heathens had submitted themselves to And Others of them are such as do even now notwithstanding all the Light and Advantages of Christianity endanger mens Souls and draw them into a Resemblance of the Devil whose qualities they are Such especially are Pride and Ambition Envy and Malice Lying and Dissimulation Faction and Treachery and the Tempting others to Sin For under these Qualities the Devil is represented in Scripture and the Devilish Nature of these Vices is sufficiently manifested as soon as they are named So that without further enlarging upon so odious a Subject I shall think my self now at liberty to descend to my II. Second Particular
the Tempter who manages such Mistakes to his own wicked purposes and knows that Delay is the broad way to Destruction God hath indeed provided an Inward Call to second and set home the Outward upon our Consciences But he hath not any where that I know of in the ordinary Dispensations of his Grace and Providence promised any Inward Call apart from the Outward where this may be had He blesses I mean the Administration of his Word and Sacraments and hath fitted these as proper Instruments for bringing us to himself But he expects we should use these that by them we may be brought to him So that as I had occasion to observe formerly Serm. VI◠every Publick Sermon every Psalm and Lesson in the Service every Bidding of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper every pious Exhortation Admonition Reproof is God's Call and God's Message conveyed down to us by his Ministers and such as we must expect one day to account for The King in this Parable interpreted the Refusal and the Ill Treatment of his Servants as so many Indignities done to himself and revenged them with a Severity proportionable to an Insolence so resented And the Jews whom those ungrateful Wretches represent were utterly destroyed for not hearkening to such Calls as these This is the Condemnation constantly laid to their Charge that God sent his Prophets and they would not hear And That which was Their ruine will certainly prove Ours in the End if We by wicked Delays and standing out against the like Means follow the Example of their Obstinacy and Contemptuous Behaviour 6. Sixthly From hence I take it to be evident that this Ordinary and Outward Ministration mentioned in my last Particular is capable of becoming a Sufficient Call to as many as are rightly disposed and willing to make a due Improvement of it Were not the Matter thus how could we account for the Jews being so dreadfully punish'd upon denying their Assent and Obedience How for the Gentles succeeding so well and receiving such commendation upon a ready complyance with such Calls Since neither is it any just provocation to with-hold our Obedience from nor any Virtue or real Matter of Praise to give in rashly to Motives and Means which are insufficient It is true indeed and most readily confess'd that all the Successes of Outward Means upon us are entirely owing to the Blessing and Grace of God inclining our Wills to accept and submit to them But the thing I aim at in this Particular is To urge that when in such representations as This before us and other-like places of Scripture the Outward means alone are taken notice of and no mention made of the Inward Assistances necessary to render them effectual This is a fair Intimation nay I think I may say an undenyable Argument that God's Inward Call will not be wanting to second the Outward where men are sincere and faithful desirous and diligent to examine and consider to hearken to reason all Passions and Prejudice and Interest apart and resolutely set to follow the Dictates of God and their own Consciences * Matth. XXV 29. To Him that hath says our Lord that does his part and makes the best of that he hath shall be given and he shall have abundance And again †John VI. 37. Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out Nor would I here again be understood as if I supposed that even those Actions or good Dispositions to which the increase of Grace is promised are things meerly in our own power No such matter Our very Having our very Coming are of God His are the Talents and His the ability of using them faithfully John XV. 5. V. 44. Without Him we can do nothing and no man cometh to Christ except the Father draw him But still the Question is Whether men's being not drawn be not chargeable upon some fault of their own And if They who are not drawn do not in some measure contribute to that unhappiness and obstruct the kindness which God was otherwise ready to extend to them Now thus much seems to be implyed in the many severe Reproofs and Upbraidings in the many passionate and tender Complaints to be met with upon these occasions John V. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might have life says our Blessed Master Matth. XXIII 38. and O Jerusalem Jerusalem how oft wonld I have gathered thy Children even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and Ye would not And though our utmost efforts are of no significance without the Divine assistance yet that this assistance is not of such a nature as to supersede our own endeavours but that both these must go hand in hand appears from that remarkable Text to the Philippians where St. Paul presses them to Phil. II. 12 13. work out their own Salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who worketh in them to will and to do of his good pleasure To this we may add the constant custom of charging mens Faults and Punishments and final Destruction upon themselves observable throughout the whole Book of Scripture And where mention is made of God's hardening men's hearts if we will make that Book consistent with it self This is to be meant of God's doing it by way of Judgment upon wicked Sinners punishing the Abuse of Means by a total Deprivation of them Mens own Folly by Infatuation Thus blinding those Eyes which would not see and preserving the forfeited lives of some notorious Monsters in Impiery from that speedy death they had deserved to make them more awakening examples to Others by the vengeance which pursues their repeated provocations in this World But which comes closest up to the present purpose The Neglects and Contempts and Abuses threaten'd or revenged in our Bibles are all along such as men had been guilty of towards Outward and Ordinary means For not being won by these they are declared inexcusable Which yet they could not be were they not provided with such helps as attended with their own Industry and Honesty might have rendred those means successful For this is but in other words to affirm what the Holy Spirit frequently does that the Sinners undoing is not from God but from himself not from Him who desireth not the Death of the Wicked but from the Wicked who will not turn and live 7. Seventhly and Lastly This Parable intimates to us that though God call men in such a manner as renders them who refuse inexcusable yet be does it not ordinarily if ever at all in such a manner as is irresistible Hence it is that we so often find men reproached with turning their backs stopping their ears hardening their hearts quenching grieving and doing despight to his Spirit Hence that rebuke to the Jews by St. Stephen Acts VII 51. Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your Fathers did so also do ye
them power to prevail for our Reformation And as the Efficacy of the Second Crowing was immediate and strong when attended with that rebuking Glance of our Blessed Master so where those Outward means are backed with the Inward Influences of the Spirit there they produce sudden and wonderful Alterations For what reasons God vouchsafes this Inward Call to Some and not to Others who all partake equally of the Outward Call is best known to â—…s own Infinite Wisdom Nor is it now requisite to enter so far into that Enquiry as we may know This is sufficient for my present purpose that the raising men dead in trespasses and Sins and quickening them with a Principle of Spiritual and new Life are described by St. Paul * Ephes I. 19 20. II. 1 5. as Miracles which nothing less than Almighty Power can do And therefore when we feel any Desires and Tendencies to lead better Lives and forsake our old Sins let us be sure to lay the first Foundation of our Repentance in Humility Not fondly imagining that this Sufficiency is of our selves but meekly and with all due Thankfulness acknowledging in the Language of the same St. Paul that †2 Cor. III. 5. we are not able of our selves so much as to think one good thought and that it is God alone ‖ Phil. II. 13. who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure that * 1 Cor. XV. 10. by the Grace of God we are what we are and that it lies upon Us to take great care that his Grace which is bestowed upon us be not in vain To which purpose 2. Secondly St. Peter's Example teaches us that our Repentance ought to be speedy He was no sooner made sensible of his fault but immediately he left the Scene of his Wickedness broke loose from the Company that had drawn him into it and betook himself to his Prayers and his Tears And We in like manner if we would approve our selves true Penitents must strike in with the very first Convictions of our own minds We must not tamper with our Consciences nor seek out frivolous Excuses for deferring our Reformation but improve the Motions of Grace and quit all occasions of Sin All that Company All those Pleasures or whatever else hath been a snare to us heretofore must be wholly abandoned Or if that cannot be so carefully watched so cautiously used that all the Approaches and Passes may be guarded and blocked up where the Tempter hath used or is likely to break in upon us And This is a thing that will admit of no delay because the continuing to cherish and approve our Sins is the same thing in effect with committing them over again It argues the very same disposition still to remain For he that is loath to part with his Vices wants nothing but Opportunity to repeat them And God who judges us according to the Bent of our Wills and measures the Good or Evil we do by the Degrees of Love or Hatred we bear to Him and Religion knows very well that They who put off their Repentance to a further day are still in the Gall of Bitterness and the Bond of Iniquity Men may flatter themselves and impose upon Others with I know not what idle Pretences but He that is seriously convinced he ought to repent and does not set about it immediately is not in good earnest nor does he sincerely hate his wicked ways or heartily intend ever to repent at all 3. Thirdly The Bitterness of St. Peter's Weeping instructs us how necessary and how Essicacious a branch of Repentance it is to be deeply and heartily sorry for our Sins This is necessary because we have to deal with a God to whom we are not in a condition of bringing any Atonement and therefore the Only Satisfaction we can make him is the taking the Shame of our Fault to our selves and being unfeignedly afflicted for all our unworthy behaviour toward him For which reason the broken and contrite heart is called in a peculiar manner God's Sacrifice and such an Offering as he will not despise Psal LI. 17. And as such Sorrow is Necessary so is it likewise of great Efficacy in the present case because our Care to avoid Sin for the future will naturally be proportionable to our Concern for having committed it heretofore Hence are the pious Mourners so blessed Hence the shootings and stinging pains of a wounded Conscience the greatest Mercies to the Sufferer Because such pains are profitable by begetting an irreconcilable and settled aversion against the wretched Cause of them and firmer resolutions to deliver from such smart and misery by seeking the peaceable fruits of Righteousness ever after And because such inward Reproaches and Anguish of Heart if the degree of This Sorrow be equal will have the same natural Effects with all Other Sorrow Therefore we are so often called upon for the same Testimonies of it as are usual under Other Afflictions Hence we are commanded to * Joel II. 12. turn to the Lord with weeping and Mourning Hence David washed his bed and watered his Couch with Tears †Psal VI. 6. and Hence God is said to put such Tears into his bottle ‖ Psal LVI 8. that is To treasure them up and have them in favourable Remembrance because as St. Paul says * 2 Cor. VII 10. Godly sorrow worketh Repentance Mistake not my Friends Sorrow is not Repentance but works it that is it is Instrumental toward it and very powerful to produce it Which leads me to a Fourth thing in which if we do not imitate St. Peter all the rest is of no Significance at all to us And That is an Effectual Change of Manners and stedfast Perseverance in Holiness for the time to come And This will be the natural Consequence of our Sorrow for Sin if it be indeed afflicting and sincere For No Man thinks he can be too careful to avoid that which creates him disquiet No Man needs be warned to keep at a distance from things which he hates and apprehends extream danger and certain Destruction from If therefore This be our real Sense of Sin our Behaviour will be agreeable to it But besides the Obligation which a due Regard to our own Safety lays upon us we are likewise bound to it in Gratitude to Almighty God For Which way can we express our thanks for the inestimable mercy of being rescued out of the Captivity of Sin and Death so well as by living to Him who hath thus loved us It is not enough in such a case that we refuse to be entangled again in the same Yoke of Bondage Thus much we owe to our Selves But to Him who hath hewed our snares in pieces we owe a great deal more The greater our Debt was the more we must testify our Affection to the kind Creditor who released it And This can only be done by devoting our selves as eagerly to the Service of Religion
as ever we had done formerly to that of our Lusts By stemming the Torrent of Profaneness and Impiety and endeavouring with all our might to promote Goodness in the World Particularly by being eminently conspicuous in those Virtues which are most directly contrary to the Vices we formerly indulged and by our active indefatigable Charity to the Souls of our Brethren giving Testimony how just a value we set upon the deliverance of our Own in our mighty care to rescue Theirs Thus far St. Peter's Example leads us But even when we have followed it thus far we may not suppose that our Pardon and good Acceptance are due to any Desert of our own Good Works Or that our deepest Sorrow can properly speaking have in it any thing of Satisfaction For as * Luke XXII 32. St. Peter's Faith did therefore not fail because Christ prayed that it might not so our Restoration and the Essicacy of our Repentance is entirely the Effect of the Merits and Intercession of the same kind Saviour He only could take up this quarrel between offended God and sinful Man and therefore when we find God most easy of Access and are suffered to draw so near as even to be mystically united to him and fed by him let us not forget to beg that the intolerable Burden of our Sins may be removed not in Presumption of our own Righteousness but in confidence of his manifold and great Mercies humbly beseeching him That for his Son our Lord Jesus Christ's Sake he would forgive us all that is past and grant that we may ever heareafter serve and please Him In newness of Life To the honour and glory of his holy Name through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen SERMON VII THE CERTAINTY AND Nature of Regeneration St. John III. 8. The Wind bloweth where it lifteth and thou hearest the Sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit WHEN we read of Nicodemus adventuring to Visit Jesus and acknowledging the Conviction his Miracles had wrought upon some of the Beholders that they concluded from hence his Mission and Authority to be Divine it is plain somewhat more than mere Curiosity drew him to this Conference Desires he had though as yet but imperfect of better Instruction but such as they were our Saviour did not disdain to gratify them in entring upon a Discourse concerning the Kingdom of God That Kingdom which it was his design to bring men to the Kingdom of that God from whom he came a Teacher Whether Nicodemus had enquired into the Qualifications requisite to prepare Men for and admit them into this Kingdom we know not or whether Christ of his own accord fell upon This as a Point the most improving the most necessary to be first understood and most pertinent to the purpose of stealing this Visit Nor was it material for St. John to acquaint us That which is of much greater Consequence is that he makes a Man's being born again the indispensable Condition of seeing that Kingdom V. 3. And This deserves the Greater Attention because a Master in Israel mistook it As if God had intended the Impossibility or at least our Saviour were so absurd to propose it of going through the Course of a Natural Birth the second time V. 4. From that wild Misconstruction our Lord delivers himself and explains the Nature of Regeneration That Water and the Spirit the Washing of Baptism outwardly and the inward Sanctifications of the Holy Ghost are the Principles by which it is effected V. 5. That Could it be compassed in that gross way Nicodemus misapprehended yet that would be of no Efficacy no Advantage at all in this Case For since in all Productions the thing born receives the Nature and Resemblance of That whence it s Being was derived Flesh could only produce Flesh But the new Creature which God requires consists in the Mind and therefore to bring forth a new Spirit it is necessary that the Vital Principle should be a Spirit V. 6. And however he might find some difficulty in assenting to this because neither the Cause nor the manner of its Operation fall under the notice of the Bodily Senses yet is not that any just Exception against the Reality of the Fact A very familiar Instance whereof he alledges in the Words of my Text which are thus introduced by the seventh Verse Marvel not that I said unto thee Ye must be born again The Wind bloweth where it listeth 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 the Spirit The Words plainly consist of two parts A Similitude and The Application and my Discourse upon them shall accordingly distribute it self into these Two Heads First From the Similitude I shall draw some general Conclusions which may direct us in our Contemplation of Divine Truths and especially That of Regeneration which is the Subject Matter of our Lord's Argument with Nicodemus Secondly From the Application I shall consider how far the properties of the Wind mentioned here will give us any just ground to judge of the Holy Spirit 's workings upon the Souls of Men. I. I begin with some General Conclusions drawn from the Similitude it self such as may direct us in our Contemplation of Divine Truths and more especially in That of Regeneration which is the subject Matter of our Lord's Argument with Nicodemus And these Conclusions are as follow 1. First A man may have sufficient Reason to assure himself that a Thing really is without being able to give an account how it came to be For the Cause of a Thing is indeed one and a very satisfactory way of coming to the distinct Knowledge of its Nature But this is but One way of Many and Some things which we cannot come at this way may be so certain to us that it would be the Extremity of an Obstinate Singularity to deny them For as things have Causes so have they likewise Effects and Properties and other Characters by which they may be distinguished And it is enough in all Conscience if any of these give Evidence of their existing For we are every whit as sure that what hath no Being of its own cannot have Properties and Effects as we are that it could never have been without a Cause And therefore when we are able to assign any such Properties or Effects that is a Demonstration of the Reality of the Thing For instance Very Few if Any of the most Learned have been able to give a satisfactory Account of the Original of Winds but the Hypothesis of one Philosopher is disliked and exploded by another Now though these Curious Searchers into Nature cannot agree whence they come and whither they go yet herein they all agree that come and go they do This they know without any search And the unlettered part of the World who have neither Capacity
Sense so they import that no Faculties of our own no Desires of Sense no Principles of Reason and Morality can rise so high there must be Divine Grace or there can be no Child of God The thing is true in both Interpretations and all the Enlargement I shall make upon it is only to set before you the Reasonableness of this being represented to us under the notion of Regeneration or a Second Birth and then to describe the Manner of it's being brought about as the Scripture hath instructed us in it By Natural Birth and Generation it is plain we come to have a Life which we had not before We have a Principle of Motion imparted to us and from dead senseless Matter are enabled to perform all the Functions that are proper to Humane Nature Another Creature is produced of the same kind with those from whence it sprung and grows up by degrees to the same use of Sense the same Reason the same Understanding the same Desires of what is not convenient and the same Aversions and Fears of what is hurtful and destructive to it And in all these Circumstances men are very properly said to be born again upon their Conversion to and believing in Christ The Condition they were in before is a State of utter Inactivity and for this reason we find them styled * Ephes II. 1. dead in trespasses and sins and said to be quickned by the Grace and Spirit of God They were imprisoned and confined and the utmost Efforts they were capable of making are but like the faint Struggles of an Embryo in the Womb. But this coming to the Birth gives them liberty to exert themselves and lets them into a new and different Scene of Action It produces a New Creature as the Scripture terms it that is Such a Newness as a Soul is capable of New Notions and Dispositions and consequent to these a New Conversation proceeding from them So that every such Person is quite another Man from what he was before And this Alteration conforms us to the Image of him that begot us Every thing is pure and Godlike and expresses a Resemblance to his Essential Holiness It gives a fresh turn to our Thoughts and Affections so that we are not acted as before by the same carnal Apprehensions nor the same sensual Inclinations It imprints a new Character upon our Understandings and gives us a true Sense of Good and Evil and it puts a quite different Bent upon our Will such as disposes us to love what is truly Good and Spiritual and Heavenly and to despise and detest what is Worldly and Wicked This is that Likeness of Species which justifies the Metaphor The greatest that can possibly happen to a Soul the greatest that a Moral Principle is capable of and so great as to render it very significant and proper to say of every such Person that he is born again But we know that by being born men become part of a Family and have a Right to a Child's Share in the Division of the Estate And This is another good Reason for mens being said to be born of God because by that means they are let into New Relations and acquire New Titles Thus St. Paul tells Christians that * Gal. IV. they receive the Spirit of Adoption and by it have a right to call God Father that they are Sons and not only Sons but heirs heirs of God and coheirs with Christ That they are from thenceforth allied to the whole Family that is named of God both in Heaven and Earth And from Aliens and Strangers and Enemies come not only to be admitted into a strict Alliance with but to obtain the most honourable and most advantagious Post in the Houshold And since these Prerogatives among Men are the Effect of Birth and Blood the same conferred with regard to our Spiritual Kindred and Divine Inheritance is very fitly represented by being born of God For as Foreigners though the dearest Friends are not legally qualified for them in Settlements of this World except in default of Issue and where the Race is extinct So here none who is not of the Family can inherit and they who are most worthy of it are first made capable of it by becoming Children And for this reason it is that this Title is so often made use of and so highly extolled in Scripture because whatever Privileges the Rest may imply yet None can minister that Comfort and Confidence None can assure our Inheritance or give us A Pretence to the Glory and Kingdom of Heaven but this of Sons only Now for the Manner of working this Change in us which was the Other Consideration propounded under this Head That also carries so great a Similitude to a natural Birth that no Figure in the World could give us a clearer Idea of the thing The Act of Generation and Birth gives Being once for all and at the instant of coming into the World the Child the Heir is born to all the Rights of his Quality and Family So likewise in the Sacrament of Baptism we have the Spirit of God conferred upon us which as it is a Spirit of Grace is a Principle of new Life to us and as it is a Spirit of Adoption it instates us in all the Privileges that can belong to Children of such a Father And for this reason our Church immediately after the Covenant is struck gives thanks to Almighty God and acknowledges him a most merciful Father for that it hath pleased him to regenerate the Persons then newly baptized with his holy Spirit to receive them for his own Children by Adoption and to incorporate them into his holy Church As also she most wisely and truly declares at the beginning of her excellent Catechism that in Baptism we are made Members of Christ Children of God and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven But a Member must be cut off if it be mortified Children may provoke their Parents to put them by their Birth-right and an Heir under Age is such in Reversion and Hope only The Natural Parent gives a Principle of Life but it is such a one as will soon perish and go out again if due care be not taken to preserve it And so it is here The Spirit of God quickens us upon his first Infusions but we are to cherish the kindly warmth God is our Father in the sustaining and nourishing as well as in the Enlivening part He knows the Life that is in us is subject to perpetual decays and therefore the same natural Affection that occasioned our being born His does likewise engage and assure us of all necessary Supplies to continue His provided we use what he gives and employ that Principle of Spiritual Self-preservation Grace therefore though it be given at first yet is not given all at first There is that proportion given which makes us Children but we are commanded * 1 Pet. II. 2. to feed upon the sincere milk of the