though many saw not the hand that struck them 't is otherwise now hearers are more unconcern'd in a more drowsie frame we can hardly keep them waking all Sermon time they say these were extraordinary cases not applicable to us now I must tell you Conversions wrought by ordinary means now are extraordinary things have extraordinary effects the Light into which we are brought is and ought to be as marvellous in our Eyes now as 't was in theirs heretofore they who find nothing of this neither in nor after Conversion would do well to make a stricter inquiry into their state sometimes we bring down Grace as low as we can for the sake of weak ones but we must not make nothing of it to please some who would rest in a silent easie Conversion and think to go Heaven by the charitable Opinion others have of them that so great a change as Conversion is should make so little appearance as it doe's in many pretending to it is that we should not easily digest Let every one examine himself Should God come upon any of you with a through Conviction of Sin and give you a real sight of Christ as your only Saviour you would not be able to contain your selves under this marvellous Light 't will be like Fire in your Bones Ier. 20. 9. you 'l immediately spring up as the Goaler did Acts 16. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did not consider which soot he should put foremost but leaped up on a suddain broke out into a passionate inquiry after the way of Salvation Faith especially at its first entrance when it first comes into our Hearts is alwaies accompanied with a through Conviction of our lost undone Estate I don't speak now of those legal Convictions that in some may be preparatory to Conversion but of that saving Evangelical Conviction that is of the Essence of saving Faith alwayes accompanying it it is the reason of Faiths earnestness in its first actings upon Christ Master save us we perish In the Acts we have several instances of Faith wrought in the time of hearing Acts 10. 44. While Peter yet spake the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word So Acts 14. 1. Acts 18. 8. Acts 28. 24. Paul perceived Faith in the Cripple by his attentive hearing Acts 14. 9. When Faith does not make this publick entrance into the Hearts of those who hear the word as it did in the Primitive times in the view and face of the whole Congregation and 't is much to be lamented that it does not I fear it portends more than I am willing to tell you yet I hope Faith may and does come in a more silent manner into your Hearts at the time of hearing this you may know by a sudden astonishment and trembling that sezes upon the Soul Luke 4. 33. Acts 13. 12. Acts 9. 6. When a discovery of the Evil of Sin and of the Grace of Christ do meet together in one saving Conviction in the Conscience of an awakened Sinner we must needs be variously affected with horrour and hope Grace clothes it self with contrary passions at the same time as it looks at Sin and at Christ loathing the one and embracing the other this may be perceived at the first opening of the Heart to believe the Gospel a present act of Faith is and will be the present sense of the Soul in and about what it believes there is no putting the word from us when once we believe it in our Hearts Men may talk of Gospel-Truths under a formal profession of Faith and not be affected with them but the Word works effectually in them that believe Faith touches the Soul in the most sensible part of it gathers up the Mind and Thoughts of a Man into a close and serious debate with himself about those things which he believes in reference to himself his Heart waxes hot within him this is the Power and Dominion that Faith has over us being the highest principle in Man it overcomes all contradictions from the Flesh answers all Carnal Objections throughly perswades a Man firmly establishes the Heart in the belief of the present Truth so that we become unmovable from the hope of the Gospel These are the inward Commotions that Faith makes in the Soul at its first entrance you cannot so slight the impressions of Faith as not to be greatly concerned about them 't is not come to real believing till it comes to this you are and must be serious in and about that which with your hearts you believe concerning your Eternal State. Whether you now are or ever have been in such a frame God and your own Consciences know best they are not trifles that you believe but matters of that moment that you cannot but be concerned in them and there is nothing required to fire your Hearts with a zealous solitude and thoughtfulness about them but only your believing them you can no more step over such an act of Faith than you can cease to think while you are actually thinking or cease to move while actually moving An act of believing is the Soul in actual motion towards Christ flying for refuge to the hope that is set before him This is the way of the Spirit in working Faith at the time of hearing and if you observe such a one whose heart the Word has reached he goes home musing upon what he has heard Suppose one standing in the Spirit of Isaiah at the Meeting-door as you go forth crying out Who hath believed our report to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed this day how experimentally would such a one say I have believed to me hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed follow him further into his House into his Chamber or Closet behold he prayes as the Word brings down the sense of God into the Soul so Prayer carries up the sence of the Soul concerning that word to God above Prayer especially just after Conversion is but a Holy enlargement of the Heart about those things that God first speaks to us by his Word I will say 't is my people they shall say the Lord is my God. In hearing expect no other reason for Faith but the bare testimony of the Word of God search the Scriptures whether things are so or no as Ministers declare if you find them so charge them upon your Consciences as most worthy of all acceptation and belief Religion now a dayes is branched out into so many speculations and subtle questions wrapped up in such terms of art under such nice distinctions that the power and simplicity of the Gospel is almost lost ordinary Professors know not what to believe while the Pulpit gives such an uncertain sound There is not so much Rational Knowledge required to the obedience of Faith as some imagine leave others to dispute to produce their Reasons pro and con do you quote Scripture and believe begging of God to direct your faith into right apprehensions
A DISCOURSE OF REGENERATION FAITH and REPENTANCE Preached at the Merchants-Lecture in Broad-street BY THOMAS COLE Minister of the GOSPEL in London LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market MDCLXXXIX THE PREFACE TO THE READER WHAT hath been already published in the hearing of many by Preaching is now put into private hands by Printing and because 't is easier to please many Hearers than one Reader Let me whoever thou art bespeak thy Candor in a few words Readers should be Courteous there is a Civility due to Books as well as Persons 'T is not Manners to interrupt a Man in the middle of his Discourse and to censure a Book before you have read it our is much the same He that answereth a matter before he heareth it it is folly and shame unto him Prov. 18. 13. If what is here delivered fall not in with your thoughts I can only say this That my design was to write down my own Thoughts and not other mens submitting all to the Judgment of the Scriptures every one knows best what he thinks what he believes and is persuaded of A plain proposal of the Grounds and Reasons of our present Judgment leaving 'em to their own weight in every Man's Conscience is to act like men one towards another and the best way to communicate Light to those who are willing to learn. We cannot differ about the Conclusion when once we agree in the Premises but to resolve upon Conclusions first is the ready way to put a Cheat upon our selves whilst we don't seek so much to find out Truth as to make good our own Inventions To be born again was a hard saying Nicodemus could not receive it knew not how to make sense of it Had Christ intended only an outward reformation of Life and not an inward renovation of Nature he would not have explained our being Born again by being Born of Water and the Spirit Verse 5. which are Evangelical terms of a much higher signification and do imply a deeper change than that of Manners which at best reduces us but to a practical conformity to those inbred Moral principles belonging to our first birth as men this is still but a state of Nature we are in the same Spirit and Principle that ever we were Where is the new Nature that Spirit which is born of the Spirit those supernatural Principles that are above all our natural Notions carrying us out directly to God in Christ 'T is Faith that gathers up these supernatural Truths out of the Gospel and sets 'em home upon the Conscience with power subjecting the Soul to the Divine Authority of the Word without consulting flesh and blood about these high mysteries Revealed Truths are strange things to a natural Man and will never find acceptance with him till his mind be suited to them by a supernatural irradiation Heavenly things cannot be seen but by a Heavenly Light when God shines in our hearts then we are transformed into the very Image of those Truths which that Light discovers to us and do experimentally know what that renovation of the Spirit is which the Word speaks of Such Gospel Truths are put into our inward parts as were never there before this enables us to understand the Scriptures to Read 'em with pleasure we delight in the Law of God in our inward Man This Man within a Man this hidden Man of the heart is the new creature the genuine birth of the Spirit of God. If thou art such a Man thou art a true Christian Reader indeed willing to receive the witness of Christ who speaks what he knows and testifies that which he hath seen Ioh. 3. 11. I have written this following Discourse to you not because you know not the truth but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth 1 Joh. 2. 21. If any who may be yet spiritually unborn shall take up this Book and Read it they may see what they are not how short they come of that Character the Gospel gives of new-born Souls There are more Nicodemusses than one who cannot unriddle the mystery of Regeneration they will understand nothing by it but what they can bring ' emselves unto by an outward Baptism there is no Reasoning with these men while they live in one Nature and talk of another they say they know not what 't is impossible to have a real feeling of that Nature that is not in us He is a Skilful Limner who draws to the Life tho Life it self can never be drawn some resemblances of Life there may be the Cast and Colour of a Living Face but no breath like Painted Fire without heat or the Picture of a Man running without any actual Motion he is fixed in his first step you will always find his feet where your Pencil left them standing still in a running Posture Thus it is with many Professors they are as Pictures hung upon a Wall dressed up in all the outward Formalities of Religion you would take 'em to be real Saints they have a name to live but are indeed dead without any inward living Principle of Grace to animate and quicken those forms filling them up with true real Holiness Acts flowing from a living Principle within do carry their own evidence along with 'em giving a pleasing sensation of their Truth and Reality as the genuine off-springs of the heart which nothing that is forced or counterfeit can do The heart flows out with those actions that come from it but secretly turns away as unconcerned in every thing that doth not correspond to the inward Sense and Inclination of the Soul This will help us to judg of our Regeneration by observing the consent of our Minds to those outward acts of Religion we pass thorow what Complacency and Delight we have in them or what secret aversion to them which we must needs be privy to all mere imitations of Nature are defective somewhere this is more easily discernable when we practise upon our selves seeming to be what we are not as Actors upon a Stage under a Disguise who know we are not the Persons we go for When the New Nature comes into us how kindly are the motions of our Hearts towards Christ How welcome is he to us We are never more in our own Element than when we are in closest Communion with him our Joy is then full because we have the very desire of our Hearts we are where we would be we have what we longed for Every unregenerate man in the very height of his outward Profession be-lies his own Sense and Experience and says that of his Heart which he knows he doth not speak from his heart When a humbling overwhelming Sense of Original Sin comes upon us discovering the Universal Pravity of our Degenerate Nature how is the glory of all flesh stained How vile and mean a thing is Man born of a woman he may well lye down in his own shame
God worship him thy throne is for ever and ever Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool So Psal. 2. 6 7 8. Thus was this great Man this Son of God incarnate brought into Heaven in state and triumph at his Resurrection 2. In reference to the Saints Jer. 31 9. I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my first-born So 2 Cor. 6. 18. I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty Tho God does greatly delight in his beloved Son loves to see the brightness of his own glory shining out in Christ the express Image of his Person yet next to his own Image in Christ he loves to behold the Image of his Son in the Saints and therefore has predestinated them to be conformable to the Image of his Son Rom. 8. 29. Christ indeed is the first-born but many Brethren are to follow Rom. 8. 29. to be added to the Lord as the Phrase is Acts 5. 14. God loves to see the number of his Children encreasing to see his Family enlarged Under this consideration Paul bows his Knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named Ephes. 3. 14 15. With what reverence doth Paul draw nigh to this great Father I told you but now that God glories in Christ his first begotten Son you heard in what triumph the great Man Jesus Christ was brought into Heaven how God welcomed him to Glory so there is joy in Heaven at the Regeneration of a Sinner Angels rejoyce God rejoyces This day have I begotten such and such Oh that there might be Joy in Heaven upon this account this day that it might be noted down above that this and that Man were born here I will shew you the ground of this glorying of this great satisfaction that God hath in his Children Tho Christ be anointed above his fellows yet there is a great measure of anointing poured out upon the Saints the fulness of the Godhead is in none but Christ yet the fulness of God is in all the Saints Ephes. 3. 19. they are not shut out from any of the communicable Attributes of God but have their share of all that is in him according to their capacities as creatures Cast an empty Barrel into the Sea all the Sea is not in the Barrel but the Barrel is in all the Sea the Sea runs under it over it on every side of it Thus are we swallowed up in God. He comprehends us tho we cannot fully comprehend him we are in Christ according to his infinite capacity and therefore are perfectly justified by the infinite merit of his perfect Righteousness imputed to us But Christ is in us according to our finite weak capacities and therefore we are but imperfectly sanctified we have what we are able to receive and no more at present till our hearts are farther inlarged Thus you see what it is to be a Child of God how the fulness of God is bestowed upon us God glories in this And have not the Saints reason to glory in it also But alas how do Men please themselves with their Rich Relations Great Families they are Nobly descended But I must tell you all Nations are of one Blood and that is tainted too we are a Seed of evil-doers there is no Noble blood runs in your veins till you are born of God 't is Regeneration only that makes you the Sons and Daughters of the Most High then you are high born indeed To stir you up to a holy ambition after this new birth do but consider the Father of the Family the great God of Heaven and Earth blessed for ever the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort Consider Christ the Elder Brother of the Family Rom. 9. 5. He is over all God blessed for ever His Name is Wonderful Counsellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Isa. 9. 6 7. You see how the Dignity and Majesty of his Person is described 3. Consider the many priviledges that are intailed upon new-born Souls Heirs of God joynt heirs with Christ you are born to nothing but woe and misery till you are born again How should we long to be related to such a Father to such a Brother to such an Inheritance I insist the more upon this because I am perswaded discourses of your Heavenly Father must needs be very pleasing to you who are his Children whom should Children hear of with more delight than of their Father that begat them Be not cast down at any thing that offends you here below you have a Father in Heaven who takes care of you numbers the hairs of your heads will interest himself in your smallest concerns and see that all things shall work together for good to you We may notionally and according to the Letter speak what we read and hear of Regeneration and be little affected but when once the New Nature begins to stir when a Spirit of Adoption begins to breathe in us 't will carry us out by a secret instinct to God as to a Father Nature works powerfully we say Love descends more strongly than it ascends so 't is here God loves his Children better than they can love him this is love not that we love God tho there is a great strength in the natural Affection of ingenuous Children towards their Parents The truth is nothing does more enoble our Minds raise our spirits to a true Christian Magnanimity nothing does more uphold and encourage us in our way more strengthen our Faith and Hope in Prayer than lively Apprehensions of God as our Father in Christ Jesus see how Christ hangs upon this word Father in his Prayer Iohn 17. Father Father Oh Father Holy Father Oh Righteous Father we should eye nothing more in Prayer than our Relation to God as a Father How can an unregenerate man say Our Father which art in Heaven Alas thou hast never a Father in Heaven thou art a Child of Wrath a Child of the Devil Though some unregenerate Persons may be within the Election of God yet the Scripture speaks of them according to their present state calls them Aliens Strangers Foreigners Could we conceive aright of our Covenant-relation to God and keep our thoughts working upon it it would afford an Argument to us where all other Arguments fail as Isa. 63. 16. Doubtless thou art our Father it cannot be that our Heavenly Father should forget us a Mother may forget her Child but the Lord is gracious and full of Compassion Psal. 145. 8. There is a greater fulness of Compassion in our Heavenly Father than in our Natural Parents they can do and will do what God cannot do because he will not Since the Priviledges of the Children of God are so great how should we long to be born again to be born of spirit Joh. 3. 6. To be a new lump 1 Cor. 5. 7.
and shewed you how you may do it Since your present Comfort and future Happiness depends upon the proof of your Election How should you long to see this sure and infallible evidence of it in your Regeneration CHAP. III. III. The Means of Regeneration I Have already spoken of the principal efficient Cause of Regeneration under the first Head I am now to speak of the Instrumental Cause or outward means of Regeneration viz. The Word Preach'd as appears by these following Scriptures 1 Pet. 1. 23. where Regeneration is plainly ascribed to the Word Iames 1. 18. God is said to beget us with the word of truth 1 Cor. 4. 15. Paul is said to have begotten the Corinthians through the Gospel or by the Word of God which is able to save our Souls These Scriptures are an undeniable proof of these two things 1. That there is a Virtue and Power in the Word to work a change of heart and nature in those that hear it 2. That this Virtue and Power is from God whensoever his Spirit concurs with it it becomes effectual for our Regeneration I shall give you some Reasons or rather some further Illustrations of this Truth from the Scriptures we must say nothing of the Word but what we have from the Word and what falls in with the experience of all Christians who live in any observation of the way of the Spirit of God in turning their hearts to himself I shall make out this in sundry particulars 1st The Word is a proper medium for the Invisible God to work by we cannot behold his face because he is Invisible in his Essence but we may hear his voice when he speaks to us in our Language God never acts more like a God like a Creator than when he works by his Word He says and 't is done let there be light and there was light Lazarus come forth and immediately a Resurrection follows He can as easily do as speak his Word is operative God chuses to work by his Word that he may appear to do all by himself As a Creator he has nothing else to work by Thus he brings all things out of nothing he that is the everlasting I am makes that which is not to be and exist the essence and being of all things that are made flows from the Lord Iehovah the fountain of all being 2dly The Written Word is the most suitable means for God to make use of in all his dealings with his reasonable creature Man Speech is proper to Man he only of all creatures has Ears to hear and understand words as men communicate their thoughts one to another by words so does God communicate his sense to us by words he puts his sense into our words adapting them to Divine mysteries and thereby drawing them up to a higher signification than the wit of Man can reach unto The VVord is a very proper means for God to work upon Man by because it is full expressive of the mind of God and when the Spirit is given from above we shall have a right understanding of it as a natural Man cannot know the things of God in the VVord without the Spirit so neither can a spiritual Man in this VVorld know them without the Word we cannot come nearer to God now than the VVord brings us 3dly The Word is the Exemplar or Pattern of the Image of God which is drawn upon the face of the new creature plainly representing it to us in all its spiritual features We have it before us as in a Table that we may often examine our selves by it and see how we answer to that Character which the Scripture gives of every renewed Soul how like or unlike we are to it the Word is the Mould into which we are cast The Glory of the Lord reflected upon us through the Glass of the Gospel leaves its own Image upon the Soul. As to know God in Christ is Eternal Life so to behold his Glory with understanding is the highest Glory we are capable of as his Righteousness makes us Righteous his Wisdom wise his Strength makes us strong so his Glory let in upon the Soul is our glorification Thus God is all in all to the Saints there is some appearance of God in every thing that is excellent in them their All is Christ in them without him they are nothing and it is by the Word they are transformed into his likeness What is Grace but Truth put into the inward parts the Law written in the Heart the Word abiding in us and turned into grace in our hearts which is nothing else but a living principle of Faith and Holiness enclining us to keep the Word which is an authentick copy and transcript of the will of God to Man. Where there is an inward Man delighting in the Law of God we may be sure the Word has been effectual in that Soul. Who is that inward Man but the new Man the new Creature born of the incorruptible seed of the Word 4thly The Word works morally the Spirit Physically in plain English thus The Word makes an outward proposal of the Object the Spirit inwardly enlightens the faculty disposes the heart to receive it as things of sense are perceived by a more gross corporeal contact so things of Reason and Faith are let in in a more intellectual way by mental conceptions How all intelligible things purely rational do arise from Sense I shall not now speak to but 't is certain that all inward representations of things purely spiritual and supernatural are made to us by the Holy-Ghost revealing Christ in us and in him discovering to us the reality and truth of all the Word speaks of The Word is of a persuasive strain full of reasonings and arguings with Man God debates matters with us would discourse us into a right understanding of his Will Hence so many motives and exhortations Faith it self is but a persuasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to persuade but because the things discoursed of in the Word are supernatural we must be spiritually illuminated before we can perceive them the Natural Man perceives not the things of God. The Word is but an outward light let it shine out never so brightly in the plainest and fullest Exposition that can be given of it yet still 't is but an outward light which our dark minds cannot comprehend 'till God enlighten them Snuff a Candle never so often a blind Man will see never the better but when his eyes are opened then he can distinguish between the dimness and brightness of the Candle So 't is with Believers they are ready to take in the most spiritual sense of the Word 't is that they wait for they know that God does open his mind further and further to the Saints by the Preaching of the Gospel which makes them so much in love with Ordinances and 't is the rejoycing of their hearts to have any further discovery
of the Mind of God made to them in any point of Doctrine which they were not so clear in before or at least did not take so much notice of before 'T is observable how strangely the Saints are affected and that on a sudden with some old known truths which they have a long time owned and professed but never found them so warm upon their hearts before their hearts do glow and burn within them What is this but the hand of the Lord with them at such a season letting in his Word with power upon their Souls 5thly The Doctrine of Faith laid down in the Word cannot be taken into the Soul but by the Grace of Faith no other principle will admit it The things of God knoweth no man but by the spirit of God. That this living principle of the Grace of Faith in the heart may be exactly suited to the Doctrine of Faith in the Word God has ordered it that one should beget the other to prevent all strangeness between them that they may the better fall in with each other 6thly The Word as 't is the means of Regeneration is called the Word of Life Life is promised to the hearing of it 'T is therefore called the word of life because 't is the Word of Grace in distinction from the first Covenant which neither expressed nor intended any pardoning Grace to a sinner All the Words of the Bible from the 3d of Genesis to the end of the Revelations are words of Grace tho there is frequent mention of the Law of the Curse of it of fearful denunciations of wrath against sinners yet the end of all is to stir us up to accept of the Grace of the Gospel A pure Covenant of Works exclusive of all Grace is no where spoken of but in the 2d of Genesis where God places Adam under that Covenant before the formation of Eve And the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden and the Lord God commanded the man saying Of every tree thou maist freely eat thou thou c. Here was none but God and Adam at the making of this Covenant Eve was no doubt afterwards informed of it by her Husband as appears Gen. 3. 2 3. where she repeats over that Covenant to the Serpent Were not the Word of the Gospel a word of Grace there would be nothing for the Faith of a sinner to lay hold on no virtue nor power in it to beget life in a dead sinner The life we have by Grace differs from the life Adam had at his first Creation that came in with his first being this is life from the dead life given after the forfeiture of life which is an act of mere Grace To raise Man out of the dust of the earth and to make him a living reasonable creature was an act of God's Power and Soveraign good pleasure But after the fall to give him a new life after he had chosen death and sunk himself under the power of it What can this be ascribed to but those Bowels of infinite compassion in God to Man He was not willing that Man should die but live and therefore fixes him in a state of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus Since a creature-life was so uncertain God joyns Man to himself in one Spirit takes him into his own Life that he may live for ever Because I live you shall live I am resolved not to live without you my delight is among the Children of men I have chosen you from Eternity to be my Associates and Friends to be about my Throne and to have fellowship with me for ever 7thly There are as many instances of the Power of the Word in Regeneration as there are Believers now in the World who do all ascribe their New Birth to the Divine Virtue and Energy of the Word set home upon their Hearts by the Spirit of God. Application You see your Calling Brethren what outward Means God has appointed for your Conversion Means not put into your hands for you to work by and to shew your own skill in turning your own hearts but a Means that God himself will work by The reason why so few are converted by the Word is because they don't put their Conversion upon God saying with Ephraim Jer. 31. 18. Turn thou me and I shall he turned 'T is our duty to submit to the use of Means to place our selves under them waiting for the coming down of the Spirit to make the Word effectual did we thus wait upon God in a real Dependance upon him he would be found of us his Arm would be revealed we should see more of his Glory in the Sanctuary Let us come then with raised Expectations of what God only can and may do upon our Hearts praying that he would give some signal Testimony to the Word of his Grace The Word of God is either a certain Truth or a cunningly devised Fable if it be a Fable Why don't you throw away your Bibles lay aside your Profession resolve never to hear a Sermon more If it be a Truth as I doubt not you all believe it to be Why don't you follow it home make something of it 'T is a Word whereby you may be saved give God no rest day nor night till you attain that Salvation In our Saviour's time they followed him for the Miracles they saw done upon the Bodies of men the Word can do as great Miracles now upon our Souls When you are going to hear the Word think with you selves I am now going to see what further change of Heart God will work in me what Renovation of Spirit what further Enlightnings what fresh Comforts what further Increase of God I may find in my inward man Did you come in expectation of these mighty works of God in and upon your Hearts no place would be large enough to contain the comers to the word that they might have some experience of his mighty saving Power passing upon their Souls As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so we lift up Christ that you may look unto him and be healed You look unto men you judg how much of Mans Wisdom Reason and Understanding there is in a Sermon but there is not that earnest looking for the power of God unto salvation as there ought to be Many come with itching ears to hear some new Notion set off with the enticing words of Man's Wisdom as if the strength of Human Reason by a Natural Operation upon the minds of men could lead them into the belief of any thing that is said in the Pulpit without any inward efficiency of the Spirit but if this be all you look for 't is not worth your coming hither we don't pretend to any such Rhetorical Charms to any such prevailing Influence over you you may excel us in Acuteness of Wit Quickness of Apprehension you may be greater Masters of Reason than we are but let
faces that they have already outliv'd the most probable means of their own Conversion There is yet a possibility of it God calls some at the Eleventh hour and if it be that time of day with any that hear me this Morning and the hour of Conversion not yet come let them wait upon God with trembling for that blessed moment wherein his Arm may be revealed upon their hearts before they have quite done hearing and quite done living in this world if God do them good it must be by the Preaching of the Word which is the power of God unto salvation to all that believe As the Word is the means of Regeneration so of all after edification and growth in Grace If you want comfort more strength against corruptions more communion with God the Word is of excellent use to you in all these Cases 'T is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works CHAP. IV. The manner of Regeneration how 't is begun and carried on in the Soul. HERE lies the greatest difficulty of all the similitude by which the manner of Regeneration is set forth Verse the 8th shews us that it is incomprehensible and not to be understood therefore you may wonder why I undertake to speak of it Truly the whole Gospel is a mystery and all the chief points of the Gospel are deep mysteries they do not only pass our humane understanding as men but as to a perfect apprehension of them they pass the understanding of Christians in this world yet these things must be studied by all Saints they must be Preached by all Ministers Tho we prophesy but in part and know but in part yet who can tell but God may reveal to us the unknown parts of these known truths which we have some understanding of already This is visible edification a further increase of light a further discerning of the Truth as it is in Jesus As the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goes i. e. No Man knows the certain point to which it will turn till it be turned so is every one that is born of God i. e. so to others not altogether so to himself so to a Natural Man who perceiveth not the deep things of God but not so to the Spiritual Man who judgeth all things So to others who are not privy to the inward workings of the spirit upon his heart not to himself who may understand something of what is done in him and upon him if he diligently commune with his own spirit He that hath the white Stone knows the new name that is written in it Regeneration is a supernatural work but the effects of it are sensible Regeneration is a great mystery we may be at a loss in tracing the footsteps of the Holy-Ghost throughout this work you must not expect rational demonstrations but sensible experiences and so far as any thing I shall say may fall under that head I know you will follow me If it happen otherwise pray take better aim by your own light that may exceed mine and judge for your selves I impose nothing The manner of Regeneration is not one and the same in all who are regenerated tho the thing it self when done be the same in all Elect Infants dying in their Infancy are regenerated after one manner and adult persons after another the difference lies here the Regeneration of Elect Infants is the sole immediate act of the Spirit of God without the Word it is indeed according to the Word and pursuant to the Covenant and Promise made to Abraham That God would be his God and the God of his Seed But it is not by the Word because Infants are not subjects naturally capable of being wrought upon that way You cannot expect I should look further into this great Secret it belongs to God only and not to Man to know this Therefore in my following discourse I shall confine my self to the Regeneration of adult persons and consider the manner of that as the Scripture has revealed it I describe it thus in general 'T is wrought by the Spirit of God as the principal efficient Cause not without the Word but by the Word as the instrumental Cause or outward means of Regeneration Before I enter upon this let me put this Question viz. I will put it without any positive solution only I will suggest to you my thoughts and leave the matter to your further consideration The Question is this viz. Whether any who live till they come to the use of Reason are Converted or Regenerated before they come to the use of Reason after the manner of Elect Infants dying in infancy I dare not deny but it may be so because of some Scriptures that look that way Iohn the Baptist is said to be filled with the Holy Ghost from his Mothers Womb Ieremiah to be sanctified from the Womb. Tho these Texts are capable of another construction 't is evident that Paul distinguishes his separation or sanctification from the Womb unto Office from his effectual calling by Grace in Conversion But admitting this that some now living may have been regenerated in their Infancy before they come to the use of Reason yet this I may say that such persons when grown up must needs be little acquainted with the manner of their Regeneration because 't was done before they knew it nothing can fall under their observation but the after effects of it manifested in their lives How 't was at first wrought is too hard a question to put to such I will venture to say this That I conceive it is usually otherwise viz. That those who live till they come to the use of Reason are not ordinarily converted before they come to the use of Reason Because God loves to be understood by us in all the acts of his kindness towards us therefore he will have some part of the known history of our lives to be a standing witness to us of our former unregenerate state Such were some of you I was before a blasphemer a persecutor but I obtained mercy He had undeniable proof and evidence of this in his own experience and within his own remembrance which made him so much admire the free-Grace of God towards him that put such a difference between him and others and between him and himself heretofore and now So that as the matter is cast I am only to enquire after the Regeneration of adult persons and to shew the manner of that My Text leads me to speak of such who are come to the years of discretion and understanding as Nicodemus was my Ministry leads me to it being sent to Preach to such My Auditory consists of such and therefore I shall apply my self to you and every one of you about the manner of your Regeneration
' tries words as the mouth tastes meat the word has a peculiar rellish and savour in it to a Spiritual pallate The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him the word reveals it it opens the heart of God to man and laies open a man to himself discerns the thoughts and intents of his heart 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a discerner a critical judge of the frame of a mans heart and of the state of his Soul shews a Child of God how and wherein he differs from an unregenerate person and by this discerning Word we must judge of our selves He that is born of God commits not sin cannot sin but does righteousness you who are born of God do know what God means by these words I am sure you know it there is a strong spirit in these words they are critical words discerning distinguishing words and if there be any true life in you they will more or less affect you you cannot but be concerned at the hearing of them Hold the highest Spirits to the Nose of a dead Man rub him all over with them yet no heat no motion no lively colour because he has not a natural principle of life to mingle with them to feed upon them I would commend my self to your Consciences this day I hope you feel me as well as hear me When you drink any strong spirits they heat within the vital spirits do take them in feed upon them are raised by them so when spiritual truths are held close to the Conscience if there be any life there the Spirit of God within thee will close with the Spirit of God without thee in the Word there will be an inward burning in the heart the Leaven works strongly and under these inward workings of spirit I desire to leave you debating the matter between God and your own Souls till you have brought it to an issue and can say by the light of these Scriptures that you are or are not born again 2. He doth righteousness Every one that doth righteousness is born of him and Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God. The more we resemble Christ in righteousness and true holiness the more evident it is both to our selves and others that we are born of him descended from him and therefore cannot but take after him a true Christian is and will be a follower of Christ this genius or disposition to all practical righteousness flows from our new Birth rises out of the new Nature which the Apostle ascribes to the Death and Resurrection of Christ as the procuring cause of all newness of life in us which is but our likeness to his Resurrection we die with Christ that we may live with him being freed from sin not serving it any more but yielding our selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God. This plainly proves every regenerate person as such to be a doer of righteousness inclined to all holiness by virtue of his Regeneration which casts in a new leven makes us a new lump as original Sin infected the whole man so Regeneration sanctifies the whole man in Body Soul and Spirit The fruit of the spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth Regeneration inclines us to follow Christ the filth of the Soul is carried off by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost hence we are said to be born of water and of the Spirit There is a natural inclination in a regenerate man to do good he does it willingly not by constraint Grace is got into his nature the Law is written in his heart therefore his heart inclines him to keep the Law. As Sin entred so Grace enters Sin entred into all the powers and faculties of the Soul weakning the whole man so Grace diffuses it self through every part of the Soul strengthning the whole man in every part In Regeneration we are renewed after the Image of Christ growing up into his likeness like in judgment and affection not that our natural Faculties are altered but only brought under the power of a supernatural principle we don't cease to be men only we become new men men of other minds spirits and dispositions than before taking after the second Adam not after the first being by Faith implanted into Christ we are made partakers of his Divine Nature this is called a second Birth or a new Creation though out of the same physical materials of Flesh and Blood the change is only spiritual as the Wild Olive when engrafted into the True as to its materials remains still the same 't was wood before so 't is still only there is a new sap secretly convey'd through the pores of it which make it bring forth more kindly and pleasant Fruit so the Sinner as to his physical substance was Flesh and Blood before conversion and so he is still yet there is an inward spiritual change wrought in him by his implantation into Christ who infuses his Nature Spirit and Grace through the Man so making him a new Creature not taking away his Manhood but sanctifying his Nature God is the Fountain of all Holiness 't is essential to him it goes along with his Nature is entail'd upon all who are born of God being partakers of the Divine Nature they must needs be holy as God is holy God appropriates goodness and righteousness to himself in the abstract and is the original Spring of all righteousness in the Saints Let us exert and put forth our new birth and live a life of faith The life which I now live in the flesh I live c. We are created in Christ unto good works that we should walk in them Let us then abide in Christ that we may bring forth much fruit for without him we can do nothing Corruption indeed is always active in a Saint because it acts naturally without any cessation but Grace does not always act at least so sensibly in a Saint because it must be first acted by the Spirit who is a free Agent should Grace always be as active in us as Corruption we should mistake it for Nature and ascribe all to our selves the Spirit of God is always in Believers but does not always work so effectually so sensibly the operations of it are not so manifest to us as sometimes they are This righteousness that is said to be done lies not so much in the perfection of the Deed as in the perfection of the Doer he aims well though he cannot always hit the mark he cannot do the good he would yet he wills it and that is doing in God's account who accepts the will for the deed The inclination or tendency of a new-born Soul to holiness appears three ways First Before the Temptation i. e. not before the being or existence of a Temptation for there is no such season we are always compassed about
our heads nor out of our hearts they lye close they lye next us always in our view My sin is ever before me Christ dwells in our hearts by Faith we have the whole state of our Souls before us from first to last Faith shews us where our true interest lies what is of absolute necessity to be done in order to Salvation We see all this in Christ who is God and Man made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him In Christ we see how matters stand between God and Man we see all that passed between God and Man in order to his recovery the whole method way and manner of our restauration from first to last we see the wages of our Sins and the price of our Redemption we see the Law and the Gospel both fulfill'd in Christ God's infinite Justice and Mercy highly exalted and glorified in him 'T is a pleasing ravishing sight to behold God in Christ reconciling the World unto himself to observe the mystery of his manifold hidden wisdom in carrying on the great work of Man's Redemption all this Faith discovers to us in some measure filling us with a Holy admiration of God's unspeakable kindness and love to us provoking us to pursue after the great ends of the Gospel How busie is the Soul how full of discourse with it self What secret inferences does an enlightned Conscience draw from what it believes This believing Jesus to be the Christ takes in all that belongs to the Person of Christ in all his Offices takes in the whole Doctrine of Christ all his Precepts all his Promises applies all to the Soul Thou art the Man spoken of and spoken to in the Gospel hear and thy Soul shall live Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation Faith admits of no delays won't give us one days respite from the work it hath cut out for us So Faith wrought in Paul when Christ was revealed in him immediately he consulted not with flesh and blood Faith changes our Counsels alters the whole frame of the Soul the Man is a new Man born again into a new World into a new Nature quite of another spirit This is the Regenerating power of Faith. Let us then judge of the truth of our Faith by the great change that it always makes in those who are brought out of darkness into this marvellous light Should we ask some Professors what effect their Faith had upon them whether upon their believing in Christ they found themselves born again made new creatures It may be they will say they hope they are the better for believing that their Faith has not been without some good effect Alas what a slender account is this how short of a new birth You may be the same Man that ever you were for all this in the same state in which you were first born Art thou born again born of God Speak to this Some outward Reformation there may be where there is no inward Regeneration Hast thou a new heart dost thou lead a new life is the whole course of thy life changed are all things become new within and without Faith in Christ changes us into the same image transforms us into his likeness le ts in the Spirit of Christ further and further into the Soul till we are so filled with the Holy Spirit that there will be at last no room for a worldly spirit to breathe in us it will be quite extinct and die away The more we see of this newness of spirit in any the more of the new creature appears in them When the Apostle would take off the Ephesians from a vain worldly course of life he shews the inconsistency of such a course with the true knowledg of Christ. You have not so learned Christ you have been taught better things by him than to walk as the Gentiles do in the vanity of their mind Faith in Christ works so great a change in all the faculties of the Soul in the understanding will and affections and in our outward conversation too that a true Believer may well be said to be born again from the newness of life that appears in him and to be born of God from the holiness spirituality and heavenly nature of that life which he now lives by Faith in the Son of God. Till the Regenerating power of Faith do thus appear in us we have no reason to think we are born again 4. Whosoever is born of God overcomes the world c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omne quod ex Deo genitum est He uses the neuter gender to comprehend all sorts states and degrees of mankind he does not say he or she that is born of God c. but whatsoever is born of God every Man Woman and Child rich or poor bond or free whosoever is born of God has power and strength from Christ to overcome the World they are assured of the Victory at their first setting out because greater is he that is in them than he that is in the World. They know they are of the strongest side Christ has overcome the World already in his own Person and will not fail to conquer it in and by the Saints he will appear so great in them that the whole World shall not be able to stand before them Be of good cheer I have overcome the world and you in me have overcome it and by me you shall personally overcome it your selves I prove this to be an evidence of Regeneration thus That which overcomes the World must be of a higher extraction of a more noble descent than the World it self in its present corrupt state it must be something distinct from the World and above it whatever is born of the Flesh is but Flesh falls in with the World to which it belongs and of which it is a part but God having chosen some out of the World and called them to a Heavenly Life has promised to give them a Heavenly Nature to beget them again unto himself to put his own Spirit into them that they may walk as New Creatures who are not of the World though they live in it they are Born of God do bear his image their hearts are moulded into the belief of his word they can do nothing against the truth but every thing for the truth these are they who overcome the World the men of the world and the Things of the World the Spirit Principles of the World the Fears and Hopes of the World the Lusts and Pleasures and Temptations of the World they are dead to all these not moved by them but do steer their course by a higher light let down from heaven into their hearts and this is their Victory even their Faith they have nothing to oppose against the World and all things in it that may disquiet and discompose their Spirits but their Faith and by believing they enter into rest all who
commands There is no Saving Knowledge of Gospel Truths but the Knowledge of Faith and no other Reason for Faith in the highest Misteries of the Gospel but the bare Word of God. That Faith is Knowledge I prove thus Because in Scripture 't is opposed to Folly Blindness and Ignorance Acts 17. 23 30. Ioh. 17. 3. Ier. 31. 34. Isa. 9. 1 2. Besides it has all the effects of Knowledge in the Soul it gives full satisfaction to the Mind of a Man removes all doubts establishes the Heart in a full perswasion of the Truth of the Word of God Humane Knowledge is liable to many Mistakes but a Divine Faith admits of no Falshood therefore Faith perfects mans Understanding because it brings in nothing but Truth no mans Errors do proceed from Faith he may err in matters of Faith but 't is not from his Faith but his Unbelief therefore Faith is Knowledge unerring Knowledge we believe and are sure we may be so if we rightly understand our selves in an act of Believing no demonstrations of Reason do give that Evidence of Truth as Faith do's as mans Understanding is too low to take in Divine Truths so Gods Understanding is too high for man to comprehend therefore we are called to yield the obedience of faith to his revealed Will God governs man rather by giving him the knowledge of his Will then lifting him up into his own Infinite Understanding that is above our Capacity our Duty lies not in knowing what God knows but in doing what God commands who gives no account of his matters to us only commands us to believe his Word and to look upon that as a sufficient ground and reason of our faith when we hear it preached to us II. Because God has appointed hearing the Word as a necessary means of faith he will not immediately speak to our hearts by his Spirit but has appointed his Word to be first spoken to our Ears and promis'd that way to let it down into our hearts thus Faith comes by Hearing Quest. How should Hearing of things above our Reason contribute any thing to our believing them One would think the oftner we hear them the more absurd we should count them to be and reject them with greater Indignation having so often tried them by the Touchstone of our own reason and pronounced them unintelligible Answ. Hearing alone will not let in these Divine Mysteries into our Understandings Isa. 6. 9 10. God must inwardly Teach us and reveal them to us by his Spirit before we can believe them which brings me to the third head viz. III. How faith is wrought by our hearing the Word 1. By a special Appearance of God to the Soul. 2. By opening the Heart enlightning the Mind and perswading the Will to a thorough closure with Christ upon Gospel Terms To these two heads may be referred all that falls under our discerning and experience of the work of the Spirit in begetting faith in us 1. Faith is wrought by a special appearance of God to the Soul what this appearance of God is how it rises out of the Word in what manner 't is let into the Soul I shall endeavour to open to the experience of those who know what it is to hold Communion with God in hearing his Word there is some co-incidence in the particulars above-mentioned yet not without some distinction which I leave to your own observation the less of Art or Method there is in handling experimental points the better they come with most power to the Conscience in their own simplicity therefore I shall in a joynt Discourse run the matter close together looking sometimes on one side and sometimes on t'other till I have viewed it round that I may present the whole Truth to you in so great and necessary a point we can have no saving knowledge of God but in and by his word we must look through that Glass upon him and that appearance of God we meet with there is the beginning of all Religion the Word never comes with power to our Consciences till God appear in it How that is I am now to shew Whilst we are hearing his Word we see God standing forth in his own words declaring himself to be the Author of it this draws in our attention adds that weight and authority to the Word that we cannot but receive it as the Word of God and set our Seals to the Truth of it we see sufficient grounds for our Faith in God from this manifestation of himself to our Souls Thus God wrought faith in Abraham Gen. 17. 1. by appearing to him several times as God Almighty and All-sufficient that Abraham might not doubt of any thing that such a God should promise to him and therefore 't is said Rom. 4. 3. that Abraham believed God being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able to perform ver 21. Thus God appeared to Samuel revealing himself to him by his Word 1 Sam. 3. 21. So Christ appeared to Paul by a voice and a Light from Heaven I am Jesus Acts 9. there are spiritual appearances of God now to our Souls under the Preaching of the Gospel answerable to these Visions of Old. God lets himself down into our Hearts through the apprehensions of our faith which frames in our hearts a right image of God answerable to that Character he gives of himself in the Word he shines through the Word in all his Glory when he spake of Old to the Patriarchs by an articulate voice the unwritten word then was accompanied with such convincing signs of his Presence that they could not but believe it and so is the written Word now as capable of representing God to us when he has a mind to be seen by us as that was then the Letter of the Word is but a Creature but the Truths contained in it are Eternal and do all center in God himself who is the Essential Word thus God rises out of the Word and looks a man in the Face tells him thus saith the Lord I am that Lord God Almighty who now speaks unto you he leaves no Objection unanswered shews what sure grounds of faith we have in him shall God say and not do 't is impossible for God to lie it must be so as God saies it can't be otherwise Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass away than one Tittle of the Word be broken thus in God we praise his Word Psal. 56. 4. 10. Consider the Word out of God 't will puzzle Men and Angels to make out the meaning of it to think the things spoken of possible or likely to come to pass but all things are possible with God and to those who believe in God they stick at nothing they are sure Omnipotency knows no difficulties the Counsel of the Lord must stand his thoughts shall come to pass a Soul thus struck with a sense of Gods Presence yields immediately I believe Lord with all my heart am ready to do whatever
New creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. To have Christ formed in us Gal. 4. 19. To be quickned Ephes. 2. 1. Baptized with the Holy Ghost Mat. 3. 11. To be renewed in the spirit of our mind Ephes. 4. 23. These are Scripture-expressions of a great depth of a high signification which if well studied and pondered in our hearts seriously and often prayed over will give us more light into the Mystery of Regeneration than the tongue of Men and Angels can utter none can open these Scriptures to you but the Holy Ghost tho Ministers cannot bring down these Scripture expressions to man's Understanding yet the Spirit of God can lift up man's Understanding to some discerning of the mind of Christ in them by shining in our hearts the light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Christ. We see how much Glory and Honour is derived to us by God's being the Author of our Regeneration I will now look a little further into this Mystery Regeneration is our passing over into Christ into his Life Nature and Spirit they who are thus joined to the Lord are one Spirit Christ is their Life being united to Life it self they must needs be quickned by it it is present death to be separated from Life it self in Regeneration Life doth not so much enter into us as we into it and being once born of God we gradually enter further and further into his Life till all Mortality be swallowed up of it Thus Grace reigns through Righteousness unto Eternal Life and this Eternal Life is God there is but one Eternal Life when we are in him that is true in him that is Eternal this is life eternnl John 5. 20. Therefore to be in Christ and to be a New Creature is all one All Creatures that have breath live move and have their Being in God yet they are not so in God as the New Creature is in Christ God as a Creator bestows a Creature-life upon man distinct from his own Eternal Uncreated Life and man having this natural root of his own from the God of Nature grows up by himself with all the specifical Properties belonging to his kind whereby he is distinguished from his fellow-creatures he stands forth at some distance from God yet under the general influence of his Providence without which no creature can subsist But in Regeneration God does not only breathe the breath of life into us making us living souls but breathes his own quickning Spirit into us that we may live the very life of God in our measure 't is one thing for God to give forth something virtually from himself as he does in our first Creation another thing to give himself really unto us as in the second Creation God as a Redeemer raises up a new Creature in himself partaker of his own Divine Nature Life and Spirit this life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. and cannot in the Root and Principle of it be distinguished from God himself Christ is our Life which according to our finite capacity as Creatures we partake of the new Creature is but a Creature for all this though quite of another make constitution and original from all the first Creation and therefore called a new Creature standing in a nearer union and conjunction to God so born of him as no other creature is all Creatures are made by him non born of him but the new Creature as Christ took part of our Flesh and Blood in his Incarnation so we partake of his Divine Nature in our Regeneration as the soul is the life of the body so the spirit of Christ dwelling in us is the life of our souls acting them in a supernatural way we live the life of God which we were estranged from knew nothing of in our unregenerate state 't is not we that live but Christ living in us Gal. 2. 20. Because I live you shall live also John 14. 19. Christ in us the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Till Christ be formed in us we cannot be said to be born of God a spirit of life must first enter into us from Christ and how does this spirit enter Not as a separate Principle from Christ but in and with Christ Jesus the spirit of life in Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. Have a care of leading a separate life from Christ in the strength of your own Graces for they are but streams issuing from the Fountain of Life in Christ Jesus and will quickly dry up if not continually fed by the Fountain Branches cannot bear fruit if they abide not in the root as the life of the branches is in the root of the tree so our life as new creatures is radicated in Christ he is the root that bears us under all our deadness and dulness we should go to Christ for fresh quicknings many times we seek for life in our selves and can feel none but if we would seek for it in Christ and come up closer to him how reviving would that be animus cum sole redit so get but under this Sun of Righteousness you 'l quickly find healing your spirits will return your cold frozen hearts will grow warm the fire will burn within ere you are aware what is a state of death but a state of alienation from Christ who is our life Eph. 4. 18. Put him on then and wear him next your hearts let him but stretch himself all over your dark dead souls as the Prophet did over the dead child 1 Kings 17. 21. 2 Kings 4. 34 35. and life will return you 'l find a sudden Resurrection a fresh vigor of spirit will suddenly come upon you if ever you would be quickned it must be by Christ and with Christ who hath quickened us together with Christ Eph. 2. 5. What do you alone without Christ No wonder you are in a dead frame while you are musing upon what you are in your selves while you are in this solitary condition wandring up and down without Christ let Christ and you come once together and there will be life there will be strength there will be another Spirit in you If God be the Author of Regeneration let not the Eunuch say I am a dry tree all things are possible with God who can raise up children to Abraham of stones I would have none despair of becoming the Children of God who do sincerely desire it and long for that day New Births are sudden things I am perswaded they will be so towards the end of the world when a Nation shall be born in a day and sinners be converted by thousands as in the Apostles time Now we travel in birth a great while with one and another many pangs many throws yet they stick in the place of bringing forth we prophesie over dry bones but no ratling no coming together no spirit of life yet entring into them they stick in the place of bringing forth how many
hearers are there in our Congregations who are stuck between Christ and the World can get neither backwards nor forwards are now where they were many years ago They dare not cast off Religion altogether neither dare they come up to the power of it they come and go to and from the place of the Holy One conversing only with the dead Letter of the Gospel are not yet brought under the glorious ministration of the Spirit 't is the Spirit gives life by bringing in Gospel Truths in their natural living Principle into the Heart then we live and the Word lives in us the heart and the Word are quickned together one was in a dead frame the other lay in a dead Letter before but now both do live together and agree with each other the sense of the Soul is the sense of the Word and the Sense of the Word is the sense of the Soul they both mean the same thing they fall in with each other they dwell together in Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding there is but one Spirit between them what one says the other does and this is the great work of God as he is the Author of Regeneration to make our hearts thus to agree with his Word by casting them into the mould of the Gospel If ever the Word be ingrafted upon the Soul it must be ingrafted upon a living Principle of Holiness that suits with it for nothing else can receive it or hold it and this is the Work of God upon the Soul in Regeneration CHAP. II. Subjects of Regeneration II. THE Subjects of Regeneration who they are viz. The Elect only the Elect and all the Elect Rom. 8. 30. Whom he did predestinate them he also called c. Let their outward Circumstances be what they will whether bond or free male or female 1 Cor. 12. 13. Gal. 6. 15. Regeneration will reach them all first or last I prove it thus It must be either by Gods Election or by Man's Election putting himself by his own free-will into this state or by Accident no body knows how I will prove it must be one of these three ways because 't is apparent that all by Nature are born in an unregenerate state and that the Devil does carry away the greatest part of mankind into Hell in their unregenerate state These Truths are plainly laid down in Scripture and are capable of clear demonstration from thence Since neither of them need any proof I 'le take them both for granted and I argue thus from them If all are born in sin and the greatest part by far dye in their sins Who makes the difference and from whence does it arise It must come either from the Eternal Purpose of God electing some and not others or from man's own choice electing himself and putting himself into this state by the power of his own free-will so that he is regenerate because he will be so he will regenerate himself and change his own nature and make himself a new creature The absurdity of this will appear by and by or else it is by an unaccountable Contingency no body knows how or why It cannot be by the two latter ways Ergo by the First viz. Gods Election 1. It cannot be by man's own free-will for it can't be supposed that corrupt nature should ever will its own destruction the flesh is not so divided against it self Satan will not cast out Satan the Devil is more at Unity with himself than so he would indeed set himself above God and dethrone him if possible as he is he would be a God he would have the use of God's Power that he might abuse it and play the Devil the more so far he would be like unto the most High but he is so much a Devil such an irreconcilable enemy to all Godliness that he would not exchange his Devilish Nature for the Holy Nature of God and so are all the Children of the Devil Acts 13. 10. Oh thou child of the devil thou enemy of all righteousness A natural man would be nothing but what he is he likes himself too well to part with his own nature 't is unreasonable to imagine such a self-destroying inclination in any creature whatsoever 't is impossible for any nature to will a change of it self A Principle of self-preservation runs through the whole Creation of God the Toad as full of Poyson as it is would be a Toad still so sinful man is as tender of himself as much in love with himself as the Holiest Angel in Heaven is with himself Whence should such an actual Will arise in man as to desire his own Annihilation that he may cease to be what he is and become a new Creature There must be another Nature put into him before he can desire to be another Man all do follow the course of Nature and cannot do otherwise therefore till nature is changed the course is and must be the same as ever it was good inclinations are never found in depraved nature an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit figs grow not upon thistles nor grapes upon thorns To suppose a man in a state of nature to will his own Conversion is to suppose him already converted if the Will be changed the Man is changed the Will is the Man. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots Jer. 13. 23. they may as soon do this as one born in sin can cease to live in sin we must be born again first for a sinful nature will never carry a man out to a holy Life Nature is a constant fixed Principle always keeping within its own sphere 't is not a mutable fancy that may be taken up or laid down at pleasure We see all things keep their own shape and form and 't would be monstrous were it otherwise The whole Creation would be confounded if things could run one into another and Metamorphise themselves into what different species they please the God of Nature has fixed things otherwise and I am sure none but the God of Grace can alter the corrupt nature of fallen man. It cannot be by chance by a fortuitous concourse of I know not what None but a downright Atheist will resolve it into this 't is such a denial of Providence in the chiefest design and contrivance of the Infinite Wisdom and Goodness of God as no Christian ever can bear What is Regenerating Grace but a special Providence towards the Elect carried on with wonderful Wisdom and Counsel Where known causes and special ends may be assigned there is no room for Chance we may steadily look from the beginning to the end of such a production and trace back the effect step by step to its first original cause He that is a Christian by chance not knowing how or why he came to be so will give but a sorry account of his Faith and may as suddenly with more reason turn Infidel again Therefore since Regeneration does not happen by an
unaccountable Contingency nor can ever be brought about by any mere humane contrivance what remains but that we ascribe it as the Scripture does to the Divine Will of him to whom all things are possible beginning at the Eternal Purpose of God in Election so proceeding downwards through all the methods ways and means appointed by God for the carrying on this great work of his in the hearts of men The truth is the first breaking forth of Electing Love upon us is in our Regeneration 'till something of it appears we cannot know any thing by all that is before us of God's Eternal Love to us Our actual taking any thing up into our hands argues a previous choice that our eye was upon it before So here God has from Eternity made choise of some for Salvation his Eye was upon them from Eternity and when his Grace takes actual hold of them we may then through our present effectual Vocation see up to our Eternal Election and by these visible streams go back to the invisible Fountain of Free-grace in the heart of our Heavenly Father By what he does in time we know what he intended from Eternity Let none despair of this Grace who wait upon God for it all those who have already passed the streights of the new-birth were once under as discouraging circumstances as any now can be but God had mercy on them and so he may on thee he breathed the breath of Spiritual life into them and so he can and may into thee he is a God that raises the dead dead Souls as well as dead Bodies We may see in the eye-lids of some the very shadow of Eternal death but God can turn that shadow into the morning and cause the day-spring from on high to visit them Election alters no Man's state till it issue in Conversion then you may see your names written in the Book of Life from a sence and feeling of that life in your selves to which you were fore-ordained 'Till we are regenerated we cannot tell whether ever we shall be God knows but we do not The Election shall obtain Rom. 11. 7. Therefore all that have obtained must ascribe it to Election That the purpose of God might stand according to election Rom. 9. 11. The cause of this great change that Regeneration makes must be resolved either into the Will of God or Will of the Creature there is no medium between God and the Creature whatever is done is by one or the other Some resolve Conversion and Regeneration into Man's own power derived from that general sufficient Grace purchased by Christ for all men But if man in his perfect state fell under that general sufficient Grace which he was certainly endowed with at his first Creation How can we now suppose any such general grace to be sufficient to recover fallen Man and to keep him for ever from a relapse Therefore we must place fallen Man under some stronger influence even that of Effectual Grace which does not only shew unto Man the way of Salvation by Christ but effectually draws his heart to an actual closure with Christ joyning him to the Lord in one spirit This Effectual Grace in saving some does no injury to others they perish justly from the demerits of their own sins these are saved freely through the merits of Christ. Let us not be too curious in enquiring why God saves one and not another there is a covering upon the face of this great deep The ways of God are unsearchable and his judgments past our finding out all must be resolved into the Soveraign Will of God Why should our eye be evil because his is good who does what he will with his own and gives no account of his matters Because God has purposed from Eternity to shew mercy to some not telling us who let every own study his own Salvation and put in for his share of this Free Grace which is offered to all intended for some and why not for thee Those who embrace the Promise and believe in Jesus will never find any Decree in Heaven against them hindering their Salvation and those who refuse the Promises will not come to Christ when called shall never be saved by virtue of any mere Decree Faith and Repentance are as much under the decree of God as Salvation it self if the Decree of God bring not forth such things in you now as accompany Salvation 't will never bring forth Salvation it self The Doctrine of Election is a comfortable Doctrine if we apply it to the Means as well as to the End They who deny this Doctrine and plead so much for Man's Free-will they do and must hold a falling from Grace tho God loves them now they are not sure to continue in his love nor never will be 'till they run up all their hopes into Electing Love. When once they see that God has loved them from everlasting which they may do by resolving all the present fruits of the spirit into election as the Scripture teaches us they can strongly argue from the unchangeableness of God That he who has loved them from everlasting will love them to everlasting for whom he so loves he always loves to the end Let me make some use of this Point there may be some difficulties in it but I hope God will clear them up to your Souls If the Subjects of Regeneration be the Elect only the Elect and all the Elect Then prove your Election by your Regeneration you cannot prove Regeneration by your Election for bare Election if you know it alters no Man's state Many of the elect of God lie long in an unregenerate state Election is never in Scripture brought in as a proof of Grace in us but Grace in us is brought in as a proof of our Election To prevent mistakes in some convinced tho yet unconverted sinners ay and in some weak trembling Believers too whose convictions of sin do put them into no small fright When I say Regeneration is a good proof of your Election let not any say Then my unregenerate state is as good a proof of my Reprobation it does by no means follow for these Reasons 1st Because an unregenerate state or a state of sin and unregeneracy has not that dependance upon or relation to eternal Reprobation as Regeneration or a state of Grace has to our eternal Election A state of Grace flows from eternal Election but a state of sin and unregeneracy does not flow from eternal Reprobation but from the fall of Adam God permitting it as a means through which his electing love would effectually work for the more glorious restauration of Man. They who are regenerated are elected Rom. 8. 29 30. but those who are not yet regenerated cannot be said to be not elected or reprobated 2dly A state of sin and unregeneracy is common to all both elect and reprobates but a state of Regeneration peculiar only to the Elect. We are all born in sin all by nature the
me tell you the right understanding of what we preach to you depends neither upon your Reason nor ours but upon the bare Testimony of God we tell you Thus and thus says the Lord that 's Reason enough for you to believe and 't is the highest Reason we can give for your belief when you have once received any Gospel-Truth by Faith you will easily in the light of that Faith allow of every thing that may be rationally deduced from that Truth as included in it and belonging to it though not discerned when you first believed here lies your Edification to know the extent of those Gospel-Principles which you first took in by Faith this Faith is the Gift of God Ministers perswade you to come to Christ to repent and believe the Gospel but 't is God that turns the Heart to what we perswade you to we call upon blind dead dark sinners to look unto Christ but 't is God must give them eyes to see him all the perswasions in the world won't cause a blind man to see You 'l say To what purpose then is all this moral Suasion in the Pulpit Answer To very good purpose that whilst we are proposing the Object to you God may take occasion to open the eyes of your Understanding that you may as men discern the Object through the proper Medium of Scripture-language so plainly representing it to you Believers do find by daily experience that the Words of the Holy Ghost in Scripture being so full so apposite and proper do mightily help them in understanding the things of God and to this end has God given all Ministerial Gifts That Preachers might be apt to teach gathering up the sum and substance of the Gospel in their Sermons to the people God has appointed this way of Instruction has promised to be with us to the end of the world and to work effectually upon the hearts of men by these very means therefore let not any despise them and count them foolishness the Preaching of the Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation these Weapons are mighty through God as they are in our hands they signifie little if God did not fight with them even in our hands we hold the Weapons and manage them as well as we can but the piercing edge the overcoming weight and irresistible force of them is from God 't is he that gives the blow and does all the execution by them God has in Infinite Wisdom made choice of such outward Means as have least of Man in them that whilst we compare the weakness of the Means in a human Judgment with the wonderful Effects of them in our hearts we may be convinced of a Divine Power accompanying them Let us come then into these Assemblies with raised Expectations of some signal Appearance of God in his Word for the carrying on this Great work of Regeneration in our Souls we should see the Glory of God and be convinc'd that he is among us of a truth you may come in one Spirit go forth in another come in one Nature go forth in another come in Scoffers go home Believers a plain proposal of Christ as Crucified for us was the means of Conversion in the Primitive Times and so I am perswaded it is still Some may with more Art Elegancy and Learning preach the Gospel yet there is nothing in all this for Faith to take hold of but the naked Truth it brings nothing else into the Conscience but drops all the rest What is the Chaff to the Wheat I see nothing else required to believing but a serious looking up to God in the use of means for that anointing that teaches us all things the Gospel is plain enough in its own terms He that believes shall be saved He that believes not shall be damned Vnless you repent you shall perish What can be plainer spoken We do as men know the common Notion of Faith and Repentance tho what Faith in Christ Jesus is what Repentance towards God is we know not Here we are at a loss and ever shall be till our Heavenly Father reveals these things unto us giving us a true spiritual discerning of them You have had a Bible a great while but it may be have not taken such notice of the Contents of it as you should go home and open it once more and say This is the word of God to Man and to me in particular why should I refuse him who speaks from Heaven I will sit down and consider what I have read what I have often heard you don't know what hold the Word may take of you what impressions it may make upon you it may fill your hearts with such serious thoughts of God and Eternity as you never had before And let me tell you if ever you be born again it must be under the power of such thoughts kept up and impregnated in your hearts whilst you are thus musing the fire will burn and the work will be done you 'l find a real turning of the Heart to Christ which is the Obedience of Faith that every New-born Soul does yield to the call of Christ in the Gospel 'T is a harder matter to Convert Professors now to the power of the Gospel than 't was to convert the Heathen World at first to the Profession of it then Profession and Power went together now they are unhappily separated men hide themselves under a National Profession without any strict inquiries after their Personal Interest in Christ. They came out of Heathenism one by one into the power of Religion But now an hereditary profession of Religion come upon them they know not well how they have Abraham to their Father born of Christian Parents and Baptized this is all the account they can give of themselves and their profession Here Religion sticks and here I am persuaded it will stick till God by a special dispensation of his Spirit suited to the formality of this professing Age does send out Ministers by a special mission to awaken such who have only a name to live but are indeed dead When the Gospel was first Preached to the Heathen world they knew they worshipped gods of their own making they knew they were unbelievers and enemies to Christ and the Gospel but we Preach the Gospel now to those who profess they worship the true God profess Faith in Christ and love to Christ they profess themselves to be all that already which we exhort them to Therefore how should we pray that God would pour out more of his Spirit upon his Holy Prophets and send them forth under a fresh anointing that they may convince the constant hearers of the Word that something more is required to the Salvation of their Souls than an outward profession of Religion And what that something else is we are all concerned to enquire after We must not flatter those who have lived long under the means of Grace in an unregenerate state but plainly tell them to their
Among grown persons if you take the day of Conversion more largely as the Scripture often does for the day of their Lives for the day of their outward Callings generally termed the day of Grace i. e. of outward Grace so they all agree in the day of their Conversion they are brought home to Christ within that time or never tho they do not all come in at the same hour of the day But more of this by and by when I come to speak of the time of our Regeneration which to avoid all coincidence of matter I shall comprehend under this Head of the manner of Regeneration which the Scripture gives us some light into we may know something of it The Manner of Regeneration 1st That a marvellous work is wrought in us and upon us We see a great difference between what we now are and what we formerly were even in our own remembrance Whereas I was blind now I see Such were some of you but you are washed Remember that ye being in time passed Gentiles in the flesh but now in Christ Iesus Called out of darkness into his marvellous light This is something of the manner of Regeneration which all Saints have some experience of the change is so great so universal in every part and faculty of the Soul All things are become new that it cannot be altogether hid from a considering Christian he cannot resolve the Cause and Reason of it into any thing but the Power of God 't is his doing wonderful in our eyes He that is born of God knows and loves him that begat him does naturally cry Abba Father from the Spirit of Adoption received in Regeneration being born of the Spirit he breathes and prays in the Spirit ever after his heart is instructed and quickned by the Spirit to call God Father The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. 2dly Regeneration does not only shew the wide difference between the two states the Regenerate and Unregenerate but it comes in a different manner upon the Regenerate themselves I say a different manner for there is no difference in the nature of the thing it self That is the same in substance essence and principle in all who are Regenerate yet there are some circumstances attending Regeneration sometime wherein one Regenerate person may greatly differ from another even in the first moment of Regeneration e. g. Some may be Regenerated and Converted into higher degrees of Grace in the first moment of their Conversion than some others tho as truly Regenerate as they may attain to all their days all in Regeneration do receive one and the same spirit of Grace but not in the same measure Paul was converted into an eminency in Grace he was never a babe in Christ but was born a strong Man in Christ the very first moment of his Conversion God had present use of Paul he had designed him for eminent service which he was immediately to enter upon and therefore God furnishes him accordingly Let not weak Saints question the truth of their Regeneration because they are not presently raised up to such degrees of actual Grace as they see in others Another Reason I conceive of this difference between Saint and Saint in their first Conversion may arise from the different circumstances Grace finds them under in respect 1. Of their Years 2. Of their Temptations 3. Of their Employments and Callings 1st In respect of their Years Some may be Regenerated in their Infancy as was at first granted they are capable only of habitual Faith of the seed and principle of Grace A Man is no further capable of Grace than he is of Reason 't is Reason that makes a Man a subject naturally capable of Grace and Grace usually comes in in a degree proportionable to the strength of our rational faculties Where there is but a principle of Reason there may be a principle of Grace brought into that Soul and where there is an actual understanding there may be actual Faith proportionable to our actual Understandings I shall not speak of Infants who are but habitually rational and therefore can be but habitually gracious But I shall begin with those who are next to Infants newly come to the use of Reason some are more early Converts than others Mr. Cotton in his Exposition of 1 Iohn 2. 13. says that Children may act Grace as soon as they act Reason may be made to know their Heavenly Father as soon as they do their natural Parents This is early indeed yet I doubt not but so it may be only let me put in this Observation by the way viz. Observe The nearer our second birth lies to our first the more undisernable it is In its first rise and original here Grace seems to grow up with Nature Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual The Apostle applies it to the Resurrection of the Body and I may as fitly apply it to the Spiritual Resurrection of the Soul in Regeneration so that you see the new creature is still the youngest Man if compared to the old Man. The new creature is of a later extraction an after birth or a second birth But every man in his own order Should Grace come in with our first being the first introduction of it could not be called Regeneration God does proportion his gifts of actual and efficacious Grace according to the strength and ripeness of our active faculties tho all Converts have the same principle of Grace yet the younger sort in their tender years are not capable of acting so distinctly as others may who are of full Age and have their Senses better exercised by reason of use 'T is said of Iohn That the child grew and waxed strong in spirit So of Christ himself tho he was fill'd with internal habitual Grace at his first conception yet proportionably to his Age his Grace did actually and more powerfully manifest it self So 't is with all young Christians Grace in the active part of it keeps peace with Nature and does not offer violence to it Grace may elevate and quicken our rational faculties and bring them sooner to maturity But it always takes our Understanding and Will along with it in every act we put forth Faith is a rational Grace an understanding Grace a wise Grace there is much of the strength of a Man's rational Soul goes out in every act of Faith. Tho Faith be above Reason yet Faith can give a Reason why we should believe things above Reason and so one way or other Faith doth deal with Man's Reason even when it lifts up Man above Reason This may be one ground of the different degrees of actual Grace among some at their first conversion I say actual Grace because that only is capable of degrees A principle of Grace is the same in all but variously
acted either according to the natural capacity of the subject or the efficacious assistance of the Spirit for let our rational faculties be never so quick and strong they cannot carry out a Child of God much less others to the least act of Faith without the help of the Spirit 2dly In respect of their Temptations Those who have been exercised with strong Temptations born down by the power of strong Corruptions when converting Grace comes it comes with an actual strength proportionable to the actual resistance that 't is like to meet with so pulling down the strongest holds of Satan Habitual Grace infused at our first Conversion is the seed of God. The Spirit sets home the Word and causes a spiritual conception in the heart raises up the living Image of the living God in the Soul of a dead Sinner This Immortal Seed or Eternal Principle of Grace has the strength of Christ in it and is able to cope with original corruption But when it opposes strong acts of sin in those who have been accustomed to do evil and by their frequent practise do sin with a stronger hand than ordinary in this Case a principle of Grace must be drawn out into acts of a proportionable strength to these mighty acts of sin to put a stop to them for the future and to turn the sinner from them God said to Paul My grace is sufficient for thee my strength is made perfect in weakness the power of Christ did rest upon him That degree of Grace may prevail over one sinner that may not so soon prevail over another I speak in respect of acquired habits or acts of sin which hardens the heart the more besides the Devil does not always make the like furious assaults upon all God knows how to suit the dispensations of his Grace to the present necessities of the Soul A Disease the further it spreads the deeper root it has taken in the Body requires stronger Physick and more effectual Remedies to remove it So 't is with the Soul and Christ the great Physician applies himself accordingly with a sufficiency of actual effectual Grace As he took notice how many years the Daughter of Abraham was bowed down and bound by Satan So he observes what power the Devil has got over such or such a Soul if his name be Legion Christ will cast him out being able to save to the uttermost Christ is more put to it to save some sinners than others in comparison There is in this respect a greater difficulty in saving some than others How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifies one who has a nauseating stomach a 〈◊〉 swallow he kecks at every thing nothing will go down with him you may as soon draw a Camel through the eye of a Needle as bring a rich Man to Heaven But with God all things are possible God is here brought in acting according to the utmost possibility of his power in saving a Rich Man This may be another Reason why some are regenerated into a higher degree of Grace and spiritual strength than may be found in some others All have the same habit of Grace in the principle all have a sufficiency of actual Grace but all have not the same measure neither is it needful they should and so comparatively one Saint may be stronger or weaker than another in the first moment of Regeneration 3dly In respect of their Employments and Callings which may render them capable of higher service for God in the World than others may be called unto I instanced in Paul before so I may in Magistrates and Ministers now God in Conversion gives in Grace suitable to their Stations and Callings in the World. Saul when anointed King was turned into another Man tho that was but a civil Conversion yet it holds true in saving Conversion Also the Spirit of God divides to every man severally as he will and sets the Members every one of them in their proper place in the body under their proper peculiar gifts and qualifications that may render them useful to each other The Head cannot say to the Feet I have no need of you yet the Head is the most honourable part of the Body And you should covet earnestly the best Gifts There is a gradual difference in the Gifts and Graces of the Saints according to the several Offices they bare in the Body of Christ as Eyes Hands Feet and according to the several opportunities that Providence puts into their hands of serving the interest of Christ in their Generation Thus much of the Manner of Regeneration in a more general way I shall now speak to the Manner of Regeneration with a peculiar respect to the Gospel Notion and Nature of Regeneration as it consists in the Souls ingrafture into Christ by a vital Union to him through Faith Christ being the proper Fountain of that New Life which we derive from him in Regeneration and which is ever after maintained by him in all his true Members abiding under the quickning Influences of Christ their Living Head. The particular Manner of Regeneration in this Gospel-Notion of it will further appear in the right stating of this following Question viz. Quest. Whether the first step in Regeneration be from Sin to Holiness or from a sinful state and nature to Christ that we may be made holy by him I affirm the latter There can be no Change made in our Nature by the Spirit of Christ in our Sanctification but upon a Change of State from our closing in with the Blood of Christ for Justification The Spirit of Christ doth always follow the Blood of Christ 't is the Purchase of that Blood so that the sanctifying Spirit of Christ extends himself in all his saving Operations no further than the Body of Christ none but Members vitally joined to Christ their Head can be quickned by him therefore no man or woman can be savingly wrought upon by the Spirit of Christ who continue in a state of separation from him I grant many changes may be wrought in a mere natural man which amount to no more than a Moral Reformation and do all lye within the verge of an unregenerate state Were there no more in Regeneration or Conversion than a turning from Sin to Holiness than a change of Life and Manners arising as some would have it from that General Sufficient Grace purchased for all and which we may make effectual when we please this puts Regeneration and Conversion into Man's Power But Regeneration implies more than all this amounts to not only a Change of Life and Manners but of Nature and Principle we must first fix the Principle before we talk of doing we may as well do the Actions of a living Man without Life as act like Christians without Christ Christ is our Life a quickning Spirit in all his Members Therefore I state the Question
such an Act of Faith interfere with our free Justification 5thly We say That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere or Faith as our Act justifies no Man tho we allow the instrumentality of it in Justification as that by which we apprehend the Object Jesus Christ by whom alone we are justified When we say we are justified by Faith we mean no more but this That we are justified by Christ received and applied does it therefore follow we are not justified by Christ alone Did we well consider the Nature of Faith in its Principle and Relative Essence and also in its manner of acting we should better understand the matter and clearly see that Faith excludes all Works even it s own Act out of Justification Tho it self be the Act of a Man wrought in him by God yet 't is an Act so subservient to free Grace so intirely falling in with it that it does not in the least derogate from it but declares to all the World that Christ is the Sinners only Righteousness and leaves him relying upon Christ only for his Justification This is the meaning this is the sense of an Act of Faith Novel Expressions are apt to beget strange novel Opinions and therefore we should have a care of them Faith well acted upon Christ will never injure the free Grace of God why should we run up our Regeneration and Iustification into such ignote beginnings before Faith which we can give no account of to our selves or others before we believe I see not of what use this is to soar aloft beyond the Knowledg and Experience of all Christians let us not be wise above what is written I am yet upon the Manner of Regeneration and all preparatory Works naturally running into the manner of Conversion or Regeneration I shall a little consider them The best way to understand the manner of doing a thing is by observing all Preparations made for it all Praeludiums or Introductions in order to it therefore it will be necessary to look a little into the nature of these Preparatives which some lay too great a stress upon limiting the Spirit of God to their own unscriptural Methods and Error is soon committed here We may run upon the Merit of Congruity ere we are aware if we don't hold the Ballance of Truth with an even hand keeping close to the Genius and Spirit of the Gospel in all that we say of this matter which I shall reduce to these following Heads shewing you 1. What Preparatory works are 2. Whether there be any such certain Preparatory works always antecedently necessary to Conversion and what they are how they are all comprehended under Conviction of sin 3. That the Law is of excellent use to work this Preparatory Conviction 4. That there is Law enough taken into the Gospel to do this 5. That the Law is to be Preached but never alone by it self without any mention of Gospel-Grace 6. We must not limit the Spirit of God to such or such degrees of Humiliation Repentance Contrition or Terror Upon these Hinges my whole Discourse will turn If any Word or Phrase I shall use be not to your liking you may please your selves with your own way of Expression and speak your own language if we agree in Principles and understand the same thing as I hope we shall it matters not much whether we express it in the same manner I shall keep to the method proposed and not mingle things unless it be when one Particular may borrow light from another then a looser joint discovery does best 1. What Preparatory Works are In the Sense of those who contend most for them they are certain previous Dispositions wrought in the Soul in order to Conversion yet short of Conversion it self Here are Two Opinions about this Some would have these Preparatory Works to be Saving Works I grant eventually they may be and are so sometimes but not being always so I see not how that can be called Saving under which a Soul may eternally perish or how any Saving Work can be wrought in any before they are in Christ. The Second Opinion more agreeable to Truth is of those who call these Preparatory Works yet common Works of the Spirit but always further carried on in all elect adult Persons till at last they issue in true Conversion Here we agree but for those who place this Preparatory work in such and such certain degrees of Humiliation and Contrition affirming That Conversion is not ordinarily wrought any other way than by those Legal Steps not one of which is to be bated this needs some Explication Of which more anon That God does by his Word by his Spirit by his Providence prepare all his Elect for Conversion I no way doubt but how this is done whether God does observe the same way manner and method in this Preparatory work in all that are converted as he may do in some is not so clear to me 2. Whether according to Scripture there are any such certain Preparatory Works always antecedently necessary to Conversion and what they are how they are all comprehended under Conviction of sin whether Repentance Humiliation Contrition Terror This Conviction of sin must be presupposed in all who come to Christ for Pardon The whole need not a Physitian Here we must distinguish between initial and compleat Conversion I mean between Conversion begun and Conversion rising up to a sensible Closure with Christ Conviction of Sin is always antecedent to an act of Faith upon Christ for the Pardon of sin at least it must be concomitant with it else there can be no reason given of a sinner's coming to Christ but that such or such a degree of Humiliation Contrition c. is always pre-required unto Conversion I cannot say that Conversion is a sudden secret work of God upon the Soul as the Wind blows c. If we observe how the Spirit comes upon sinners where it lists of all sorts and tempers of all conditions and circumstances drawing their hearts to Christ we shall find it a hard matter to give this Preparatory work any certain particular name I am persuaded 't is very various and different it may be not altogether the same in any two that are converted therefore to lay down a preparatory work in all its circumstances common to all that are converted is very dangerous that which hath occasioned this is mens dwelling upon a distinct work of the Law as a School-master to Christ because the Iews of old were trained up under a legal administration of the Gospel therefore the whole work was then ascribed to the Law whereas the Law was never separately propounded to the Iews but always in some dark Typical Conjunction with the Gospel tho they did not see to the end of those things yet these Types Shadows and Ceremonies had a Gospel-end What tho there was a Legal Discipline in the Church of the Old Testament This is no warrant for us to set
not say that all are unregenerate who see not all these marks in themselves but those who have them not to be wholly defective in any one of them overthrows our state These marks are so linked together as to the certainty of their being that they are inseparable tho as to our perceiving 'tis otherwise we may not so clearly discern some of these in our selves as we may some others I would carry it with as gentle a hand as I can I perceive these marks in the right application of them will bear hard upon us all and it may be leave us under a godly jealousy of our selves examining our state with trembling Truly this I aim at I am sure we shall suffer no loss or damage by it in the end God has put his own stamp upon his own workmanship that it may be known to be his Shew me your Regeneration under God's seal and mark and I shall rejoyce with you in it and pronounce it to be his workmanship indeed And now Brethren produce your evidences such as the Word of God calls for I shall begin with the first Mark 1. He doth not commit sin he cannot sin He sinneth not but doth righteousness Here is a Negative and a Positive Mark what he doth and what he doth not I shall first speak joyntly of them both together and then separately of each apart by themselves The sense in general of this Scripture is That he who is born of God does so far express his Image and take after his Holy Nature as to hate that which is evil and to love that which is good he has put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Escaping the corruption that is in the World through lust If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him He proves the new-born Soul to be a true Child of God because he so much resembles his Heavenly Father in Righteousness and true Holiness we cannot be partakers of his Nature but we must be also partakers of his Holiness they are inseparable But to keep to the Negative mark He commits not sin c. The common interpretation of this Text is That such who are born of God sin not with full consent and allowance they go not on in a course of sin they sin not the sin unto death c. All this is true and does belong to the interpretation of this Text yet I conceive there is something further intended as the ground of all this viz. That he who is born of God as such sins not at all He that is a new creature may sin but not as a new creature this is an absolute truth contained in the Text. Under all the distinctions limitations and soft interpretations that are given of this Scripture we must be sure to maintain the words of the Text as they are expressive of a certain absolute truth else we shall quite lose the mark here laid down by the Holy Ghost of Regeneration and therefore I shall first fix that and make it as plain as I can that we may the better judge of our state by it 't is matter of Life or Death all is now upon Tryal your eternal Interest lies at stake therefore in so great a case we had need go by sure marks and signs and none so sure as those that are in express terms laid down by the Holy Ghost of Regeneration as we must not raise them too high in contradiction to other Scriptures so neither must we sink them too low lest we lose that Characteristical difference that the Holy Ghost here puts between the Regenerate and Unregenerate the mark lies here viz. That there is in every Regenerate Soul an inward living Principle of Grace and Holiness inclining us to good but never to evil always giving check to sin never approving or allowing of it A Regenerate person may fall into acts of sin through humane Infirmity but cannot give himself over to sin in a constant habitual way he cannot go on in sin 't is against his Nature he may be surprized into an act of sin but the new Nature will quickly recover it self and cast out that sin by Repentance A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit sin is not so connatural to a Regenerate Person he can't brook it his heart rises against it from the Antipathy he has to it when he does sin he would not sin and this we say is from the Grace of Regeneration The assertors of Free will do hold That man cannot incline to good without the general assistance of the Spirit of God but they own only such an assistance as may be resisted by us and leaves it to our option whether we will do good or evil but that the will of man should be determined by God to a good act and yet act freely under that determination is that which some will not understand supposing such an overruling efficacy of Divine Grace to be inconsistent with the liberty of man's will. The prevailing efficacy of sin in fallen man is undeniable whose thoughts and imaginations are evil only evil and that continually yet those thoughts and imaginations with all outward acts proceeding from them are free so that what they deny to the efficacy of grace they allow to the efficacy of sin That it seems does not destroy the liberty of mans will but the efficacy of grace does the mistake lies in a misapprehension of the Nature of Irresistibility grace is irresistible not because it cannot be resisted but because it cannot be overcome else 't would not be effectual the efficacy of Saving Grace lies in gaining over the free consent of the will to follow its motions and inclinations God made man perfect and that he might not impose upon his rational Nature left him a free agent giving him liberty to good or evil his Perfection did not lye in having liberty to evil but in not using it in abstaining freely from evil out of choice when he fell God withdrew and left him perpetually inclined to his own first choice which nothing can draw him off from but effectual Grace not by forcing but changing his will. It was never the intent of God in our first Creation that man should exert his power both ways to do good and evil but that he should freely chuse his own way at his first setting out and be delivered up into that Power which he should first Exercise By his obedience he would have been confirmed in good never to have fallen from it so by his disobedience he was confirmed in evil never to be recovered out of it till free Grace of its own accord relieved him And this it does gradually not all at once which is the reason why the Saints in their imperfect state here do both good and evil being flesh as well as Spirit Grace has the Predominancy because it enters in
are Born of God do thus live by Faith here below they consult not with Flesh and Blood their affections are suited to the apprehensions of their Faith they are filled with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory by believing they see good days a coming when all Tears shall be wiped from their Eyes they wait patiently till then rejoycing in the hope of the Glory of God. Till we get into this frame walking in the evidence of things not seen we shall never overcome the World for the things that are seen conceive them in what shape or posture you please have their emptiness and vanity in them will never satisfy they are but finite and temporal the present Fashion of this World be it what it will passes away into something else while we are a beholding it all things here below moulder and crumble away in our hands perish in the using are always the worse for wearing which shews they cannot last long when they are in their best state they are altogether vanity the highest degree of Perfection in the Creature tends to corruption and indeed disposes to it 't is as Natural to Die as to be Born there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a turning point that stops the further growth of the Creature and makes it to decline ever after till its fading Glory be quite extinguish'd therefore labour not for the meat that perishes but for that which nourishes unto Everlasting Life Till we come to Live upon Eternal unseen things we live but meanly in the midst of our Earthly sufficiencies we are in straights still wanting something till Christ be ours and then all is ours There is no room left then for any further designs in him we have plenary satisfaction and perfect rest we shall never have true hearts ease till then But the difficulty lies in bringing over our hearts to this Newness of Life to this Noble Life of Faith that fetches all its Comforts from Heaven casting up its anchor within the Vail which is sure and stedfast Flesh and Blood cannot do this there is nothing in Nature that disposes us to it therefore we must be born again be made New Creatures before we shall favour the things of heaven and such is the power of Religion upon the minds of men where it is in truth that it always works this change in them they find it and feel it in themselves Whether it be so with us whether we have any certain experience of such a thing in our own Souls we should do well to consider that even upon our knees and give God no rest day nor night till we see some better symptoms of Eternal Life in our selves we may judge of our life whether it be Eternal or no by the things we live in and live upon they who are of the Earth are Earthly they who are born from above are heavenly to be carnally mindedis death but to be Spiritually minded is life and peace The inward frame of the mind discovers what kind of Creatures we are whether old or new flesh or spirit the issues of life are from the Heart as the pulse of your Souls beats upwards or downwards so you may judge of your state as you find your selves most concerned in things above or things below till you have got above the world and have overcome it you are not born again Fifthly Every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. That which is intended here is First Love to the Saints as such Unfeigned love of the Brethren is a sign of a pure heart and that we are indeed born again Secondly Love to all men 't is due to all Owe no man any thing but love that we owe to all every man may challenge it every man is our Neighbour in that sense to be the object of our Love we must extend it to our very Enemies 't is the fulfilling of the Law the duty of man to man prescribed in the Second Table cannot be performed without it Love is above all Illumination and Knowledge a more sure mark of Regeneration He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Love is one of the communicable Attributes of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost we are followers of God when we walk in love Common Professors have some love one to another but if you trace it up to its original you 'll find it a selfish mercenary love in which they rather respect themselves than Christ 't is not for his sake but for some outward respects of relation neighbourhood or usefulness in the common concerns of this life it may be for their agreement in opinion about some lower matters of Religion this is but the friendship of the World and may be consistent with real enmity against God and good men as such but perfect love i. e. real sincere Christian Love is for God's sake because he has so loved us and given us a new Command to love one another There is no true love among men till we are born again He exhorts those who have put off the old man and are renewed in spirit to put away all bitterness wrath c. Before Regeneration we are foolish disobedient living in malice and envy hatesul and hating one another Biting devâ—uring consuming one another It looks rather like a description of Wild Beasts than men so savage and fierce are we by nature nothing but a spirit of Regeneration will sweeten and mollify the hearts of men that which unites us to Christ unites us one to another we are all one in Christ but we shall never be all one among our selves till we are united to Christ then the Peace of God rules in our hearts to which we are called in one body There is no true good nature among men but what flows from Grace Sin hath so poysoned and sowred man's Nature that till that Serpentine Venom be purged out and a better Spirit be put into us there will be little harmony or concord among men Having put on the new man put on therefore as the elect of God c. Vide Loc. Were this mark of Regeneration more visible in our days it would be a token for good of a more effectual work of the Gospel among us than for ought I see does yet appear Hatred variance c. are reckoned up among the Works of the Flesh as directly opposite to the Fruits of the Spirit I will shew how this loving disposition arises out of Regeneration that the fundamental ground of it is our conformity to Christ which necessarily follows upon our Regeneration Christ is the express Image of his Father the Saints are in their finite capacities the express Image of Christ in whom they see the Father who as God is one with the Son whilst they behold the Son as God-man they see their humane Nature hypostatically united to the Divine they see their humane persons
we of our own Tenents even when we put darkness for light and evil for good things must be as we have put them At this rate the truth and power of Religion will quickly be lost amongst us unless both be better exemplified in our Lives and Conversations The Gospel is set before us as a new mould into which we our selves must be cast it comes to work a great change in us not of our opinions only but of our Hearts and Nature to create us again in Christ Jesus unto good works Is this done where this is not done that man's pretended interest in Religion will deceive him and come to nothing You may be of this or that Persuasion of this or that Party have excellent notions of Divine things in your heads and yet not have one tittle of the truth writ upon your hearts I don't ask what you hold or what you profess or what you know but what you are what Newness of Spirit do you find in your selves My Text speaks of something to be done in you and upon you Is that done Art thou born again Art thou a new creature I speak the Language of God to you a new creature is that which you must be before you die else you 'l be undone for ever it concerns you to look what that is do you look to that A new creature you must be else you perish eternally better you had never been born if you are not born again before you die Let not the strangeness of the expression nor the mystery of the thing it self take you off from seeking after this Regeneration in the Text 't is something must be wrought in you you need not go further than your own selves for a proof of it let every one view his own heart well wait for a change there carry thy old carnal unbelieving heart to God and say Lord create in me a clean heart take away this heart of Stone I lay it down at thy feet I dare not take it back again I dare not go from thee in my old sinful corrupt nature O let thy creating power pass upon me this instant that I may become a new creature Did we come with raised expectations of such a work we should see the Glory of God in some inward astonishing effects of his mighty power upon our hearts He that commands light to shine out of darkness and calls things that are not as tho they were gives them a being by his creating power Things that are not do answer to this call of God as if they had been there before they come forth out of their own nothingness deriving a real being and existence from the operative Word of the Lord he speaks and it is done So able is God to raise up Children unto Abraham even out of Stones a Stone may as soon turn it self into a living creature as a natural Man turn himself into a new creature only there is this difference a Stone has no sense to perceive any such change brought upon it but a natural Man has he is a living Soul and when converting Grace comes upon a Man living in sin to turn him from it he must needs feel the opposition that is made to the whole course of his corrupt nature the conflict that is between two living contrary principles is felt on both sides Sin feels it and Grace feels it the Flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh the Flesh is hindred from doing all the evil it would do and the Spirit from doing all the good it would do they retard each others motions one pulls one way and the other another these two are contrary they never agree in any thing A sinner finds himself dying to sin under the quickning regenerating influence of the Spirit of God though corrupt nature perceives not the beauty and glory of Grace yet it sees and feels the contrariety of Grace to it self and is full of enmity against it as the Spirit of God does assist our dying graces so the Devil that evil spirit does what he can to keep alive our dying sins he would fain prevent the utter mortification of sin in Believers if it were possible You see what striving and strugling there is in every regenerate Soul two living men contending with each other the old man and the new there is a mighty strength in the old man but the new man is stronger than he enters in upon him by an irresistible force binds him and at last casts him quite out Let us either throw away our Bibles and resolve never to look into them more or else submit to the judgment of the Scriptures in so great a Case as this is Verily Verily c. THE END A DISCOURSE OF FAITH IN TWO POINTS VIZ. I. How Faith comes by Hearing II. How we are Justified by Faith. By Thomas Cole Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs over against the Stocks-Market 1689. A DISCOURSE OF FAITH ROM 10. 17. So then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. THE Apostle towards the close of the Ninth Chapter speaking of a twofold Righteousness of Works and of Faith tells us that the Gentiles did attain to the Righteousness of Faith but the Iews did not attain to the Righteousness of Works which they so much trusted in for they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish their own have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God Rom. 10. 3. Hence the Apostle takes an occasion to compare the Righteousness of the Law with that of Faith calling one our own Righteousness the other the Righteousness of God which the Law do's tacitly point to promising Life to perfect Obedience this not being found in any mere Man since the Fall we are directed to seek it in Christ who is the end of the Law to every one who believes ver 4. he brings in Moses verse the 5th describing the Righteousness which is of the Law that the man which doth thsoe things shall live by them Such doers of the Law we are not therefore can look for nothing but Death by Law. Verse 6th He brings in the Righteousness of Faith by a Prosopopeia speaking it self to an afrighted dejected sinner who is also brought in musing upon his wretched Condition full of sad thoughts saying over many dismal things to himself in his own Heart about his Eternal State how shall I get to Heaven how shall I escape Hell how shall I dwell with everlasting Burnings which I see no way to avoid by Law the righteousness of Faith meets this convinced Sinner in this great distress of Conscience communes with him discourses of Christ to him minds him of his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into Heaven you seem says the Righteousness of Faith to deny both in talking at this rate your way to Heaven is plain Christ is ascended you shall as surely go to Heaven if you
thou requirest of me so Paul Oh that God would so manifest himself to every one of your hearts this day that he would shew himself come up close to you look you in the face and say I am Jesus you could not withstand this mighty presence of God in Christ Jesus O speak Lord 't is but thy saying to each of us I am Jesus and we shall all be made to know the Lord from the least to the greatest I hope the quickning voice of the Son of God is now sounding in the Ears of your Faith while I am speaking to you and that you do receive the Word not as the word of Man but as it is indeed the Word of God quick and powerful sharper than a two-edged Sword in every one of your hearts The knowledge of the Truth as 't is in Jesus Eph. 4. 21. is one thing and the knowledge of the Truth as 't is in Ink and Paper is another they are the same Truths but as they are in the Scriptures they lie in the dead Letter as they are in Christ they are seen in their living root and principle from whence they spring meer Scriptural Knowledge is but Historical we look upon the things we read and hear rather as notions than realities till God fills up all expressions of Scripture concerning himself with a Divine Presence answerable thereunto we believe nothing that is said of him but such a presence of God in his Word captivates our hearts to the belief of it we must believe him to be such a God as the Word declares him to be before we shall count all his sayings true we must fetch strength from the name of God Rev. 2. 13. to support our Faith in all its actings upon any part of his revealed will and we never deny any Truth plainly revealed but we deny his name Rev. 3. 8. and question his Attributes some Truths bare more upon one Attribute some more upon another but all are founded in God and in the essential properties of his Nature from whence they have their verification and accomplishment so that till God appear and shew himself to the Soul all that is said to us out of the Scriptures in the name of an unknown God affects us not because it wants that which is the ground of its Credibility no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 3. he cannot say so and think so he cannot say so and believe what he says till the Father reveal his Son in him Paul by the Light of that Revelation of Christ in him knew all Gospel Mysteries and without such an inward spiritual manifestation of God to our Souls giving us a sight of him who is invisible 't is impossible we should ever be throughly convinced of the Divinity of the Scriptures all Divinity springs from God leads to him nay it looks him directly in the Face and can't be considered apart from him there is but one God and one Faith God must be in the view of our Faith whensoever we really act it Neither can we have that inward testimony of the Spirit convincing us of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures without this special Appearance of God in the Soul as a witness to the Truth of his Word While we are hearing the Word God has invisible wayes of access to our hearts he conveys himself through his Truth to our Souls his Divinity leads the way without some appearance of this the contents of the Word would have no place in our hearts but coming with so great a presence in so great a name and with so strong an impression God himself writing them upon the heart we cannot but receive his Testimony the Word comes into our Hearts suddenly before we are aware and seises them for God we cannot but think speak act and judge as God does the sense of the Word is the sense of our Souls so far as the Word is written in our hearts we read it without the least variation the Copy answers the Original Hence arises that habitual disposition or inclination to believe God creates this new heart I say this infused habit or principle of faith is antecedent to all acts of faith put forth by us and is in it self the sole act of God upon us in our first Conversion it is from this supernatural principle thus infused that the natural powers and faculties of the Soul of Man viz. the Understanding and the Will are enabled to take in things purely Spiritual and Divine Nature never acts above its sphere those inbred common Notions that are the Standards and Measures of Natural Truths in all their consequences will never lead us to grant or admit that which is supernatural when we do this 't is always from some higher Principle when we see men acting above themselves we may conclude they are acted by something higher than themselves which is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them This special Appearance of God with those inward effects of it upon the Soul which I have been speaking of may be known to Believers they discern it in others Acts 11. 17 18. and do when they give a true reason of their faith see it in themselves that all springs from the Fathers revealing his Son in them they can give no other reason why they believe in Jesus 't is God that opens the door of Faith and makes it effectual Acts 14. 27. We are apt to be taken with any appearance of Man in a Sermon this we look after what words of Mans Wisdom how Man acquits himself in reasoning of this or that Point 'T is true there is some skill required in Planting and Watering but all the encrease comes from God your Faith consists not in the Wisdom of Man but in the power of God if God himself do not appear as a witness to his own Truth as the great undertaker of all that he has promised what we say will prevail little your faith must terminate in God himself and in that Ability that is in him to perform his word this was the ground of Abrahams faith Paul knew him whom he believed 2 Tim. 1. 12. and so must you if ever you believe to the saving of your Souls Did you go out of the Congregation after every Sermon you hear under a sight and sense of this appearance of God in his Word speaking to you from Heaven and shewing himself to your souls in some spiritual resemblance suited and adapted to that Word you are hearing how could you reject such a Word so full of God so exactly corresponding to what you see in God himself you must yield and cry out each of you who am I that I should withstand God This is the first way that God takes to work Faith in us by our hearing the Word Preached to us Secondly Faith is wrought by opening the heart enlightning the mind and perswading the will to a through closure with Christ upon Gospel Terms
hath power to forgive sins Take up thy bed and walk Mat. 9. 6. This you all see but the actings of my saving power upon the souls of men that power that works within Eph. 3. 20. you see not let this that you see convince you of that which you see not and never dispute my power more to forgive sin I can heal the diseases of the Soul as well as those of the Body the power that God has to forgive sin is the great prerogative of God belonging to the soveraignty of his grace God walks invisibly thorow the World doing his mighty works of Grace he touches some mens hearts not others he draws some and not others by the sweet yet irresistable force of his Grace we see nothing but man mans Will mans Choice mans Act and therefore conclude all is by mans own power because we see not the wheel within the wheel the Spirit of God setting the whole soul in motion towards Christ This arcanum Iehovae this secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psal. 25. 14. The way of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men is discerned by few 't is a very hard matter to understand how God works in us to will and to do because we find it to be our own act to believe repent and turn to God we ascribe all to our selves as if our own arm had saved us The truth is God in all the efficacious operations of his grace upon the hearts of men loves to conceal himself he will not be seen by others to do what he do's in and for his Saints no noise in the streets Matth. 12. 19. The kingdom of God comes not with observation Luke 17. 20 21. All is done within secretly and silently non are privy to this heart-work but they that feel it this is the hiding of his power from the observation of those whom he never intends to work upon and for the hardening of their hearts that they may still retain an opinion of their own ability to do that which they see others so freely and willingly addicting themselves unto Though this be a cause of stumbling to many who boast of a supposed power and freedom of will to believe and repent when they please yet such in whose hearts God has wrought these mighty works of his grace they see and feel the weight of his Arm revealed upon their souls they know it is Gods doing that a divine power has touched their hearts and carried them out to all these acts of Faith that they put forth they openly acknowledge this 1 Cor. 15. 10. Phil. 4. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Gal. 2. 20. Not I but Christ. When they feel themselves most strengthned by Christ they are then most sensible of their own self-insufficiency and weakness I can do all things through Christ yet not sufficient of our selves to think a good thought when I am weak then am I strong 2 Cor. 12. 10. They would not say so if they did not find a power more then humane exerting it self within them and strengthning them with might in their inward man I live yet not I but Christ lives in me till we can thus distinguish between Nature and Grace and see God influencing our Wills in all their free motions to that which is good we shall vainly assume to our selves a power that never yet reduced it self to the least real act of Faith in any man whatever 't is easie talking of a power to believe before we come to believe in good earnest then our strength fails us if God do not support us and help our unbelief I believe help my unbelief q. d. I can't hold it my faith will fail if God do not put his Everlasting Arms underneath if we consider what difficulties what strong Objections unanswerable by Reason Faith Acts against in keeping up a lively hope of Pardon in the Conscience of a convinced sinner we must needs say 't is the work of God that we believe we may wonder at our selves as men when we consider what we believe as Christians I have spoken all this to shew that God is the Author and Finisher of our Faith 't is he only can open the heart and dispose it to give Credit to the Word of his Grace Application By way of Discovery viz. How we may know when Faith comes by Hearing even at the time of Hearing and whether it be yet come into your hearts by all you have heard hitherto Faith is a secret and a sudden work when it comes it gives some sense of it self to an observing Christian that quickly convinces us of a change in our selves a heart truly turned to God is not the same it was before not in the same posture not in the same disposition and frame there is something new appears in every new Creature that do's not belong to the Old Man but rises up in opposition to him this newness do's not lye in some one corner of the heart but every where 't is universal in every faculty all things are become new though the old leaven be not totally cast out any where but left as an occasional provocation and challenge to the Grace of God to act in more opposition to those motions of sin that put a force upon the New Creature are directly contrary to the bent and genius of our renewed Nature till Faith comes we are never sensible of any such inward Conflicts between the flesh and the Spirit but then the fight begins the good fight of Faith 'T is Faith strikes the first stroke makes the first assault upon our reigning sin and corruptions and will never cease contending with them till it has got a full Victory over them and throughly mortified them But how shall we know in the very time of hearing when Faith comes When the word Works effectually after hearing it usually gives some powerful touch upon the heart at the time of hearing so 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. he speaks there of the occasional Conversion of an Unbeliever who came into the Assembly where there was Prophesying and Preaching 't is probable some such are come in hither to day Oh that God would meet with them that they might be convinced and fall down upon their Faces worshipping God acknowledging that he is among us of a truth so Acts 2. 37. their Hearts were prick'd they cry out in the midst of the Sermon Men and Brethren what shall we do We want such publick Conversions had we more of these New Births in our Congregations we should have more of these out-cries which would be very awakening to us all if God would honour his Ordinances with such visible signs of his presence as in the Primitive Times the Word was preached with that power that it wrought a great consternation and astonishment in the whole Assembly there was a great impression upon their minds which had various effects some blasphemed and some believed but all were moved and stirred struck inwardly
of his revealed Will hold fast there and you are safe the greatest Scholars in the World must come down to the plain mans Faith if ever they die in peace in all Gospel Truths their consonancy not to our Reason but to the Scriptures is to be regarded Mans leaning rather to their own understanding of the thing than to their faith in the Word about that thing hath led them into Error into false notions of Divine Mysteries I grant from your faith in one Truth you may fetch Reasons for some other Truth depending upon it these are Gospel Reasons not your own we don't believe because we know but we know because we believe this is a new way of knowing things which the world is not acquainted with because it cannot receive the spirit of Truth the spirit of Truth is a spirit of Faith hearing the Word is of singular use to Believers themselves 1 Ioh. 5. 13. to confirm and strengthen your Faith that you may be built up further in it furnished with further matter to act it upon Let none be discouraged though never so ignorant and unlearned of a low mean capacity yet come to hear with an expectation of Gods working faith in thee faith will overcome all these difficulties as weak and simple and ignorant as any may be supposed to be yet be not discouraged you may be made to believe more in one moment than the greatest Scholars in the World can attain to the knowledge of in many years study It is written in the prophets Joh. 6. 45. and they shall be all taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the father cometh unto me Not that any man hath seen the Father 'T is not what men you hear what Ministers you follow till God the Father do's speak powerfully to your hearts by the Ministry of man. It matters not who the man is your faith consists not in the Wisdom of man but in the power of God when you have a proof of Christs speaking in any 2 Cor. 13. 3. then hearken diligently till you hear an inward Word from this invisible Teacher you 'l never come to Christ. If all the Ministers in the World should lay their heads together they could never bring a sinner to Christ till the Father speaks the word and draw him We are but Ministers by whom you believe as the Lord gives to every man So then neither is he that planteth any thing nor he that watereth but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3. 5 6 7. The sum of all is this We are sent to Preach that you may Hear we carry the Letter of the Word to your Ears the Spirit brings it home in the name of God to your Consciences convincing you that it is his Word under this Conviction you see the truth of the Word in the veracity of God this word of Truth and your Souls meeting so close as they alwayes do in an act of Faith sanctifies you this sanctification lies in the ready assent of your understanding and free consent of your Will the one is founded in light the other in love so that when an enlightned Understanding receives the Truth in the love of the Truth there is a firm Principle of Holiness fixed in that Soul flowing from that Union to Christ that Faith gives us this is the beginning and progress of that Faith the end of which is the Salvation of your Souls The Second Point How we are Iustified by Faith. WE ought to be Doers of the Word and not Hearers only to maintain good Works for necessary uses Tit. 3. 14. It behoveth us therefore to know what use we should make of our works and doings in the great business of our Salvation so as not to entrench upon the Righteousness of Christ nor to degrade that from being our sole and only justifying Righteousness Some men are as much mistaken in grounding their salvation upon doing as others are in grounding it upon bare hearing and therefore these things must be warily spoken unto and warily understood When we urge the necessity of doing the Word of God Carnal Reason lies at the catch and is ready to take every thing in a wrong sense and meaning and to bring down the Mysteries of the Gospel to a low loyal vulgar Notion more suitable to humane Reason There are two extreams that men are apt to run into either they neglect good works or else they trust in good works either they do in a careless formal presumptuous manner pretend to cast all upon Christ without any serious inquiries after the Truth of Grace in themselves or ever proving it by its fruits conceiving it altogether needless to be any way active in their own salvation Secondly If upon search they find any actings of Grace in their Hearts any fruits of Grace in their Lives these are their own proper goods they think Money found in their own Purses it matters not how they came by it they have it and they are resolved to convert it to their own proper use making it nothing less than a part of their Justifying Righteousness Those of this way with whom I have now to do do state the matter thus They say that Christ is the meritorious cause of our Justification having by his Death satisfied the Law and discharged us from the Curse of it and so far we agree with them They say further That Christ to compleat our Justification hath also purchased for us strength and ability to perform the condition of the new Covenant this we assent to the performance of which according to them is to be taken in as a part of our Justifying Righteousness and this we deny We say the performance of what is required in the New Covenant is a good Justification of the Cause whether it be of Faith or of Good Works or of any particular thing or action the sincerity and truth of which may be in question But we deny that it adds any thing to the Justification of the person and therefore they speak not ad idem to the same thing when they deny Christs imputed Righteousness to be the sole Righteousness that justifies the Person because there is another Righteousness required upon another account to justifie or clear up the sincerity of our Faith and Holiness I say to clear up this to our selves and other men which we deny not For we do not admit any Faith to be a justifying Faith but upon good evidence of the Truth of it neither do we admit any works to be good works but upon full proof of the goodness of them The Sum of all is this we say Faith and obedience once proved to be true and genuine are good evidences of our interest in Christ whose imputed Righteousness is the sole and only Righteousness by which our Persons are universally justified from all charges and blame whatsoever in the sight of God and to say otherwise is in effect to say that Christ died
our Understandings and Knowledge he hath appointed Faith as a fit means by which the soul not only doth the thing but also le ts in a sense of what is done upon the soul and therefore saith the Apostle it is of faith that it might be of grace God will be understood in all the acts of his Grace towards us Now that there might be in us a sense of reception of so great a benefit God resolves to put it into the hand of Faith which hath a natural sutableness in it and fitness to receive what free Grace tenders to it and so it doth when it is in any strength Christ and our Souls would never meet were it not for Faith. There is no letting down any thing spiritual and supernatural into the soul but by Faith Faith is our modus habendi it is the way the means by which we come to have God and Christ and an Interest in the things of Heaven We have what we have from Christ by Faith and we hold it by Faith. Faith and Repentance as acted by us and reflected upon are very good Evidences of our Justifications for it is in that reflection only that they do give evidence of themselves and of any thing produced from them Therefore I say as they are reflected upon they have retrospection to our Justification of which they are very good and evident proofs but they have no antecedent causality to produce the thing signified because they signifie it as a thing already done past and perfect 3. And lastly Justification is frequently set down in Scripture without any relation to these acts of Grace in us to shew that it wholly flowes from Christ and that by our believing we add nothing to our Justifying Righteousness but do only apply it as wholly derived from Christ alone 1 Ioh. 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life they that are in Christ there is no Condemnation to them Rom. 8. 1. Now because we cannot admit sinners to be in Christ but by faith therefore what flows from Christ is attributed unto faith which is I say our modus habendi but still the real cause of our Justification that which makes us just in the sight of God is our being in Christ and our having the Son. There is no mention made of having any thing else but faith is our modus habendi we cannot have the Son but by faith nor be in Christ but by Believing Therefore God speaks to our Understanding and hath attributed that to the act of faith which is only derivable from the Object I shall now shew you the weakness of those grounds and reasons they go upon who differ from us in this point 1. They speak much of a Charge of Infidelity Impenitency and Unholiness to be drawn up against us at the last day and therefore it concerns us to muster up all our good works all our acts of Grace and every part of our inherent Righteousness that we may be in a readiness to answer to this Charge and clear our selves A specious Argument enough to amuse the World and fright men back into the Popish Doctrine of Justification by Works Brethren I do not deny that unbelieving impenitent and ungodly Persons shall be charged with infidelity impenitency and ungodliness and be condemned but to talk of a charge of Infidelity against a Believer at the last day I say it is a groundless unscriptural Notion I do not deny that the faith of the Saints that draws them to Christ and its efficacy afterwards in all its fruits will be taken notice of by Christ when they are admitted into the Kingdom Mat. 25. 34. Come ye blessed and when that blessedness is fixed Christ doth not put them upon the proof of their faith but helps them himself to understand the former actings of their faith and love to God which they were ignorant of before When saw we thee an hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink c. In as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these ye have done it to me I see more Grace in you saith Christ than ever you saw in your selves so and so appearing in your lives Come ye blessed Brethren Good Works are good Evidences to us to make out the Truth of Grace in us but the All-knowing God needs no such Evidences for his Information he knows what is in man and needs not that any should tell him He searches the Heart Though we see Grace only in the Fruit yet God sees it in the Root and Principle Besides I conceive the last Judgment is not to prove who is and who is not in a state of Grace but rather to pronounce the Sentence according to the state that every one shall appear in at the Resurrection There will be no doubting of any mans state at the Resurrection the method and manner of the Resurrection will decide it Christ himself will separate the Sheep from the Goats and he will do this before the Judgement Mat. 25. 32 33. You shall know a Believer then by his Station at the right hand of Christ by his Company among the Sheep The Angels are sent forth Mat. 24. 31. to gather up the Elect from the four Winds from the one end of Heaven to the other They will ransack every corner of the World to find out every Saint not only the Ninety and Nine but the whole Hundred shall be presented to God not one missing we shall all stand together Now after they are thus ranked by Christ and the Angels have declared them to be Sheep to be true Believers must they come under a charge of infidelity Who must draw up this charge and manage this false Indictment Either God or good Angels or Conscience or the Devil God he hath justified them here sealed them by the Spirit of Adoption to the day of Redemption and he will never reverse his judgment The judgment of God at the last day will be pursuant to the judgment already past by his Word and Spirit in the Hearts and Consciences of Believers here Good Angels are imployed to gather up the Elect and consequently they have a true discerning who they are Our Consciences are sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus and have an answer in readiness by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead And the Devil will have something else to do in that day when he stands at the head of the wicked to receive his sentence with them the time of his torment being then come Though he be now the accuser of the brethren day and night before God he must then Eternally be cast down True he is now our accuser and we must labour to overcome him by the Blood of the Lamb as Rev. 12. 10 11. that is by Arguments drawn from the Blood of Jesus yet I say fear him not after death The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death saith the Apostle and must we have an after rancounter with
the Devil Must we be set upon a fresh by him No no after death he hath done with you for ever he will not dare to look you in the face at the last day He draw up a charge against you You shall accuse judge and condemn him and all the Devils in Hell 1 Cor. 6. 3. Never fear you that dye in the Lord shall rise up under those denyable evidences of a state of Grace that neither the Devils nor wicked Men shall dare to gain-say What must poor Christians who have lived under doubts fears under buffetings and temptations under accusations and challenges from the Devil and their own Consciences must they rise so Is this to be raised in power with our Spirits made perfect Surely Paul was out in his triumph Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Do you make good your Title to Christ now and never fear any charges afterwards at that day it will be a joyful day to Believers Look up saith Christ lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh Luke 21. 28. And therefore comfort one another your Witness is in Heaven and your Record is on high as Iob speaks God Christ Angels Conscience will all be on your side Aye but if this feigned process be not observed some mens notions will fall to the ground Aye and let them fall no matter how soon for they are not grounded upon the Word of God that endureth for ever Brethren we must not draw Schemes and Models from our own Brain and when we have done impose them upon God and make his proceedings in every particular exactly to suit the methods of Humane Judicatures The natural notion of these things is so strong in some mens heads that it doth carry them out beyond the line of the Gospel Good works certainly do best furthest off from the judgment seat of God. They are good and comfortable evidences here but they will make but a sorry Righteousness there for us to plead Though God may and will take notice of all the fruits of his Grace appearing in our words or works when he passeth the solemn declaratory Sentence at the last day which is but a fuller manifestation of our justification God will personally and publickly own that which he hath secretly in our Consciences done by his Word and Spirit in us God doth now act mediately by his word then he will act immediately by himself we shall hear the sentence of our Justification from his own mouth which now we hear only from the mouths of his Ministers that speak to us in his name Secondly The second ground they go upon is this they say that it is a conditional service imposed upon us by God in the new Covenant and therefore the performance of it must needs be part of our Justifying Righteousness which is very specious and very suitable to Humane Reason as most things are that contradict the Mysteries of the Gospel but it is of like sound and significancy with the other Alas At how little a hole will self-Righteousness creep in How apt are we in the pride of our hearts to distinguish our self-Righteousness into our Justification that we may have somewhat whereof to glory To prevent mistakes I will premise one thing that is this I do not deny but that to believe in God in Christ is an eminent piece of service a great act of Divine Worship the greatest act of Worship we can perform to God on this side Heaven But I deny that it is a service done in order to the procuring or purchasing those benefits which we receive from Christ as his free gift Faith receives what Christ hath already procured Faith doth not come to Christ to desire him to dye for us but having dyed for us it comes for the fruit of his death It comes on no other Errand but to receive what is already prepared Faith hath no causality or efficiency at all in contriving compassing constituting the great act of Grace wherein the pardon of our sin and our justification is held forth unto us Our Faith did not move God to promise pardon but finding all this Grace in Jesus Faith applyes it lays hold on it and God gives us leave nay commands us to do this So that Faith is a service we owe to God by way of duty in complyance with his free Grace towards us but it is not a service done by us in way of procuring that which is freely given No no we owe that to Christ and not to Faith. Brethren In common acceptation when we say come to me and I will do this and that for you pray who is the doer he that comes to have the thing done or he that doth it Certainly if coming be a service in this case it is a service done to a Mans self and can never be urged as a service done to God. But they further say that this is a conditional service Why Because God hath commanded us to believe that we may be justified Commanded us to believe and pray what is that I told you before the meaning of an act of Faith even to renounce our own Righteousness to come in our nakedness and poverty to Christ without Money or without Moneys worth that we may be enriched by him in all things Is not this the old honest plain down-right notion of believing And is this the Conditional service required Why don't you do it then Who is against it Only let them attend to the sense of Faith and not be carried away with the meer word and talk of Faith as their own act never regarding the inward sense and signification of the thing it self Hath God required us to believe in Jesus let us know what that means and do it no body is against it If that be the Conditional service let them lye low before God and seem more vile in their own eyes and cast themselves upon Christ for all Let them learn to come without Money This is the proper Obedience of Faith that Obedience which the Doctrine of the Gospel doth require and since you will call this a condition I say why don't you perform it Is this the performance of such a condition of believing according to the sense and meaning of believing to tell the World that Christ is not our only Justifying Righteousness that we must seek for something in our selves to joyn with him if ever we will be saved Is this the condition Doth God mean this when he bids me believe in Jesus Sirs Let us not read our Bibles backwards wresting Scripture to our own destruction It is strange to me that Faith which is all along in Scripture opposed to Works in our Justification and is appointed by God to shut all good works out of Justification should be thus made an inlet to bring all good works into Justification Oh! That we were more under the powerful actings of true Justifying Faith it would then open it self more fully
Law as killing another I speak this to shew how legal convictions may hurry a man from one sin to another but they never lead him into a constant setled way of true Holiness whence I infer that Convictions purely legal will never work Repentance unto Life How Repentance unto Life is wrought by the Gospel Because God hath appointed the Gospel to be the means of Repentance Luk. 24. 47. Rom. 16. 25 26. to the Glory of his Free Grace as Justice is glorified in the Damnation of an impenitent sinner so Grace is glorified in his Conversion Evangelical Repentance is from a Discovery of Gods Love and Free Grace His goodness leads us to Repentance Rom. 2. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 9. Psal. 130. 4. A true Penitent fears least he should miss of Mercy and come short of it he rejoyces at the good News of the Gospel begins to lift up his head in some expectation of a blessed Redemption he serves God chearfully being perswaded that his Duties and Services will be pleasing to him and accepted by him for Christ sake Psal. 130. 4. Hos. 6. 1 2. a sence of love and mercy quicken up a drooping trembling sinner to return unto God the Prodigal remembred what a kind Father he had Luk. 15. 18. 't was Pauls Argument Rom. 12. 1. 2 Cor. 7. 1. 'T is a sad thing that the Grace of the Gospel which is intended to keep men from Despair should be some be made an encouragement to presumption God forbid we should continue in Sin because Grace abounds 2. The Grace of the Gospel is not only an appointed Means but is in its own nature a fit means to work repentance suited and adapted to that end the goodness of God leads us to repentance the Schoolmen tell us that amor est congregativus and they give this reason for it because it does congregate and gather in our roving scattered thoughts from those various lesser Objects after which they go fixing our Minds upon God the only soul-satisfying Object Love is conciliative when God doth through Faith let in any sense of his intended grace towards sinners the heart melts under it a sinner does not repent that he may believe but because he does believe something of the Love of God to sinners in Christ Jesus some inkling of this is come to his ear hath touched his very heart before ever he sets upon repentance and now he can hold no longer the love of Christ constrains him great is the power of Love when it commends it self to us in some signal expressions of kindness to our visible advantage and benefit 3. Because Christ gives repentance Act. 5. 31. he purchased this and all other graces for us by dying for us he not only obtained pardon of Sin in our Justification but all inherent Graces in the Saints come from Christ he procured them for us he works them in us his sufferings being not only satisfactory for sin but meritorious of grace to be bestowed upon us though the Law can't sanctify a sinner yet Christ can and 't is an act of special grace towards us when he doth but he will first satisfie the Law and Justice of God that being brought under grace by our free Justification we may answer to the Law of grace in our sanctification denying all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts living soberly and righteously here below as the redeemed of the Lord ought to do the Law commands perfect Obedience but in case of Failure the Gospel Promises Faith and Repentance Zach. 12. 10. Acts 11. 18. 4. Because God hath annexed a quickning Spirit to the Gospel to make way for his Grace and to give it a prevailing efficacy in the Hearts of men they are drawn by the loving kindness of God and cannot resist it the Spirit opens the Mystery of the Love of God in Christ and so charms the Soul with it that it is impossible to withstand the allurements of it 5. Because the ways and means of bringing a sinner to life are all supernatural the Law speaks nothing of this the Law never puts us upon any thing that is supernatural I mean that originally was so to man in his perfect state for then it had been quite above the reach and capacity of Mans Understanding but God suited his Law to those inbred Notions and Principles of Truth that were concreated in us the way of salvation through Faith and Repentance being supernatural we must apply our selves to the Gospel to know this 3. The necessary Connection that is between Evangelical Repentance and saving Faith. I prove it thus 'T is so in the first production of Repentance and in all the subsequent acts of Repentance therefore 't is alwayes so In the first production of Repentance if you consider how this was wrought by Iohns Ministry Mat. 3. and Luk. 3. these two things will evidently appear First That Repentance alwayes presupposes Faith. Secondly That Repentance rises out of Faith. And how I will clear up this by a brief Paraphrase upon those words Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand Iohn is brought in inviting sinners to Repentance the Argument he uses is plainly this God is inclined to Pardon you therefore Repent I come as a forerunner to prepare the way that by bringing you the first newes of Gods intended grace and favour towards you I might soften and mollify your hearts and dispose you to a ready thankful acceptance of Christ this offer of Grace is called the Kingdom of Heaven because it is inclusive of all the happiness that Heaven can afford all good comes along with Pardoning Grace I see says Iohn you are all lying under the sad damning circumstances of your own sins in a very woful miserable condition compassed about with Hell and Death with horror and darkness all things round about you look very black and dismal I am come to put you into a better state to offer you a Kingdom which will shortly appear in all its Glory 't is at hand 't is coming toward you Heaven it self is come to look after you to lend a helping hand to lift you out of this horrible Pit before it shut its mouth upon you see that you refuse not this grace that you put not from you the word of the Gospel least you judge your selves unworthy of Eternal Life as Acts 13. 46. i. e. it will as plainly appear to be so as if it had been so declared in open Court upon a fair hearing of your Cause if Heaven and Earth were to sit in Judgment upon you they would conclude you most unworthy of Everlasting Life and by putting the word from you you have in effect passed this judgement upon your selves or you have done that now which your own Consciences will so interpret at the last day they will then tell you you might have had life and pardon but would not you would not come to Christ that you might have life therefore your damnation is just you deservedly