by the outward sign he represents unto us and what have beene said of this of Faith in elect Infants you have heard and how in time it fructifies Dr. Fately in his Childrens Baptisme in page 59. saith the effects of the Spirit are begun at our Baptism c. p. 60. they have purg'd away the guilt of their sins and Christs righteousnesse is imputed to them Yet onely give me leave to relate what St. August saith of this Ep. 23. ad Bonif. seme perceptam parvulis Christi gratiam non amittit nisi propria impietate si aetatis accessu tam malus evaserit c. this grace of Christ once received the child looseth not except by his own vilenesse when he comes to yeers and then his actuall sins are not removed by his baptismall regeneration sed alia curatione sanentur they must be healed by actuall repentance and yet as Mr. Prinne Obs this will not follow that therefore a converted child of God may fall either totally or finally from actuall grace Our own Church Art 25. printed 1562. they are called effectuall signes of grace Now if God doe not effect grace in some sort by them they are not effectuall In our Forme of Baptisme in the Church of England we have been taught thus to pray That the child may be baptized with water and with the Holy Ghost be received into Christs Church and made a lively member of the same and that comming to baptisme it may receive remission of its sins by spirituall regeneration and give thy Holy Spirit to this Infant that it may be born againe And after Baptisme seeing now that this Child is regenerate c. and I do not quote this as any authority of its selfe any further then made good by Orthodox Divines Ames Tom. 3. lib. 2. cap. 3.75 page though all Infants receive not grace in Baptisme neither say we so Deum tamen quibusdam cum baptizantur habitum vel Principium gratiae in fundere non negamus Davenant in Col. 2.12 Spiritum gratiae inbaptismo acceptum Dr. Featley Part. 2. inward grace ordinarily accompanieth the outward signe Except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit Our Saviour you see begins at Baptisme with Nicodemus and the Spirituall Birth when he would have him a Christian And as in the Scriptures we reade of a twofold Circumcision so there is a twofold Baptisme a twofold Circumsiod Rom. 2. two last For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumsion which is outward in the flesh that is it is not that Circumcision alone that makes a man acceptable to God without the other whereof that was a symbole but he is a Jew which is one within and the Circumcision of the heart in the Spirit not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God So hee is not an acceptable Christian to God that is onely baptized outwardly with Water but he that is one inwardly baptized also with the Spirit therefore our Saviour puts them both together Except a man bee born again of Water and the Spirit 2 Kings 4.31 When the Shunamites Child was dead the Prophet sent Gehezie with his staffe to lay upon the face of the child and to quicken it but no life nor motion did appeare by that then vers 35. the Prophet himselfe comes and hee layes his mouth to the Childs mouth c. and then presently it begins to revive and life was restored unto it Thus we may lay Water alone upon the Body but it can introduce no Spirituall life but when the presence of Gods sanctifying Spirit â—omes together with it then life is infused into the soule And secondly as a man can perceive nothing of the things of this life except he be first born into the world naturally no more can he perceive any thing of the sweetnesse of the life to come except hee bee first borne againe spiritually Thirdly even as the Children of Israel when they came out of Egypt were first to goe through the Red Sea 2. Through the solitary wildernesse 3. To be fed with Manna 4. To passe through Jordan and then 5. and lastly into the Land of Promise even so are we first to passe through the water of Baptisme 2. Through the Wildernesse of Temptation 3. God therein affords the Manna of consolation 4. After both Death and 5. and lastly then that aeternall Canaan or rest of glory Fourthly our Saviour saith not except this man or that man be borne againe but speakes indefinitely except a man be born againe that is as much as except every man be born again that may for the Logitians tells us as you have heard that in materia necessaria propositioni definita est instar vniversalis though in contingenti but particularis In a matter necessary an indefinite proposition is as an universall so that it s not left to every mans judgement as a thing indifferent whether he will be baptized or no but he must if he may if he mean to enter Heaven Fifthly we may observe that this is spoken to a Jew a man that had been circumcised before Amen Amen dico tibi to ye yet to circumsion he addes Baptisme putting an end as it were to the one and beginning the other therefore the Jewes do wrangle in vaine contending for Circumsion to bee for ever and never altered because it s said Gen. 17.7 That God made an everlasting Covenant with Abraham and his Seed and Abraham believed before he was circumcised and afterwards received the signe of Circumsion which is also called a Seale of the Righteousnesse of Faith and to Ahraham it was given as a signe that hee believed the divine promise of the Seed to come Gal. 3.16 He saith not as to the Seeds as speaking of many but to thy Seed as to one which is Christ in whom all the Nations of the Earth were to be blessed Circumcision then was an open signe of the confession of this Seed to come now the Seed being come if any man should retain circumsion as still necessary he should as much as signifie he were not come Gal. 5.2 Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing So that to the Jewes objection out of Gen. I answer thus faedus Dei cum populo sempiternum but signumillud particul are non esset aeternum although the Covenant of God with his people was to be aeternall yea their particular signe of circumcision was not to be so for though the covenant held yet the sign of the covenant was alterable for circumcision was not pactum but signum pacti circumcision was not the covenant its selfe but the signe of the covenant It s observeable in sacred Writ quod Deus ter faedus suum cum homine renovavit renewed his covenant three times with man and the sign was every time preximius perfectius the nearer to him and the more perfect First he made a
sinne persona infecit naturam in the posterity naturain fecit personam And I answer it was not he comparative in regard of his regenerate part but it was he in the unregenerate part Rom. 7.15 I allow not that which I do v. 19. the evill which I would not that doe I For the whole man is principium quod both of good and bad actions but the principium quo of evill is corruption of good Gods grace Ob. 4. The guilt is inseparable from the sinne I answer its inseparabile quoad dignitatem paenae but its separable quoad ordinationem ad paenam and that will serve to keepe us from ever comming into the fire of Hell Obj. 5. What is properly sinne is taken away by the grace of Christ in baptisme but defect of originall justice not ergo Ans Non ut non sit sed ut non imputetur But I may not swell the bulk this shall briefly suffice for the former point that though the guilt of originall 〈◊〉 be taken away in the Elects yet remains it a sinne even in the regenerate invitis Pontificiis whether the Popish Divines will or no. To the second that their guilt is ordinarily taken away in elect Infants in baptisme for the explaining of which I must praemise the certaine proposition as thus I deny not but God may and doth give his Spirit to elect Infants sometimes before Baptisme for many such may dye before they attaine it 2. He may do it after for Baptisme is as well sigillum gratiae accipiendae when it is once had as acceptae 2. When I say in Baptisme I meane by it as the Fathers do Baptismum completum which includes three things signum significatum and analogiam the sigu is outward the signified inward the analogie mixed of both the resemblance stands us that even as Water washeth the body so doth Christs bloud the soule and this union is made by the Spirit Christ applying the one in and by the thother as by an outward Instrument and if any of these be wanting the baptisme is not compleat but onely there is an outward Sacrament of Baptisme not the grace of the Sacrament Ambros de iis qui initiantur Mysteriis lib. 4. tres sunt in Baptismate Aqua sanguis spiritus si unum borum detrahas non stat baptismatis in Saeramenâ—um that is in the sense you have heard therefore when I speak of baptisme to draw it onely to the Baptisme of Water is an insipid conceipt which no man either of learning or ordinary braines could in probability bee so voide of reason as to affirme being that I had said they were not Instrumenta Physica not no Creature not devoid of common reason and charity would have once offered for their own shame to have fastened upon a man So that I cannot meane onely the act of Baptisme or Institution without operation nor the materiale of the Sacrament or the formale of words 3. And lastly though all the Fathers that I have read speake of Baptisme in definitly yet I meane not of all in generall both Elect and Reprobate for the unregenerate and reprobate never have the guilt removed though they bee baptized but of Elect Infants to which I have said God is not so tyed to meanes as that he may not give it either before or after yet having been pleased to set up a standing Ordinance of Baptisme in the Chureh I say that ordinarily he takes away the guilt of their originall sinne in this or else it must bee an extraordinary thing to have the guilt of it taken away Bulling lib. 6. adversus Anabapt Infautes habeant rem signatam gratiam Dei remissionem peccatorum Now whereas I say the Fathers speak indefinitely we must know that an indefinite proposition in materia contingenti is but instar particularis as Doctus est pius this is contingent therefore not universall but animal est sensibile this is instar universalis because it is in materia necessaria Yet now and then a man may gather by what hath fallen from the Pens of the Ancients that their meaning is of the Elect when they speak of the efficacy of Baptisme Again when it is said in Baptisme it may either point at the tempus baptizandi or the virtutem baptismi the time of baptizing or the vertue power and efficacy of it and howsoever if we consider the outward Sacrament of the Elementary materials and the verball formale as no proxima propria or immediata causa gratiae fidei as not having grace physically in it or absolutam aliquam causalitatem ad dispositionem recipientis or any absolute eausalitie to dispose the receiver of it selfe as Bonavent in lib. 4. sent dist 1. qu 4. yet they do this as morall Instruments per quandam assistentiam divinam quae proprie est fidei acgratiae causa they doe efficere gratiam afford grace or work it So that in this sense we say with Amesius aque baptismum aliquo modo causam instrumentalem regenerationis esse non negamus in some sort we deny not saith he the baptisme of Water to be an instrumental cause of regeneration for it is an Instrument of the proper cause and of the effect of the cause which is the grace of the Spirit of God though you have heard not the proper Proxime and emmediate cause Yet I say by this morall Instrument as Scotus Durandus Henricus Bonavent Alexan. Ales and outward visible sign as the standing Ordinance of God in his Church he gives grace ordinarily to elect Infants or else it should be a prognostick of grace or a sigillum onely Dr. Featly in his Childrens Baptisme justified pag 41. speaking of its neglect saith thereby they deprive them of that ordinary remedy of that originall malady in which they are conceived and borne or cata polu but signum inane aut vacnum or concerning whom I cannot but note what I reade in that learned and worthy instrument of GOD in his Generation Mr. Taylor in his Sermons preached in the University in Cambridge and in the ears of men guifted to judge in point of Divinity and printed as a comment on Titus 1612. page 642. towards the end he thus writes distinguishing Infants into such as are elect and such as belong not the election of grace the latter receive outwardly the element and not inwardly washed The former namely elect Infants receive in the right use of the Sament the inward grace Not that hereby we tye the Majesty of God to any time or means whose Spirit blowes when and where it listeth on some before Baptisme as we have heard who are sanctified from the Wombe on some after but then marke what followes but because the Lord delights to present himselfe gratious in his own Ordinances we may conceive that in the right use of this Sacrament he Ordinarily accompanieth it with his Grace here according to his promise we may expect it and here we may and ought
covenant with Noe of not drowning the world again by Water and his signe for this was his bow in the Clouds Gen. 9.12 13. This is the token of the Covenant which I make between me and you c. I have set my bow in the Clouds and it shall be a signe betweene me and the earth Secondly with Abraham and his Seed and promised Christ Gen. 17.10 And that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed as you have heard and then he instituted the signe of circumcision 3. And lastly he renews the covenant in Christ to all believers and of this covenant Baptisme was the more perfect than the former Sixthly observe that he joynes two things in the Sacrament together that are valde dissimili greatly dislike Water and the Spirit the former corporall the latter spirituall the former visible and the latter invisible and herein answers to the two essentiall parts of man his body and his soule where of the former is visible the latter invisible the Water visible the Spirit invisible the Water washeth the body the Spirit works upon the soule and minde John 3.8 the manner of our regeneration is compared to the blowing of the winde The winde bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but thou canst not tell whence it comes nor whither it goes so is every one that is borne of God Now in the winde two things are observeable 1. we feel it blowing but 2. we cannot see the wind that bloweth for though it be a body yet naturall Philosophy teacheth us that it is corpus tam tenue so subtle a body that we cannot see it even so it is here we feel the sweet working of the Spirit but we cannot see that spirit that worketh The Papists that hold the Sacraments Phyficall Instruments as you have heard they say that the body is no lesse sanctified by the Water than the soule by the Spirit and they instance thus quemadmodum aqua viribus ignis intensius calefacta non aliter quam ignis vrit c. Even as Water made very hot by the fire doth no lesse burn then the fireits selfe so the Water in baptisme by the operation of the Spirit of God adjoyned to it doth cleanse the body of him that is baptized as the Spirit its selfe but as some of the sounder Schoole Divines have well considered Water being but Creatura insensibilis an insensible creature it s not capable to be the subject of any inhaerent grace as one body or element is capable of the heating by another 2. You have heard that Spiritus is not alwayes necessario sihi adjunctus the Spirit is not alwayes and of necessity joyned to it 3. And lastly the corporall substance of water cannot immediately touch or work upon the soule But even as the meat is first digested inwardly in the stomack and then by secret passage the spirit and vigour of it is conveyed to the outward parts of the body even so grace first infused into the heart and mind of a man spread it selfe into all the faculties of the soule and then into all the parts of the body so that the whole man is infected So grace when God doth infuse it spreads it selfe as farre thus in this sense in regard of parts where sin hath abounded there grace also may abound And in what sense God may be said to have sanctified us by the water of baptisme you have heard heretofore But you will say what need Christ water in baptisme as any outward signe to sanctifie us by cannot he sanctifie us by his Spirit without this I answer what needed our Saviour clay or spittle or washing in Siloam to have opened the blinde mans eyes could he not have done it onely by a word and it should have served Or why did God create man of the dust of the earth could hee not have created him of nothing I answer yes but he was not pleased so to doe but would use meanes to teach us not to despise the use of meanes but to waite upon God in the use of them when he appoints them Rom. 9.20 O man who art thou that disputeth with God shall thou teach him how he shall work his work or by what meanes Gen. 1. the latter part of the second ver it s said That the Spirit of God moved upon the Waters even so doth it upon these waters to sanctifie us by them as by an outward signe giving us by that which we see that which we see not in what sense you have heard before This water in Baptisme is thought to have been typified per aquam expiationis by the sprinkling water mentioned Numb 19.9 But ver 2. this water must have the ashes of a red Cow mingled that which was without blemish to note out that this water must have the red blood of Christ without sinne to goe with it As also by the Waters issuing out of the Sanctuary as some will have it Ezek. 47. from v. 1. forward c. as also by the Waters of the flood Gen. 7.7 and this is plain by St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.21 Seventhly he saith not nisi quis baptizatus fuerit sednisi quis natus fuerit ne quis de solo externo baptismo gloriaretur he saith not except a man be baptized but except a man be borne againe least any man should glory onely of his outward baptisme for outward baptisme with water you have heard will not serve without inward baptisme with the spirit by which the old man is put off and the new man put on or otherwise as many come through the red Sea that afterwards perished in the Wildernesse and never saw the Land of Promise so many may passe though the Water of Baptisme that afterwards perish in aeternall misery and never see the spirituall Canaan no more then they did the temporall Eightly As in naturall generation there is a concurrence of father and mother even so in this spirituall generation the Church as the mother she affords water and God as our Father he gives his Spirit and so a man comes to be born a child of Light 9. And lastly seeing that a man can but be once borne naturally no more can he spiritually as you have heard therefore Donatus of old and the Anabaptists of these latter times have been much to blame to baptize men over again seeing that their former baptisme was by lawfull Ministers and according to Christs prescription both for matter and forme Donatus upon conceipt that the Ministers were faulty in their lives that baptized them as though the efficacy of the Sacrament did depend upon the bounty of the Instrument and not upon GOD. Many that have been baptized by faulty Ministers prove good men and on the contrary many that have beene baptized by good Ministers prove bad men But before I passe this point I cannot but give you one collection from some of the Papists out of this Text. You know they
alwayes absolutely necessary respectu medii but necessary in some respect where God offers it and men may have it But this baptisme by the Spirit or regeneration by some means or other is absolute necessary none ever was or shall be saved without it 1 Cor. 6.9 Know yee not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God c. The reason is because no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Rev. 21. last and there shall enter into it no unclean thing Now we are all unclean by nature Ephes 2.3 and we by nature saith St. Paul were the children of wrath as well as others that is by our corrupt nature being born with Adams guilt upon us so that wee may all cry as the Lepers did under the Law I am unclean I am unclean Lev. 13.45 and as the Lord said to Jerusalem so may we say to you O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made cleane when shall it once be and you have heard how this cleansing must be by regeneration 1 Cor. 6.11 having spoken of grosse sins he addes And such were some of you but ye are washed ye are sanctified q.d. Without this washing this sanctifying this cleansing yee had been in the same estate with the unrighteous and so could not have inherited Heaven Well is this so that regeneration is absolutely necessary to salvation this then may first afford us an Use of exhortation for every one of us to use the means to be regenerate if we mean to be saved Be diligent in hearing Gods Word taught reade good bookes of practicall Divinity and of such men as have writ for thee that which they have found by experience in themselves frequent Prayer desire it from others to pray for thee that God would come and make himselfe knowne to thee God workes by means and not by any means but by such as are of his owne directing If wee use these means Gods blessing is ready to attend them and make them effectuall to as many as he will save Secondly If so then an Use of Reproofe to such as dream of salvation and say they hope for it as well as the best when in the mean time they labour not for regeneration but hates the meanes God hath ordained to save them by and cannot indure those that use them but revile them and slander them and persecute them because they affect not any such goodnesse themselves Or else 2. they use but the meanes in part and have not a care to share in all the Ordinances of God if they practice one they will not another if they heare they have no great mind to remember or practice accordingly or to joyn prayer to it that 's a wearinesse to the flesh before they durst not quando satis fuit criminis fuesse bonum when it was matter enough of accusation to have been good but now by Gods mercy they may but because its wearisome to the flesh though great comfort to the conscience they decline if Or 3. if more amply yet but of custome and superficially not as in conscience and as in obedience to Gods direction or in care to grow in grace o out of any experimentall sweetnesse they have found in the Ordinances 3. And lastly if so then an Use of Justification of such as have a care 〈◊〉 labour for regeneration and experience of Gods love in Christ so they must either do or be damned it s a matter of no lesse consequence then life and death Suppose a man had committed such a capitall Crime as for which he knew by the Law he was to be hanged or should suffer some shamefull kind of death oh how would it break his sleepe and how would he imploy all his friends how would he ride and run night and day to procure his freedome or pardon which his deeds had merited and all this but to free him from a temporall death Well and every unregenerate sinner in that estate is in as great danger of Hells eternall Torments for the sinne he hath done as this man is of his temporall death Oh! doth it not concern them thon to be disquieted in mind on the night seasan to procure the prayers of all their friends to fast pray cry and what not and say with those heart-pricked Jewes Act. 2.37 Men and Brethren what shall wo doe to be saved who would raile against such a man as he saw to he troubled or to run and ride to save himselfe from a temporall Death yet so shamelesse are many wicked men that they revile and raile against such men as they see thus troubled to escapean eternall death Fooles and blind how long will it be ere they understand the errour of their way how long would they be taught how should they see their errour and cry mightily unto God for the pardon of it Seeing then that regeneration is of absolute necessity to salvation let us lay downe some motives to inflame our affections to be in love with that estate First God himself is much affected with it if therefore we would sympathize with him let us be so too Great men what they affect their servants either affect the like or at leastwise make show of it to the end that sympathizing with their Lords they may obtaine more favour from them Well and God I say is in love with this estate 1 Thes 4.3 This is thr will of God even your sanctifieation and Rom. 6.12 he would not have sinne to raign in your mortall bodies The second motive may be the reward that men shall have when the work is over though this be painfull yet the reward is gainfull Rom. 8.13 If ye morrifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit ye shall live not as Nestor tertiam aetatem hominum as long as 3. men in this life present but eternall in the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Godlinesse is profitable to all things which hath both the promise of this life and of that which is to come The third that Christ may attaine his end in dying for them Titus 2.14 which was that he might redeeme us from all our iniquity and purge us to be a peculiar people to himselfe zealous of good workes performe them not coldly or outwardly but zealously and conscionably for as St. Augustin and Bernard haze spoken though they be not causa regnandi yet they are viâ—â—d regnum though they be not the cause of reigning yet they are the way hither and the Apostle tells us that we were created in Christ Jesus to good workes that wee should walk in them I now come to the last point in the Text the reason of the other for that which is born of the flesh is flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit First for the former branch quod natum est excarne caro est that wich is born of the flesh is flesh It s worth our observation that when our Saviour had told Nicodemus the necessity of
see how a truth may lye in a Text which carnall eyes cannot discover though otherwise learned But this will not hold that because they before Christ could not ergo not wee 2. That carnall eyes could not ergo not those that are illuminated by Gods holy Spirit and being the righteous to whom he reveales his secrets these could never be so far over-sighted but if the light came from the Scripture they would see it as well as others yet the most excellent of them cannot finde this new pretended light justified there so much for that point I now come to the last That which is borne of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Our Saviour having showne Nicedemus the necessity of regeneration stayed not as you have heard to see whether hee would aske a reason of it or no but willingly renders one as also the manner of it of Water and the Spirit without which you have heard he could not enter Now if our Saviour had not said thus man might have imagined that he might have gone to Heaven by his owne Wisdome or civill righteousnesse or humane strength or depth of Learning or the like nay alas whatsoever is in a man naturally or from mans naturall strength will not do it for so he is but flesh Quod natum est excarne caro est That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh These words are dark we must therefore draw the vaile of them and then we shall the more cleerely conceive of them the Flesh in Scriptures is taken in severall senses it vvill be our labour therefore to finde out the true sense of it in this place First the Flesh in Scriptures is sometimes put for this present Life 1 Peter 4.2 the Apostle would have men for the space of their lives yet unspent for as much time as remained in the Flesh not to live after the lusts of men but after the will of God and 1 Phil. 1.24 It s better for you saith the Apostle that I abide in the Flesh that is in this present life Secondly we are sometimes to understand the body of Flesh the one essentiall part of man Levit. 19.28 Yee shall not cut your flesh for the dead nor make any print of a marke upon you either by burning lashing or flashing as the Gentiles did I have not thus taught you to hate your flesh neither can this any way benefit the dead Thirdly by the flesh we are somtimes to understand the humane nature of CHRIST 1 Peter 3.18 He was put to death concerning the Flesh that is in his humane nature for in his divine nature he could not suffer that supported his humane nature in his suffering Fourthly for the unregenerate estate of a man when he is in his corrupt nature which he drew from Adam and in many actuall sinnes drawne from that unhappy roote thus Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man because he is but Flesh that is a corrupt and sinfull creature naturally devoid of grace and that which is born of this flesh is flesh like unto it for Job 14.4 who can bring a clean thing out of filthinesse there is not one but of sinfull nature is born sinfull nature Gen. 5.3 It s said that Adam lived one hundred and thirty yeere and begot a sonne in his owne likenesse after his owne Image and called his name Sheth that is he was like him in Sex 2. Humano specie in humane shape in all the members of the body 3. And lastly after his Image in the corruption of nature for he had corrupted and defaced that Image of GOD after which he was created which was in righteousnesse and true holinesse Ephes 4.24 for the most principall part of Gods Image did consist in these and so did not beget a sonne in that Iniage in which GOD created him but in his likenesse and after his Image such a one as by sinning he had made himselfe here was ex earne caro flesh of flesh quod natum est ex earne card est that which is born of the Flesh is Flesh thus againe Rom. 8.5 they that are after the Flesh doe savour the things of the Blesh that is those that are as yet in their unregenerate estate they affect those courses the most that suite the best with the corruptions of nature they are in love with them and doe the most delight in them and cannot endure to be crossed in them yet verse 6. The wisdome of the flesh is death not onely temporally for so all dye but eternally yet how doe men beare themselves by their carnall wisdome yea so much that it teacheth them how to sleight the wisdome of God revealed in his holy Word and will and will be subject no further to it then where it erosseth not theirs but see the misery of their wisdome verse 7. This wisdome is enmity against GOD it is not subject to the Law of God true say some that is de facto but it may be if it will nay the next words marre that neither indeed can be and verse 8. they that are in the flesh cannot please GOD that is they that are in an unregenerate estate in the pleasure of these sinnes and have not had the guilt of repentance from God they cannot in this estate please God all they doe in point of Religion are but splendida peccata as St. Augustine termes them guilded sinnes or sinnes per accidens sinnes in that respect that the person is not justified or sanctified that doth them their cause therefore is lamentable the wrath of God abides upon them for sinne though they will not be sensible of it 5. And lastly to stand upon no more acceptions the flesh is sometimes taken for the unregenerate part of a regenerate man for wee are but regenerate in part either in faculty of soule or instruments of body we are not perfectly and wholly sanctified so that no corruption or sinne remains in us therefore in Scriptures that is in us is called flesh and the regenerate is called Spirit thus Rom. 8.1 you have them opposed there is then no condemnation to those that are in Christ that walke not after the Flesh but after the Spirit and thus againe verse 4. that the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled on us who walke not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And Verses 12.13 therefore Brethren we are not Daughters to the Flesh to live after the Flesh that is to live after the motions and corrupt imaginations of our owne corrupt heart is minde for of those can come no good we are no debtors to the flesh for any thing wee can doe after the wisdome of it or the direction of it but wee are debtors to the Spirit who is still moving to goodnesse and to put us forward in that way which will save our poore soules If we live after the Flesh we shall dye but if we mortifie the deeds of the
body by the Spirit we shall live thus againe Gal. 5.17 the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit lusteth against the Flesh these are contrary one to another that is the unregeneracie that is in man strives against the regeneracy that is in him and these are so contrary one to another even as fire and water that ye cannot do what ye would St. Paul found this by experience you have heard that hee perceived a Law in his members rebelling against the Law of his mind and when he would haved one good yet evill was present with him Rom. 7.21 and Rom. 7.18 I know that in me that is in my Flesh in me by nature in me in as much as such unregenerate there dwells no good thing In quantum renati for as much or in as much as we are regenerate so farre forth we both will and do that which is good but the defect in either is from the imperfection of regeneracie or that unregenerate part that is in us throughout the whole man in the understanding will and affections and in all parts of our bodies and that which is born of the flesh in this sense is flesh also for we must know that our children are ours naturali propagatione not spirituali regeneratione by naturall propagation not by spirituall regeneration wee beget them as we are naturall not as we are spirituall we can convey unto them all that Adam by guilt and generation conveighed unto us but what spirituall grace God conveighed unto Adam that was not in his power to convey unto us it was Gods free gift to his person not intayled upon his posterity and lineally to descend upon them as was his nature no more is grace then to any of us or to the most holy men in the world they can but convey what they have by nature grace is Gods free guift not any essentiall part of mans nature and that is the reason why many good men have oftentimes had bad children as Abraham had an Ismael Isaac an Esau David an Absolam c. because they were there by nature not by grace And before God bestowed grace upon their fathers they were wicked and walked and swayed by sinne as well as others and as they though it may be in a more remisse manner St. Aug. observes of the Jewes that though they were themselves circumcised yet they begot children uncircumcised because themselves were such by nature even as the corn which if you winnow it never so clean in fanning away the chaffe yet if you sow it it will grow with chasse on again as much as ever it had before because it was naturally so it was but by art even thus conceive of the Text that whether a man be in the flesh as to tally unregenerate uncircumcised unfanned or of regeneration yet that part of unregeneracie was naturall to him and according to that estate he begets his children even as the circumcised Jewes begot uncircumcifed children as well as did the uncircumcised amongst the Gentiles because uncircumcision was in both naturall even so regenerate men beget unregenerate children as well as unregenerate men do because unregeneracie whether in part or in whole is naturall in both and may bee called flesh in both and in either of these accoptions flesâ— quod natum est ex carne caro est that which is borne of the Flesh is Flesh and thus by this time I hope you may perceive that the vaile is taken from the sence of the Text. Whence we may observe that our Parents which begot us can convey no spirituall abilities for regeneration conversion or salvation of us unto us that we have heard is beyond the power of nature and by increasing and multiplying they can conveigh no more to us but that for if they could we should stand in lesse need to be born againe in which second birth we have our abilities from God Phil. 2.13 It s God that works in you both the will and the deed of his good pleasure your Parents can neither give you wills nor good works for the power of these come ab extra from without above the compasse of nature 1 Cor. 2.14 The naturall man perceives not the things of the Spirit of God the naturall man that is he that hath no more abilities then meer nature can afford him such as he drew from the loynes of his Father for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned as if he should have said a more naturall man wants the meanes and the light of knowing of them nature can afford him no such thing Eph. 2.3 we are by nature saith Paul the children of wrath as well as others thus we have the Doctrine illustrated This may first teach us that as wee must have a second birth as well as a first as we have heard that for this second birth we must rely upon the Lord for ability we must look higher than our Parents not they nor the Angels of God nor any creature can be the Author of the grace of regeneration or conversion onely God must do that Acts 11.14 though Peter by his preaching was an instrument of conversion to those Gentiles that heard him He shall speak words unto thee whereby both you and all thy house shall be saved yet God was the Author of that grace they then received v. 18. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life And Lam. 5.21 Turne us unto thee and we shall bee turned 2 Tim. 2.25 proving if God at any time will give repentance that they may know the truth 2. If whatsoever be born of the flesh be flesh this may let us see what free will we have to any spirituall good by nature or what grace to salvation by nature from it we can receive nothing but nature Mat. 7.19 do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of Thistles No we know that Thorns naturally bring out no such things as Grapes nor Thistles Figs even no more can we looke that corrupt nature should bring forth spirituals no but like its selfe flesh quod natum est excarne caro est that which is borne of the Flesh is Flesh It followes and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit In the former verse the words runne thus except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit In these no mention made of Water or being born of Water because that without the concomitance of this the other cannot do it but whatsoever is born of the Spirit is Spirit because the efficiencie of the birth proceeds from that though Water be the outward visible signe which it pleased God to use in working you have heard that a man may be born again of the Spirit and yet want water but none can bee borne again of Water onely if the Spirit be wanting therefore the birth of the Spirit is here mentioned that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit The Spirit in Scripture is sometimes put for the soule of a man but here the Spirit is not opposed to the Flesh or body as Heb. 12.9 where mention is made of the Father of our bodies and how we gave them reverence much more should wee bee subject to the Father of Spirits Prov. 18.19 a wounded Spirit who can beare and Eccles 3.21 Who knowes the Spirit of a man that goeth upward but that cannot be meant here 2. The Spirit is sometimes taken for the Divell the evill Spirit Mark 9.26 then the Spirit cryed and rent him sore but neither can that be meant here 3. That Spirit is put for the holy and sanctifying Spirit of God and that is meant in this place as may appeare by the vers going before except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit and Ephes 5.18 be not drunke with Wine wherein is excesse but be filled with the Spirit the Spirit of God where it is in any speciall operation is accompanied with the graces of it which are also called the Spirit and where the graces of God are the essence of the Spirit is there also to cherish and inrich those graces as Gal. 3.2 received yee the Spirit by the works of the Law c. and whosoever is born of the Spirit is said to be born of God as you have heard 1 John 5.1 that is he is regenerate and born againe by the vertue and power of the Spirit upon his heart minde and soule and so far forth as he is regenerate pure gratious and spiritually good so farre forth is be born of the Spirit for 〈◊〉 â—â—at good Spirit there can be no bad effects but whatsoever is born of it is of a spirituall and holy nature that which is borne of the Spirit is Spirit see what the Lord saith Ezek. 36.25 26. speaking of the return of his people out of Captivity and out of the Countries into which he had scattered them then saith he will I power clean Water upon you and yee shall be cleane yea from all your filthinesse and from all your Idols will I cleanse you this cleane Water is expounded in the next words after a new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your body and I will give you an heart of Flesh that is I will take away your hard and unregenerate heart from you that nothing could work on and I will give you ◠〈◊〉 eart softened with the oyle of the graces of my Spirit and by the 〈…〉 wash away your filthinesse Luke 11.3 If ye which are evill can give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Heaâ—â—â—ly Father give the Holy Ghost unto them that desire him And so make you truly spirituall being born of this Spirit Quod natum est ex spirituâ—… spiritus est that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit FINIS