Except]

THis Except is without exception, for unless we are new born, there is no going to Heaven: before we live here we are born, and before we live there we are new born; as no man comes into this world, but by the first birth, so impossible it is that any should go to Heaven in another world, but by the se­cond birth: And this gives us the necessity of Regeneration.

Except a man be new born, Doct. he can never be saved. It is our Saviors speech, and he confirms it with a double asseveration, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Twice verily, which we finde not any where but in S. Johns Gospel, Rupert. in loc. and no where in the Gospel so oft as on this argument: how then should we disbelieve this truth, where we have such a witness as Christ, such a testimony as his Verily, verily, I say unto thee?

Again, God the Father thus counsels, not onely Nicodemus, but all the Jews of the old Church, Ezek. 18.31. saying, Make you a new heart, and a new spirit, for why will you dye, O house of Israel? Ezek. 18.31. Notwithstanding all their priviledges (for they are Is­raelites, Rom. 9.4. to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the Co­venants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the [Page 3]promises, Rom. 9.4.) Yet here is one thing necessary, Vuum necessa­rium. that must crown all the rest; they must have a new heart, and a new spirit, that is to say, they must be new born, or there is no way but death; from which death see how the Lord pulls them with his cords of love, alluring, wooing, questioning, Why will ye dye, O house of Israel?

And yet again, not onely the Son and the Father, Revel. 2.17. but the Holy Ghost too will avouch this truth; He that hath an ear, Rev. 3.12.13. let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches; Mos erat an­tiquis niveis atris (que) lapillis his damnare reos, illis ab­solvere paena. Metamorphos. l. 15. Hunc macrine diem numera meliore lapillo. Pers. Sat: s [...] ­cunda. Aretius in loc. 1 Cor. 5.17. And what's that? To him that overcometh — will I give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written: yea, I will write upon him New Jerusalem, and I will write upon him my new name, Revel. 2.17. and 3.12. The meaning is, he that is new born, and so overcomes sin Gods Spirit will give him his grace, the white stone, and his Kingdom, the new Jerusalem, and a new name, the name of filia­tion (saith a Modern) whereby truly he is called the new born Son of God. See here how old things being done away, all things are become new; by a new birth man hath got a new name, a new inheritance: and therefore as the Spirit, so the new birth is called a fire, that purgeth away dross, and makes souls bright and new, so that we must pass thorow this fire, or no passage into Pa­radise.

Nor is this Doctrine without reason or ground.

For, Except by the second birth, man is first unholy, Heb. 12.14. and therefore most unfit to enter into Heaven: Without holiness no man shall see God, Heb. 12.14. And what is man before he is new born? if we look upon his soul, we may see it deformed with sin, defiled with lust, outraged with passions, overcarried with affections, pining with envy, burthened with gluttony, boyling with revenge, transported with rage, and thus is that Image of God transformed to the ugly shape of the Devil: Or should we take a more particular view, every faculty of the soul is full of in­iquity; the understanding understands nothing of the things of God, 1 Cor. 2.14. the will wills nothing that is good, 1 Cor. 2.14. Rom. 6.20. Gal. 5.17. Rom. 6.20. the affections affect nothing of the Spirit, Gal. 5.17. In a word, the understanding is darkned, the will enthralled, the affections disordered, the memory defiled, the conscience benummed, all the inner man is full of sin, and there is no part that is good, no not one. But what say we of the body? sure that is nothing bet­ter, [Page 4]it is a rotten carrion, altogether unprofitable, and good for nothing; should we view it in every part and member of it? the head contrives mischief, the eyes behold vanity, the ears let in sin, the tongue sends out oaths: Come we lower, the heart lodg­eth lusts, the hands commit murther, the feet run to evil, all the senses are but so many matches to give fire to lusts, deceits, en­vies, and what not? How needful now is a new birth to a man in this case? Can he enter into heaven, that savours all of earth? Will those precious gates of gold and pearls open to a sinner? No, he must first be new moulded, and sanctified, or he is except­ed; Except a man be new born.

Secondly, Except] This, and man, is Gods enemy; no grea­ter opposition than betwixt God and a sinner: Consider we him in his essence, or in his attributes? in his essence he is called Jehovah, both in respect of his being, and of his promises; in re­spect of his being, and so God is contrary to sin; for sin is ataxy, disorder, confusion, a not-being; and God is order, perfection, holiness, an absolute and a simple being: in respect likewise of his promises, wherein there is a main opposition to sin; for how­soever he promiseth a reward to the regenerate, and so the name Jehovah is a golden pledge unto us, Psal. 11.6. that if we repent, he will for­give us; yet withal he promiseth storms and tempest, fire and per­dition to the unregenerate: and thus his name and nature is alto­gether opposite to sin and sinners. But view we those attributes of God, I mean his Justice, truth, patience, holiness, anger, power: his Justice, in punishing the impenitent according to his deserts, his truth effecting those plagues which he hath spoken in his time, his patience forbearing sins destruction, till they are grown full ripe, his holiness abhorring all impurities, He cannot behold iniquity, his anger stirring up revenge against all offered injuries, his power mustring up his forces, yea all his creatures a­gainst his enemies; and what can we say, but if all these attri­butes are at enmity with sinful man, woe worth to man because of offences! better he had never been born, then not to be new born; alas! what shall become of him? Can he that is Gods ene­my see God in his glory? no, there is no way but one, Except he repent, Except] he be born again.

Thirdly, Ephes. 2.12. 1 Cor. 5.17. Except] by a new birth, man is without Christ; for If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: And if he be not in [Page 5]Christ, what hopes of that man? It is onely Christ that opens Heaven, it is onely Christ that is the Way to Hea­ven; besides him there is no Way, no Truth, no Life; and if we be in him, as the branch in the vine, it is of necessity that we bring forth good fruit: Upon these terms his death is effectual, if we become new creatures; or other­wise, all his Merits (his blood that was shed, his body that was crucified, his soul that was agonized) they are nothing unto us, we nothing bettered by them: he dyed for all, but his death is not applyed, his Kingdom is not opened, save onely unto them that have learned and practised this rule of Exception: Except] a man be born again.

Fourthly, Except before Excepted, a man is a very limb of Satan, a childe of darkness, and one of the Family of Hell. Consider this, ye that are out of the state of Grace, in what miserable thraldom is your souls? Should any call you servants, or slaves of Satan, you would take it highly in disdain; but take it as you please, if you are not regenerate, you are in no better case. Paul appeals to your own knowledge, Rom. 6.16, 23. Know you not that to whomsoever you give your selves as servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey? Rom. 6.16, 23. If then ye obey the Devils suggestions (which you do being unborn) what are you but the Devils servants? And if he be your Master, what is you wages? You may see it in the last verse, The wages of sin is death; death of the body, and death of the soul, death here, and death hereafter in Hell fire. Alas, that Satan should have this power on man! that he who is the enemy, and means nothing to a sinner but death and damnation, should be his Lord, and Tyrannize it over him at his own will and pleasure! Would any man be hired to serve Lyons and Tygers? 1 Pet. 5.8. And is not the Devil a roaring Lyon, walking about, and seeking whom he may devour? To serve him that would devour his servant, is a most mi­serable bondage; and what pay can one expect from De­vils, but roaring and devouring, and tearing souls? In this plight are the servants of Corruption, slaves of Satan, so I rightly call them; for, Of whomsoever a man is overcome, 2 Pet. 2.19. even unto the same is he in bondage, 2 Peter 2.19. To winde [Page 6]up this point; Lord, who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle? who shall rest in thy Holy Mountain? If we believe David, Not he that slandereth with his tongue, or doth evil to his Neighbor, Psa. 15.1, 3, 5.—Or giveth his money upon Ʋsury, or taketh a reward against the innocent: No, such are servants of Satan, and here is matter of Exception against them; Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And if the New Birth be thus necessary; Ʋse. how should we Thus is the language of God; I said, Behold me, to a nation that was not called by my Name, Isa. 65.1. labor to be born again? I mean not as Nicodemus, to enter into our mothers womb again, and be born; It is not the seed of man in the womb of our Mother, but the seed of Grace in the womb of the Church, that makes us blessed: and if we are thus born by Grace, then are we sanctified, made Sons of God, Heirs with Christ, over whom Satan can have no power at all. Now then, as you tender your souls, and desire Heaven at your ends, Thus whilest the Minister speaks its Christ comes with power in the word, Eze. 18.31. endeavor to attain this one thing necessary: Pray, because God bids you pray, it may be he will come in when you pray. When Simon Magus was in the gall of bitterness, Peter bid him pray Act [...] 8 22. Lift up your hearts un­to God, that you may be washed, justified; sanctified in the Name of the Lord Jesus; and that by the Spirit of God you may walk in new ways, talk with new tongues, as be­ing new creatures, created unto good works. Thus would you Not that we can wait by a power of our own, but he that saith, Therefore will the Lord wait, that be may be gracious to you, Isa. 30.18. He draws, and gives a power to wait on him, and he comes in when he hath waited the fittest time. wait on God in his way, I trust the Lord in mercy would remember you, and his Spirit would blow upon you. and then you would finde and feel such a change within you, as that you would bless God for ever, that you were thus born again: Otherwise, how woful are you, consider­ing this bar in heavens door, to keep out the unregenerate. Except] Except a man be born again, he cannot see the king­dom of God.

Thus far of the Exception; we now come to the Person, that [Page 7]is a Nisi prius in the front, Except: This is the party that must prosecute the cause, a man.

A man]

ANd this man] is every man, and every part of man: It implyes all men, for all are bound to it, and all man; for all the parts of his body, and all the powers of his soul are to be renewed, or he cannot be saved: The word then is general, whe­ther we respect genera singulorum, the kindes, all men; or singula generum, the Individuums, all man, or all the parts of man, body and soul.

We will first begin with the kindes: Doct. 1 All men (or all mankinde) must be regenerated before they be saved; not one of all the sons of Adam that shall ever go to heaven, except he be born again: may your contemplations (guided by Gods word) go into that Paradise above, there walk the streets, behold the towers, view the subjects, from the one end of heaven to another, and whom finde you there? Not one that lives and dyes in sin; there is not in it, nor shall enter into it any thing that defileth, Rev. 21.27. neither what­soever worketh abomination, or maketh a lye, Revel. 21.27. yet if such repent them of their sins, the gates shall not be shut against them, all the Saints that now walk in the light of it, were sinners; but first they were purged by the Lamb, and sanctified by the Spi­rit; first they were regenerated, and so they were saved.

You may object, If all men that go to heaven must be new born, what shall become of infants, that dye ere they be born? Can a man enter the second time into his mothers womb, and be born? (said Nicodemus) But can a man enter into the second birth in his mothers womb (say you) and be born again, before he is once born?

I answer [to be born again] supposeth to be once born in­deed; therefore according to the letter, our Savior speaketh of a man already born into the world, that he must be born again: But if we seek out the sense [to be born again] (as our Savior interprets) is to be born of water and of the Spirit; and so may Infants not born into the world be born again. Ierem. 1.5. Thus we read of Jeremy, The word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Before I [Page 8]formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, Jer. 1.5. And thus we read of John the Baptist, the Angel of the Lord saying of him, that He should be filled with the Holy Ghost, Luk. 1.15. even from his mothers womb, Luk. 1.15. By these examples we see what the Lord can do; yea, what he doth indeed, although we know not how, nor can it be observed by us.

You may yet object, [to be born again] is (saith our Savi­or) [to be born of water and of the Spirit:] now water is the outward Baptism, and the Spirit is the inward grace (thus Quindecem patres proposuit Bellarminus. Tomo secundo lib. 2. de effectu Sacra­mentorum. cap. 3. Hook. Eccles. Polit. l. 5. sect. 59. all Ancients have construed this text, saith Hooker) but children not born (howsoever they are sanctified by the Spirit) they cannot be baptized with water, and therefore they cannot see the King­dom of God.

I answer: In cases of extremity, or impossibility, if actual Ba­ptism be wanting, vocal is enough, and thus far some of our adver­saries grant us; Aquin. 3. part. quaest. 68. art. 2. Though it be wanting indeed (saith Aquinas) yet Baptism in desire is sufficient to salvation: And to this end he cites Austin, saying, Sanctification may be without Baptism, and Baptism without Sanctification; if Sanctification be, though Ba­ptism be not, it avails to salvation; but if Baptism be, and Sancti­fication be not, it avails nothing at all. Our conclusion is this, All men (or all mankinde) yong men and maidens, old men and children, Psal. 148.12. all must be regenerated, or they can never see the King­dom of God.

Secondly, Doct. 2 as all men, so all man] all the members of his bo­dy, all the faculties of his soul. Sanctification (if saving) must be perfect and entire, though not in respect of degrees, yet in respect of parts; every part and power of body and soul must have its part of sanctification, though no part his full perfection, before the dissolution of our earthly tabernacles: Hence (say Divines) there is a regeneration or sanctification (it is all one) inchoata and consummata; inchoata, begun in this life, consummata, per­fected in that other: and of this saith our Savior, Matth. 19.28. Verily I say unto you, Matth. 19.28. that ye which have followed me in the rege­neration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel: we speak not of this Regeneration, but of that which brings to this, for we must be regenerated here, or have no part there with God in his glory.

And should we consider man in his parts, every part must bear a part in this birth; his body must be regenerated, his soul must be re­newed: we will begin with the body; As you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity, Rom. 6.19. even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness, Rom. 6.19. As every member of the old man is full of sin, so e­very member of the new born man is to be renewed by grace: To instance in some of them; The heart, Matth. 15.19. that in the old man is full of evil thoughts, murthers, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false wit­ness, blasphemies; in the new man it is the member that must first be renewed, here grace first seats it self, and after is dispersed over all; as in natural generation the heart is first framed, so in spiritual regeneration the heart is first reformed. Some call it the first mover of all mens actions, for as the first mover carrieth all the sphaeres of heaven with it, so doth the heart carry all the members of the body with it: and therefore it is, that the new man begins first with his heart; for if that fountain be right, all the streams of his desires, purposes, affections, speeches, actions, conversations, run sweet, and clear, and pleasant. Again, the eye that in the old man is the Broaker, that goes between the heart and the object, to make up the sinful bargain, Matt. 6.23. 2 Pet. 1.14. Iob. 31.1. that which our Sa­vior calls an evil eye, S. Peter, an adulterous eye; in the new man it must be exercised on other objects, I made a covenant with mine eye (saith Job) why then should I think upon a maid? I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills (saith David) from whence cometh mine help. Again, the ear, Psal. 121.1. Psal. 58.5. that in the old man is stopped against the voyce of the Charmer, charm he never so wisely; or if it be open, like Deaths Porter, it lets in sin and Satan at every occasion; in the new man it must be the gate of life, or the door of faith; there­fore there is not a member that the devil more envieth than the ear, as we see in the man possessed with a deaf Devil, Mark 9.25. Mar 9.25. who possessed that sence, as the most excellent, to hinder him from hearing. Again, the tongue, Iam. 3.6. that in the old man is a world of iniquity, that defileth the whole body, that setteth on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire on hell; Psal. 45.1. in the new man it must be the trumpet of divine praise, or (as David calls it) the pen of a ready writer, uttering onely those things which the heart enditeth in sincerity and truth. To sum up all in one, the heart is it, where grace begins first, and is felt last; and therefore saith God, Son, [Page 10]give me thy heart, Prov. 23.26. Psal. 51.10. Prov. 23.26. and therefore prays David, Create in me a new heart, Psal. 51.10. and therefore wills So­lomon, Prov. 4.23. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life, Prov. 4.23. Would any man that is regenerate encoun­ter sin in his heart, it were impossible to break out into action; would the heart of any man that is born again, but meet sin with this Dilemma, If I commit this sin, I must either repent, or not repent for it; if I do repent, it will cost me more heart-break, and spiritual smart, then the sensual pleasure can be worth; If I never repent, it will be the death and damnation of my soul: sure this thought conceived, and rightly followed in the heart of the regenerate, would be enough to crush sin at the first rising of it; and so it is, for if he be regenerate, he doth not sin, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, 1 Ioh. 3.9. Consuetudina­liter, delectabi­liter, servili­ter, & illucta­biliter 1 Thess. 5.23. Rom. 12.1. 1 Joh. 3.9. He is moulded anew, and all the members of his body are conformed to the soveraign­ty and rule of grace, yea his body is preserved blameless, holy, ac­ceptable unto God; it is a member of Christ, the temple of the Holy Ghost: Happy man that is blest with this body! Sure a man thus born again, he shall see the kingdom of God.

Secondly, as the body, so the soul of this man is to be renewed by grace; 1 Cor. 6.15, 19. 1 Cor. 6.20. Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit, (saith St. Paul, 1 Cor. 6.20.) the body and the spirit must both glorifie God; and as all the parts of the body, so all the powers of the soul.

First, Ephes. 4.18. the understanding, that in the old man is blinde and ig­norant about heavenly things, or howsoever it may know many things, Revel. 3.18. yet never can attain to saving knowledge; in the new man it must be anointed with the eye-salve of the Spirit, in­spired with the knowledge of Divine truths, especially with those sacred and saving mysteries which concern the kingdom of God. Again, the will that in the old man affects nothing but vile and vain things, is froward and perverse in the ways of godli­ness; Rom. 12.2. in the new man it must prove and approve what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God; yea, it must attend and be subordinate to the grace of God, Phil. 5.13. sith God indeed, and God onely works in us both the will and the deed, Phil. 2.13. Again, the memory that in the old man is slippery in the things of God, or if naturally good, yet not spiritually useful, in the new man it must be sanctified to good performances; and although it cannot [Page 11]encrease to a greater natural perfection (for grace doth not this) yet the perfections it hath must be straight, and right, and guided to God-ward, Remember the Lord thy God, saith Moses, Deut. 8.18. Again, Deut. 8.18. the conscience that in the old man sleeps and slum­bers, or if it be awake, tears and roars, as if a legion of Devils now possessed it; in the new man it must be calm and quiet, and yet not sleep or slumber, but rather in a friendly loving maner check and control wheresoever sin is, yea never be quiet, till with kinde and yet earnest expostulations, it draw the sinner before God to confess his fault, and to seek pardon for it. Again, the affections that in the old man are sensual, inordinate, bewitched, and set on wrong objects; in the new man they must be turned another way. Mary Magdalene (you know) was given to unclean lusts, but the Lord diverted this sinful passion, and so she became penitent, and thirsted after grace: To sum up all, all must be renewed, the undestanding, will, memory, conscience, affections.

First, I say, Col. 3.10. in the new man the understanding must be renewed; so the Apostle, The new man is renewed in know­ledge, Col. 3.10. and this knowledge implyes two habits, Col. 1.9. Sapientiam & Prudentiam. Wisdom and Prudence, Col. 1.9. First, Wisdom, and that is speculative: Secondly, Prudence, and that is practical: By the one the childe of God having the eyes of his minde opened and illightned, doth see the mysteries of salvation, the secrets of the Kingdom, the whole Councel, and the wonders of the Law of God; by the other he is enabled with a judicious sincerity, to deliberate and determine in cases of conscience, in the practice of piety, and the experimental passages of a Christi­an man: Sapientiam. If we consider the first (Wisdom) how is it possible that a man unregenerate should know the mysteries of salvation? It may be he may go as far as the power of natural discourse, and light of Reason can bear sway, he may be furnished with store of rare and excellent learning, and yet for all this want the true knowledge of spiritual wisdom: Why so? Be­cause [Page 12]all his knowledge, like the light of the Moon, is discharged upon others, but never returns and reflects upon his own soul; he should know, but knows not the darkness of his own under­standing, the disorder of his own affections, the slumber of his own conscience, the deadness of his own heart; but the man regenerate (know he never so little) he hath the saving-know­l [...]dge, and in this he exceeds the greatest Rabbies, the profoundest Clerks; he onely knows God with a stedfast apprehension, he onely knows himself a most mean, base and contemptible thing; his new birth hath learned him how wicked a creature he natu­rally is, and therefore in that respect is he odious to himself, and loathsom in his own eyes: Or if we consider the second (Prudence) How is it possible that a man unregenerate, Prudentiam. should experimentally know the practice of piety in a Christian course? Should we instance in this mystery of Regeneration; Here is one Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and a teacher of Israel; yet, as learned as he was, if he confer with Christ about the salvation of his soul, he is strangely childish, and a meer in­fant; tell him of the new birth, and he thinks it as impossible, as for an old man to return into his mothers womb, and be born again: The natural man cannot discern the operations of grace, he knows not that dark and fearful passage, which leads from the state of nature (through strange terrors and torments of soul) into the rich and glorious happiness of the kingdom of Christ; whereas on the contrary, the regenerate man (that hath had the experience of the power of godliness upon his own soul) he can see and judge of the light of grace, he can taste and rellish of the fruits of the Spirit; and hence it is, that many a silly one (man and woman) whom the worldly-wise pass by with scorn and contempt, are often in spiritual affairs more wise and learned then the learnedst Doctors.

Secondly, Rectitudinem Promptitudi­nem. the Will must be renewed; and this will of the regenerate contains two things, Rightness and Readiness: It is first rectified, when it is conformed to the will of God. Secondly, it is so inflamed with the love of goodness, that wil­lingly he pursues it with alacrity of spirit. If we consider the first (the Rectitude of the will) we see by experience the will of the unregenerate is all out of course, Rectitudinem. he wills nothing but that which is evil: How should he, considering his want of [Page 13]Gods image, his blindeness of heart, his proneness to evil, to­gether with the vehemency of his affections, which draw the will after them, and trouble the judgement? But in the man that is regenerate, the will being moved, it afterwards moves it self, Gods grace that concurs with it, quickens it, and revives it; so that now his will is nothing but Gods will: if it may appear that God bids him, or forbids him to do this, or that he chooseth above all to follow his commands, whatsoever becomes of him; why, this is the very heart and marrow of regeneration; you may be sure, the man that chooseth above all to please God, Promptitudi­nem. is the onely man of God, and shall be rewarded by God. Or if we consider the second (the Readiness of the will to God) alas, the will of the unregenerate hath no pleasure in goodness, he un­derstands not the sweetness of it, Iob 21.14. and therefore nothing is more irksom to him then the ways of godliness: whereas on the con­trary, the will of the regenerate is willing, and this willingness indeed is the perfection of his will; yea (if we can say more) it is the highest degree of his perfection in this life, to be willing to do good.

Thirdly, the memory must be renewed; and this memory re­flects occasionally on a double object, on God, Deum & Dei verbum. and the things of God: First, on God, by remembrance of his pre­sence every where: Secondly, on the things of God, by calling them to minde at useful times. If we consider the first object, God, the unregenerate hath no minde on God, Deum. Psal. 10.4. God is net in all his thoughts, like the hood-winkt fool, that seeing no body, thinks no body sees him; so hath he said in his heart, Job 22.13, 14. How doth God know? can he judge thorow the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him that seeth not, and he walketh in the circuit of heaven. But contrariwise, the regenerare man, Eccles 12.1. he remembers his Creator in the days of his youth. And though God, as being a Spirit, is (in some sort) absent from his senses, yet by vertue of his sanctified memory (that makes things absent as present) his eye is on God, and he considers God as an eye-witness of all his thoughts, and words, and doings, and dealings; he knows nothing can be hid from that all-seeing eye, though sin tempt him with the fairest opportunities of night and darkness, yet still he remembers, if his eye sees nothing, all those eyes of heaven (of God and of his Angels) are ever about him: and therefore he [Page 14]answers the Tempter, How dare I sin to his face, that looks on me what I am doing? if I dare not do this folly before men, how dare I do it before those heaven-spectators, God and his Angels? Or if we consider the second object (the Word of God) the un­regenerate never burthens his memory with such blessed thoughts; Dei verbum. if sometimes he falls upon it, it is either by constraint, or by ac­cident, never with any setled resolution to dwell on it, or to follow it: Luke 2.51. Psal. 119.11. but the soul that is regenerate, with Mary, keeps all these things in his heart; or with David, gives it out, Thy word have I hid in my heart, Psal. 119.11. Whatsoever lessons he learns, like so many jewels in a casket, he lays them up safe, and then as need serveth, he remembers his store, and makes all the good use of them he may: I will not deny, but any man (good or evil) may retain good things according to that strength of retain­ment, which nature affords him, but the regenerate (whose me­mory onely is sanctified) whatsoever he retains, he hath it op­portunely at hand; in tentation or affliction he remembers and applyes, and so remembring to apply, and applying that he re­members, he is thereby inabled to resist evil, or to follow those good things which the Lord hath commanded.

Fourthly, the conscience must be renewed, and that two ways; Ad bonum, or a malo. either by drawing the soul to good, or from evil: first, to good, by inclining and incouraging; and secondly, from evil, by restraining and bridling. If we consider its first office (in that it draws and leads the soul to good) I confess the unregenerate is not of that conscience, Ad bonum. for the most part his conscience lies dead in his bosom, or if it stir sometimes, he labors all he can to smother it in his waking: to such an one should men and Angels preach, yet so far is he bewitched with sin, that he hath no minde of goodness, or if ever he do any good act (which is a rare thing with him) it is not out of conscience to do good, but for some sinister end or respect. It is otherwise with the regenerate, his conscience incites him to good, and he doth good out of conscience; he stands not upon terms of pleasure or profit, but his conscience being guided by the rule and square of Gods holy truth, he submits to it meerly out of his obedience to God: hence it is, that come what will come, weal or wo, his eye is fixt on God, and if man oppose where God commands, he is quickly resolved out of that in Isaiah 51.12. Isa. 51.12. I, even I am he that com­forteth [Page 15]you; who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall dye, and of the son of man that shall be made as grass? and forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? Or if we consider the second office of conscience (in drawing the soul from evil) the unregenerate either hears not, A malo. or heeds not his reclaiming conscience: if it speak, he first goes about to lull it asleep again, or if it cry out, and will not peace, then (in spight of goodness) he runs out of one sin into another, and usually from presum­ption to despair. On the other side, the regenerate hath a con­science that draws him from, and keeps him out of evil: 'tis known especially by these two properties, Remorse and Tender­ness: remorse hath an eye of all sins past, and tenderness hath an eye on all sins to come; by remorse is bred sorrow for sin, and loathing of sin; no sooner he considers how by his manifold sins he hath offended God, crucified Christ, grieved the holy Spirit, but his heart bleeds and breaks that he hath done so wic­kedly against so gracious a God: this sorrow for sin brings with it a loathing of sin; he cannot but hate it, that hath caused his heart break, yea he hates it, and hates the very thought of it; every look-back is a new addition of detestation, and every medi­tation makes the wound of his remorse to bleed again and again: by tenderness of conscience is bred a care and watchfulness to avoid sin to come, for no sooner is sin presented to his conscience, but he startles at its sight, and thinks on its vanity, and meditates on that strict and general account he must one day make for it; which thoughts and sin put together in the ballance, he dares not do wickedly for a world of gain: and you may observe it, this tenderness (or easiness to bleed at the apprehension of sin) is proper and peculiar to that conscience alone that is illightned, and sanctified, and purged by Christ.

Fifthly, the affections must be renewed, and that is done by set­ting them upon right objects. I shall instance in some of them, as love, hatred, hope, fear, joy, sorrow. Love I place first, which in the unregenerate man is fastened inordinately upon the crea­ture; and as one sin begets another, so on whatsoever object it fall, it begets some sin: thus the love of honor breeds ambition, love of riches breeds covetousness, love of beauty breeds lust, love of pleasure breeds sensuality: whatsoever he loves (the ob­ject [Page 16]being earthly) it brings with it some sin, and thereby (the worst of all) he wickedly prefers earth before heaven, a dung­hill before paradise, a few bitter-sweet pleasures for an inch of time, before unmixed and immeasurable joys world without end: But the regenerate man settles his love upon other objects; as he that is carnal, mindes things carnal, so he that is spiritual, loves things spiritual; no sooner is he turned (by a sound and universal change of the whole man) from darkness to light, Acts 26.18. and from the power of Satan unto God, but he presently begins to set­tle with some sweet contentment, upon the flowers of paradise, heavenly glimpses, saving graces, and his infinite love runs higher and higher, till it imbrace him that dwells in the highest, God Almighty; and how sweet is that love that casts it self wholly into the bosom of his Maker? how blessed is that man, that yearns, and melts, and cleaves, and sticks unto his gracious God? why, this is right love, and for this is the Church com­mended, Cant. 1.4. Cant. 1.4. The righteous love thee, or as others trans­late, amat in rectitudinibus, she loves thee righteously, her love is set upon the right object, Psal 119 165. 1 Thess. 5.13. God: not that the regenerate loves nothing else, for he loves the Law, the Ministers, and all the ordinances of God appointed for his good, but whatsoever he loves, it reflects upon God, he loves all for God, and God for himself.

The second affection is hatred, which in the unregenerate is so inordinate, Rom. 1.30. that he is an hater of God, Rom. 1.30. not that he hates God in himself (for God is universally good, and can­not be hated) but in some particular respect, because he restrains him from his pleasure, or punisheth him for his sin, or crosseth his lewd appetites by his holy commands: And as he hates God, so likewise his brother, 1 Iohn 2.11. 1 John 2.11. Hence arise those envies, emulations, jars, contentions amongst those that profess them­selves Christians; 1 Cor. 6.6. of which St. Paul could say, A brother goeth to law with a brother, 1 Cor. 6.6. But of all brethren he hates them most, of whom our Savior is the first-born: Gods faith­ful ones ever were, Rom. 8.29. Isa. 8.18. and ever will be signs, and wonders, and monsters unto many; a scorn, reproach and derision to them that are round about them: Psal. 71.7. Psal 79.4. But he that is regenerate hates sin, and in whomsoever sin rules or reigns, he cannot but hate them, Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? (saith David) and, Am [Page 17]not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? Psal. 139.21. Not that David, or any Saint of God, hates the person of any one, but sin in the person, or he is said to hate them for sins sake that is in them; in this respect he bids them defiance in the verse en­suing, I hate them with a perfect hatred, Verse. 22. I count them mine ene­mies, Psal. 139.22. I know there is a perpetual combate in the regenerate, betwixt the flesh and the Spirit, and therefore we must understand this hatred, which David calls a perfect hatred, according to the perfection in parts, but not in degrees: Intensivè, non extensivè. never any but Christ hated sin to the full, with all his strength, and with all his might, but in some measure his servants hatred is perfect, which makes him always hate sin in others, and often in himself, when after the commission of any evil, he begins to repent him, Iob 42.6. and to abhor himself (as Job did) in dust and ashes, Job 42.6.

The third affection is Hope (this I rather name then desire, because whatsoever we Hope for, we cannot but desire it, and so it is implyed in it) now this Hope in the unregenerate is fastened on this world, and the things of this world, he hopes for prefer­ment, riches, or the like; as for his hope of Heaven, it is but a waking mans dream; a dream, said I? Yes, Somnium vigi­lantium. as dreams in the night fill us with illusions and vain forms (you know a Beggar may dream he is a King) so hope abusing the imagination of the unregenerate, fills their souls many a time with vain or empty contentments; but the hope of the regenerate both en­joys the right object, and right means; his eye is fixt on future good, and he endeavors to pursue it, till he get the possession; if in the pursuit he meet with crosses, losses, griefs, disgraces, sicknesses, or any other calamities, his hope is able to sweeten the bitterest misery that can possibly befal him; the afflictions of this life bid him look for a better, a cross here mindes him of the glory above; and howsoever this Hope may have many difficulties and wrastlings in him (therefore it is compared to an anchor, which holds the ship in a storm, Heb. 6.19.) yet it holds and sticks so firm in God and his promises, that he is confident, that after this life an heavenly crown shall be set on his head, by the hands of God and his Angels.

The fourth affection is fear, which in the unregenerate is ei­ther worldly or servile: If it fasten on the world, then he fears [Page 18]the loss of his credit, or of his profit, and because he and the world must part at last, he fears this separation above all fears: O death (saith the wiseman) how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions, unto the man that hath nothing to vex him, and that hath prosperity in all things? Ecclus. Ecclus. 41.1. 41.1. O these thoughts of the grisly forms, and ugly face of death, of the parting from all worldly pleasures for ever, of his rotting in the grave, dragging to the Tribunal and Terror of the last day, they cannot but make his heart to shrug toge­ther for horror, and (many time) to quake and tremble like an Aspine-leaf; or if his fear reflect on God, then is it a servile fear; for as the servant or hireling works not for love of his master, but onely for fear of punishment; or as the adul­terous woman is afraid of her husband, not out of love or affection, but lest he reward her to her foul demerits; so he fears God for fear of punishment due unto him from God: It is otherwise with the man that is born again, his fear is either initial or filial in pangs of the new birth, Weems. or in the new born babe it is called initial, because then he casts away sin both out of Gods love, to which he hath partly attained, and out of the woful effects of sin, which he hath throughly considered; with the right eye he beholds God, and with the left eye he be­holds punishment; so that this fear is a middle (as it were) be­twixt servile and filial fear, and as the needle draweth in the threed, so this fear draweth in charity, and makes way for filial fear; to which, if by growth in grace he be fully ripened, then he fears God out of love to God, as the Prophet Isaiah pro­claimeth, Isa. 33.6. The fear of the Lord is his treasure, Isa. 33.6. Ne­ver was treasure more dear to the worldings, then is Gods fear to him, his love of God, his desire to please God, and his fear of being separated from God, keeps him in such awe, that though no punishment, no death, no hell were at all, yet he would not sin wickedly, wilfully and maliciously, for a world of treasures.

The fifth affection is joy, which in the unregenerate is meer­ly sensual and bruitish; it hath no better objects then gold, or greatness, or offices, or honors, or the like: and what are all these but a shadow, a ship, a bird, an arrow, a post that passeth by? or rather, as crackling of thorns under a pot, as flashes of lightning [Page 19]before everlasting fire? But the joy of the regenerate is a spiritu­all joy, and the matter of it is the light of Gods countenance, or the robe of Christs righteousness, or the promises of Gods word; or above all, God Almighty, blessed evermore: Thus David, Whom have I in heaven but thee? Psal. 73.25. and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee, Psal. 73.25. Why, this is that joy which no man can concieve, but he that enjoyes it; this is that white stone, Rev. 2.17. Revel. 2.17. whose splendor shines onely upon heavenly hearts; this is that glimpse of heavens glory, which springing up in a sanctified heart, out of the wells of salvation, and carried along with addition of fresh comforts (from the Word and Sa­craments) through a fruitful current and course of mans life, it is at last entertained into the boundless and bottomless Ocean of the joyes of Heaven. I will not say, but sometimes it may be as­saulted, and stopped with some doubts, or distrusts, or weaknes­ses of degree, yet in respect of its creation, or essence, Boltons wal­king with God. or blissful issue, it is (saith one) a very glimpse of heaven, a pure taste of the rivers of life, and first fruits (as he calls it) of everlasting joyes.

The sixth affection is sorrow, which in the unregenerate is a worldly sorrow, and the effects of it are death; so the Apostle, The sorrow of the world worketh death, 2 Cor. 7.10. 2 Cor. 7.10. In this kinde how endless are the sorrows of men for their losses, or crosses, that sometimes may befall them? And howsoever some may en­deavor to comfort them in Christ, they are so dead-hearted that nothing can perswade, nothing rellish with them that concerns heaven, or salvation. But in the regenerate, sorrow looks up to Godwards, not that the beholding of God in himself can bring sorrow to a man, for he is a most comfortable object, which made David say, The light of thy countenance — is gladness to my heart: Psal. 4.6, 7. but the beholding of sin, which hindreth from the cleer sight of that object, this is it which breeds sorrow, and this the Apostle calls godly sorrow, working repentance to salvation, not to be repent­ed of, 2 Cor. 7.10. It is not every sorrow, but godly sorrow, 2 Cor. 7.10. V. 9. I rejoyce (saith the Apostle) not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: And would you know who sorrows to repentance? it is he, and onely he that groans and sighs under the heavy weight and burthen of his sins, that is of a broken and contrite heart, that trembles at Gods word, that is grieved at his [Page 20]enormities, that forsakes all sins, and that resigns up himself in all holy obedience to Gods blessed will; this sorrow is a blessed sorrow that brings forth joy and immortality: Therefore com­fort ye, comfort ye all that mourn in Sion, what though for a night (in pangs of the new birth) you lye sorrowing and weep­ing for your sins? mark a while, and the day will dawn, ride on, because of the word of truth, and a day star will arise in your hearts that will never set; nay weep & weep again, till you can say with David, Psal. 6.6. All the night make I my bed to swim with my tears, & pre­sently the Sun of righteousness will appear, and he will dry away your tears, and shine upon you with everlasting light. Certainly thus is it with every regenerate man, he loves, and hates, and hopes, and fears, and joyes, and sorrows, and all these passions are renew­ed in him: To give instance in one, David for all the regenerate, his love appears Psal. Psal. 119.47.130.22.62 5. 119.47. My delight shall be in thy com­mandments which I have loved: his hatred appears Psal. 130.22. I hate thy enemies with a perfect hatred. His hope appears Psal. 62.5. My soul wait thou onely upon God, for my expectation is from him. 119 120.119.16.162. His fear appears Psal. 119.120. His Judgments are terrible, I tremble and quake. His joy appears Psal. 119.16. Thy Testimo­nies are my delight, I rejoyce in them as one that findeth great spoils. 119.136. His sorrow appears Psal. 119.136. Mine eyes gush out with rivers of water. Here is Love, and Hatred, and Hope, and Fear, and Joy, and Sorrow, and all are set upon their right spiritu­al objects.

And yet (beloved) I mean not so, Vse. as that a man renewed is never overcome with sin, I know there is in him a continual fight betwixt the flesh and the spirit, each of which striveth to make his part strong against the other, and sometimes Amalek [Page 21]prevails, and sometimes Israel prevails; sometimes his heart falls a lusting, his eyes a wandring, his ears a tickling, his tongue a cur­sing; sometimes his understanding errs, his will rebells, his memo­ry fails, his conscience sleeps, and his affections turn the stream after sensual objects; but (that which differs him from the unre­generate man) if he sin, it is with a gracious reluctation, he resists it to the uttermost of his abilities, and if at last he commit sin through the violence of tentation, subduing the infirmity of the flesh, he is presently abashed, and then begins he to set repen­tance a work in all the parts and powers of his body and soul; then begins his conscience to trouble him within, and will never be at quiet until the cistern of his heart (being overcharged) hath caused his eyes, the flood-gates, with moist sinful humors, to overflow the cheeks with tears of contrition, and thus he is wash­ed, justified, sanctified, and restored to his former integrity again. 1 Cor. 6.9. Examine then your selves, you that desire heaven at your ends, would you inherit the Kingdom? would you live with Angels? would you save your souls? examine and try whether your bo­dies and souls be sanctified throughout, and if you have no sense or feeling of the new birth (for 'tis a mystery to the unregenerate) then never look to see (in that state) the kingdom of God; but if you perceive the working of saving grace effectually in you, (and you cannot but perceive it if you have it) if you feel the power of godliness first seizing the heart, and after dispersing it self over all the parts and powers of body and soul: (or yet more in par­ticular) if your hearts be softned by the Spirit, if your eyes wait upon God, if your ears listen to his word, if your tongues shew forth his praise, if your understanding attain to saving knowledge, if your wills conform to the will of God, if your memories be stored with heavenly doctrine, if your consciences be tender and sensible of the least sin whatsoever, if you love that which is good, if you hate that which is evil, if you hope for the blessings above, if you fear him that can destroy both body and soul; in a word, if you joy in goodness, if you sorrow for sin, then are you born again. Happy man in this case that ever he was born, and thus every man must be, or he cannot be happy: Except a man] (every man, every part of man) be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.

Thus far of the subject, man] we come now to the act, or deed to be done, he must be born again.]

Be born again.]

THe children are brought to the birth, and lest the saying be true of us, there is no strength to bring forth: I shall now (by Gods assistance) proceed to the birth it self. 2 King. 19.3. Here we have the maner of it, and we may observe a double maner,

First, of the words containing the new birth.

Secondly, of the new birth contained in the words.

The maner of the words apears in the original [...]] two words, and either of them hath its diverse reading. [...], Valla would rather have to be genitus, begotten; Except a man be begotten.] Others usually say natus, born; Except a man be born.] And as [...], so [...], some would have to be [...], above, or from heaven; Except a man be born from above.] Others usually [...], again; Except a man be born again.] Chrysostome cites both these, and of each reading we shall gather something for our own instruction.

Except a man be regenerated, Erasm. annot. in loc. or begotten (saith Valla) As man that is born of a woman is begotten of a man, so he that is born again, Doct. must have a begetting too: and therefore sometimes it is cal­led renascentia, a new birth, and sometimes regeneratio, a new be­getting, or regeneration. If you ask of whom is the new man be­gotten? Saint Iames tells you, Jam. 1.18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth: Iam. 1.18. The former words note the impul­sive cause, these latter the instrument, it was God that begat us, and with the seed of the word.

First, God begat us, and so are we called Gods sons, born not of blood, Iohn. 1.13. nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, John 1.13. Regeneration is the work of God, and because it is a work external, it is therefore communicable to each Per­son in the Trinity: Ye are sanctified (saith the Apostle) in the name of the Lord Jesus, 1 Cor. 6.11. and by the spirit of our God, 1 Cor. 6.11. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all sanctifie, all work the same work: but as in the Godhead there is but one Essence, and yet three maners of being of the same one Essence; so in Gods outward operations, all the Persons work rem eandem, one thing, but all work not eodem modo, after one maner: For instance, the [Page 23]works of Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification, are the common works of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, yet every one of these works common to all three, are terminated in some one of them: So the 1 Cor. 8.6. Father is said to create, the Iohn 1.10. Son is said to create, the Iob 26.13. Holy Ghost is said to create; so the Father is said to redeem, the Son is said to re­deem, the Holy Ghost is said to redeem; so the Father is said to sanctifie, the Son is said to sanctifie, the Holy Ghost is said to sanctifie: Thus all three concur to every one of these works, and yet every one of these works, is terminated, specified, and form­ed (as it were) in the very last act by one of these three: The work of the Creation is determinated immediately in God the Father, the work of Redemption is determinated immediately in God the Son, the work of Regeneration is determinated immediate­ly in God the Holy Ghost. And it is memorable, that as the community of these works (ad extra) depends on the unity of Gods Essence, so the diversity of their determinations depends on the diverse maners of Gods existence, or subsisting: the Fa­ther is of himself, neither made nor begotten, and therefore it best agrees with him to make all things of nothing, which is the work of Creation; the Son is of the Father alone by reflection of his intellect, and so called the representation of his Fathers Image, and therefore it best agrees with him to represent his Fa­thers mercies to mankinde, by saving them from death and hell, which is the work of Redemption; the Holy Ghost is of the Fa­ther and the Son, proceeding (and as it were breathed) from them both by the act of the will, and therefore it best agrees with him (that bloweth where he listeth) to blow on our wills, and by his breath to purge and purifie us, which is the work of Regeneration. To sum up all in a word, this work of Regene­ration (or Sanctification, or whatever else you will call it) in re­spect of the work, it is of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but in respect of the last act, it is of the Holy Ghost, Iohn 3.6, 8. and not of the Father, nor the Son; and thus our Savior concludes, Joh. 3.8. That which is born of the spirit, is spirit, and so is every man that is born of the spirit.

Secondly, as Gods Spirit is the principal, so Gods Word is the instrumental cause of our Regeneration. Ye are born again (saith Saint Peter) not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the [Page 24]word of God, 1 Pet. 1.23. 1 Iohn 1.1. Rom. 10.17. Rom. 11.10. which liveth and abideth for ever, 1 Pet. 1.23. this word St. John calls the word of life, St. Paul the producer of faith, and the power of God unto salvation; yea this word is quick and powerful, and sharper then any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joynts and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, Heb. Heb. 4.12. 4.12. they that are born again, cannot but remember how quick, and powerful, and sharp, Gods word was at their Rege­neration: first, like an hammer it beat on their hearts till it broke them all to pieces, and then like a sword, by a terrible, cutting, piercing power, it struck a shaking and trembling into the very center of their souls; last of all like oyl (when, as the man in the Gospel, Luke 10.30. they were wounded indeed) it began to supple those wounds, and to heal the bruises, and to refresh the weak and tender heart with all the promises of God revealed in Christ.

And thus a man being begotten of the Spirit with the word of truth, he comes at last to the birth: So we read, Except a man be born.] And this I suppose to be fuller then the other, because a begetting may be, and no birth follow, as many that are stifled in the womb, are begotten, not born; but if the birth be, it doth presuppose a begetting, Doct. and so it implyes it: Except a man be born, that is, except a man be begotten and born, he cannot see Gods kingdom. If you ask of whom born? I answer, as God is Father, so the Church is the Mother of every childe of God: to this purpose saith the Apostle, Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all, Gal. 4.26. Gal. 4.26. what is Jerusalem but the Church? Psal. 122.5. for as that City was the seat of David, Psal. 122.5. so is this Church the throne of Christ, figured by the king­dom of David, Rev. 3.7. Revel. 3.7. and therefore of both these God thus proclaims, Here shall be my rest for ever, here will I dwell, for I have a delight herein, Psal. 132.14. Psal. 132.14. And rightly is the Church called our mother, first because she is the spouse of our Father, be­troathed, Hos. 2.19. Cant. 6.3. Hosea 2.19. coupled and made one, Cant. 6.3. I am my welbeloveds, and my welbeloved is mine; and secondly, because we are children born of her; this teacheth us to honor our mother, and like little children to hang at her breasts for our sustenance; Suck, Isaiah 66.11. and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations, milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. It is the Church that brings forth children to God by the ministry of his word, [Page 25]and if we are children of this mother, we must feed on that milk which flows from her two breasts, the Old and New Testament; As new born babes (saith the Apostle) desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby, 1 Pet. 2.2. In a word, 1 Pet. 2.2. out of the Church there is no salvation: who have not the Church their mother, cannot have God their Father, was the saying of old; and good reason, for out of the Church there is no means of Salvati­on, no word to teach, no sacraments to confirm, but all these, and all other means are in the womb of the Church: it is here, and here onely, where the spirit of immortal seed begets grace in the heart, and so a man is born again.

This [...]] some read [...], from heaven, Doct. ] and so the words run, Except a man be born from above] From above it is that every good & perfect gift cometh: Aman can receive nothing, Iohn. 3.27. except it be given him from heaven, Joh. 3.27. But how then saith our Savior of the wind (to which he compareth every one that is born of the Spirit) that we know not whence it cometh, and whi­ther it goeth? I answer, Vers. 8 this [whence] respects more the cause then place, we know the wind comes from the South, or North, or East, or West, but why so and so, we cannot tell; we know the Spirit is above, and the new birth or regeneration comes from the Spirit: But [...] why it is so, or what moves the Spirit to do so, besides his [...], the good pleasure of his will, we cannot tell.

Or if we read [...], as others do, Beda, & Erasm. paraph. in loc. the words then run thus, Except a man be born again.] To this Nicodemus's re­ply seems more direct, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mothers womb? No question he took Christs [...] pro [...], onely thus he mistook, that the se­cond birth should be after the maner of the first birth, and therefore he saith, Can a man that is old (such as he himself was) be born again? No, saith our Savior, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and there is but one birth after this maner; but to be born again] is to be born after the Spirit, and this is that second birth: A man is first born of the flesh, Doct. and he must be again born of the Spirit.

Hence appears the difference of the first and second birth; the first birth is of the earth, earthy; the second birth is of the Lord from heaven, heavenly; the first birth is of nature, full of sin; the [Page 26]second is of grace, full of sanctity: the first birth is originally of flesh and blood, the second birth is originally of the Spirit and water: In a word, the first birth kills, the second gives life; generation lost us, it must be regeneration that recovers us: O blessed birth, without which no birth is happy, in comparison of which (though it were to be born heir of the whole world) all is but misery! Heb. 11.24. this was Moses praise, that he esteemed the reproach of Christ above all the treasures in Egypt, rather would he be the son of God, then to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter, Heb. 11.24. No question it is a great dignity to be cal­led the son in Law to a King, 1 Sam. 18.23 Polan Syntag. l. 6. c. 37. Act. 8.37. Acts 10.47. Acts 16.14. Titus 2.5. but nothing in comparison of be­ing the Son of God: this sonship is that degree, above which there needs no aspiring, and under which there is no happiness, no heaven, no kingdom: Except a man be born again] he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Secondly, as you see the maner of the words containing the new birth, so now see the maner of the new birth contained in the words. I know it is not wrought in all after one maner, nor is the maner known to us, but onely so far forth as it is sensi­ble in us, and therefore we must consider man before baptism, in baptism, after baptism.

In some is the new birth wrought before baptism, as in the eunuch, under Candace Queen of the Aethiopians, Acts 8.37. and in the Captain Cornelius, together with his kinsmen and and near friends, Acts 10.47. and in Lydia, Acts 16.14. and so our charity tells us, that every Infant dying before baptism, is renewed by the Spirit: but the maner of this working we know not, for it is one of the secrets of the Spirit of God.

In others is the new birth wrought in Baptism, which indeed is the Sacrament of the new birth, and seal of Regeneration; but howsoever in Paedo-Baptism we see the outward seal, yet we see not, we feel not the maner of the inward working; for this also is the secret of the Bellar. Tom. 2. de Sacram. Baptism. c 10. habent fidem habitualem. See Dr. Field concerning the Author of the grounds of the old and new Religion. S. 2. Fides est in in­fantibus poten­tia & inclina­tione. Ursinus parte secunda Catechis. quest. 74. Spiritus operatur in potentiis animae ipsorum ut Bellar: ha­beut spiritum fidei. Zanch. in cap. 2. ad Ephes. spirit of God.

In others is the new birth wrought after Baptism; so Polanus: but whether after Baptism, or in Baptism, we will not dispute, onely (as the case stands with us) this I affirm, That there is no manifestation of the new birth, until after Baptism. But when after Baptism? I answer, whensoever men receive Christ by faith, which though it be many years after, yet then do they feel the power of God regenerate them, and to work all things in them, which he offered in Baptism. Now the maner of this feeling (or of Gods Spirit working) proceeds usually thus:

There be certain steps of degrees (say Divines) by which it passeth, and howsoever in those whom God hath blessed with that great favor of holy and Christian education (the Spirit of God dropping grace into their hearts, even very betimes) these steps, or degrees, are not so easily perceived: Yet in those men who have lived long in sin, whose sins have been gross, and great and grievous, no sooner come they to a new birth, but they can feel grace work in them step after step, and these steps we shall reckon to the number of eight.

The first is a sight of sin, and this our Savior reckons for the first work of the Spirit, When he is come, Iohn 16.8. he will reprove the world of sin, John 16.8. Of sin? how? why thus: no sooner begins this blessed change from nature to grace, but the consci­ence (wrought on by Gods word) opens its book, and presents to the soul a bed-roll of those many, mighty, hainous sins, com­mitted against God and man, there he may read in bloody burn­ing lines the abominations of his youth, the sins of all his life; and to bring them into method, the Commandments of God stand as a remembrancer before his eyes: the first tells him of his loving somewhat above God: the second, of his worshipping a false God, or the true God after a false maner: the third, of his dishonoring the great and mighty name of God: the fourth, of his breaking the Lords days, either in doing the works of the flesh, or leaving undone the works of the Spirit; nor is this all: as against God, so against his neighbor hath he sinned: the fifth tells him of his stubbornness and disobedience: the sixth, of his passions, and desire of revenge: the seventh, of his lewdness and lustful courses: the eighth, of his robberies and covetous thefts: the ninth, of his lyes and and slanders, back-bitings and rash judgements: the tenth, of his covetous thoughts, and mo­tions [Page 28]of the heart to all maner of evil. Good Lord! what a number of evils, yea, what innumerable swarms of lawless thoughts, and words, and actions doth he read in his conscience? But above all, his darling-delight, his beloved sin is writ in great­est characters, this he findes to have bewitched him most, and to have domineered above all the rest in his wasted conscience; this sin in some is worldliness, wantonness, usury, pride, revenge, or the like; in others it is drunkenness, gluttony, gaming, scur­ril jesting, symony, or the like; whatsoever it is, the conscience tells him of it again and again; where that he may read it toge­ther with his other sins, the Spirit of God now opens the eyes of his minde, and lets him see the very mud and filth of his soul, that lay at the bottom before unseen, and undiscerned. Thus is the first working of the new life, to wit, a feeling of the old death of his soul in sins and trespasses; and here the axiome is true, no generation without corruption, a man must first feel this death, before he is born again.]

The second step is, Sense of divine wrath, which begets in him fear; Rom. 8.15. so the Apostle, The spirit of bondage begets fear, Rom. 8.15. and thus it works: no sooner hath the man a sight and feel­ing of his sin, but then Gods Spirit (now called the spirit of bon­dage) presents to him the armory of Gods flaming wrath, and fiery indignation; this makes him to feel (as if he were pricked with the stroak of an arrow, or point of a sword, or sting of an Adder) that he is a most cursed and damnable creature, just­ly deserving all the miseries of this life, and all the fiery torments of hell in that life to come; yea, this makes him tremble, and stand, and look, as if he were throughly frighted with the an­gry countenance of God Almighty: Would you view him in this case? his conscience hath now awaked him out of his dead sensual sleep, by the Trumpet of the Law, his heart is now scorched with the secret sense of Gods angry face, his soul is now full sorely crushed under the most grievous burthen of in­numerable sins, his thoughts are now full of fear and astonish­ment, as if no less then very hell and horror were ready to seize upon his body and soul. I say not what measure of this wrath is poured on all men in their conversion; for I suppose some feel more, and some have less of it; but I verily believe, some there are that (in these pangs of the new birth) have been scorch­ed [Page 29](as it were) with the very flames of hell, insomuch that they might truly say with David, Gods wrath lieth hard upon me, Psal 88.7. and he hath afflicted me with all his waves, Psal. 88.7. And no won­der, for this is the time of fear; now it is that Satan strives bu­sily to stifle the new man in the womb, and therefore he that be­fore diminished his sins, and made them appear little or nothing in his eyes, when he once sees the man smitten down into the place of dragons, and covered with the shadow of death, Psal. 44.19. then he puts into his minde his innumerable sins, and (that which imme­diately follows) the curse of the Law, and the wrath of God, which he yet makes more grisly and fierce, with a purpose to plunge him into the bottomless pit of horror and despair. By this means he perswaded Cain to cry out (when he was in this case) My punishment is greater then I can bear; or, Gen. 4.13. as others translate, Mine iniquity is greater then can be forgiven, Gen. 4.13. And therefore thus far the unregenerate goes with the man born again, both have a sight of sin, and sense of wrath, but here they part; for the man unregenerate either sinks under it, or labors to allay it with worldly comforts, or some counterfeit calm: but the man born again, is onely humbled by it, and seeks the right way to cure it, and at last (by the help of Gods Spirit) he passeth quite through it, I mean, through this hell upon earth, into the spiritual pleasures of the Kingdom of grace, which is to be born again.]

The third step is Sorrow for sin, and this is more peculiar to Gods childe; there is a sorrow which is a common work of grace, which an hypocrite may have; and there is a sorrow which is a work of special grace, and this likewise precedes the exercise of faith.

But some object, Christ must work this sorrow, or it is good for nothing; now if Christ be in the soul working sorrow, then there is faith, therefore faith must go before sorrow.

I answer, although it is true that Christ cannot be in the soul, but in the same instant there is the habit of faith; yet it follows not that faith is before sorrow, for the habits of these graces are both together, and at once in the soul; or howsoever, it follows not that the soul is inabled by an act of faith to apply Christ to it self as soon as Christ is in the soul, or as soon as the habit of faith is infused into the soul: The question is, whether the soul in respect of us (who can onely judge of the habit by the act) [Page 30]cannot be said to have sorrow or repentance before faith? the question is not, which the soul hath first in respect of Gods gift, but which it acts first for our apprehension? Surely to us it first sorrows for sin, and then it acts or exerciseth faith by coming to Christ, and relying upon Christ for Salvation, &c. he grieves not onely because he fears he must be damned (so Cain and Judas might) but because he knows he hath de­served to be damned: this is the more especial object of his sorrow, in that he is so wicked, so sinful, so rebellious, so con­trary to God: this sin, I say, is it (wherein he was conceived, and born, wherein he hath lived, and continued) that makes him sob, and sigh, and sorrow, and mourn; and yet this sorrow is sometimes taken largely for the whole work of conversion; sometimes strictly for conviction, contrition, and humiliation; in like maner repentance is taken sometimes largely, and some­times strictly: By this distinction it may easily appear how sor­row goes before repentance, and how repentance goes before faith. Indeed, for the latter is the great controversie, but some reconcile it thus: Repentance hath two parts, the aversion of the soul from Sin, and the conversion of the soul to God; the latter part of it is onely an effect of faith, the former part of it, viz. the turning of the soul from Sin is also an effect, but not onely an effect; for it is begun before faith, though it be not ended till our life end. Some object, that God works repentance and faith together: But we dispute not how God works them, but how the soul acts them; not which is in the soul first, but which appears out of the soul first: neither is it any new thing in Philosophy to say, Those causes which produce an effect, though they be in time together, yet are mutually before one another in order of nature, in diverse respects to their several causalities. Thus a man must have repentance before he have saving and justi­fying faith; and yet a man must have faith before the work of repentance be perfect in the soul. As we maintain repentance to be a precedent work; so we deny it not to be a subsequent effect: Sorrow is before the birth too, as the Apostle intimates, 2 Cor. 2 Cor. 7.10. 7.10. Godly sorrow works repentance, that is, sorrow pre­pares a man for repentance, it goes afore it, and prepares for it. And now it is, that Gods spirit begins to renew his heart, as God himself proclaimeth, I will put a new spirit within them, and I [Page 31]will take the stony heart out of their bodies, and will give them an heart of flesh, Ezek. 11.19. Ezek. 11.19. his heart that before was hard as flint, now begins to relent, and soften, and break in pieces: Acts 2.37. How so? it is Gods Spirit that pricks the heart, and this pricking softens it, Dum pungit, ungit, saith Jorom, Hieronym. Compunction softens and supples the heart, so that be it never so stony, pre­sently it becomes an heart of flesh; you know those that are apt to weep, or yern, or sorrow, we call them tender-hearted; you may be sure then he that is prickt, till his heart bleed inwardly, he that weeps blood (which every heart doth that is prickt on this maner) sure his heart is tender indeed; I say, tender, for as the very word imports, ( [...]) his heart weeps, why? his heart is broken: David joyns these together, A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise, Psalm 51.17. Psal. 51.17. And no wonder if an heart that is broken, and rent, and wounded, and prickt, falls a weeping blood; well might David say when he was broken, Psal. 38.8. (I have wept; Psal. 38.8. nay more) I have roared for the very grief (or disquietness) of my heart: and again, My soul (or my heart) melteth (or droppeth) for very heavi­ness. Not that his heart dropt indeed, Psal. 119.28. but because the tears which he shed, were not drops of water running onely from his eyes (an onion may cause so much) but issuing from his heart; which heart being grieved, and sore grieved, it is said to be wounded; and so his tears coming from it, they may be called no less then very blood, drops of blood issuing from a wounded heart. Thus it is with the man now laboring in his new birth, his heart grieves, his eye weeps, whence the Proverb, The way to heaven is by weeping cross; the way to Gods kingdom is to cry like chil­dren coming into the world, the way to be new born is to feel throws (as a woman laboring of childe) and so is Christ formed in us. Can a man be born again without bitterness of soul? no, if ever he come to a sight of sin, and that Gods san­ctifying Spirit work in him sorrow for sin, his soul will mourn till he may say with Jeremy, Mine eye droppeth without stay — mine eye breaketh my heart, because of all the daughters of my City, because of all the sins of my soul, Lament. 3.51. True it is, Lam. 3.49, 51. as some infants are born with more pain to the mother, and some with less, so may the new man be regenerated in some with more, in some with less anxiety of travel; but more or [Page 32]less, it cannot be so little, but the man that labors in these pangs shall mourn, and mourn, There shall be a great mourning, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon, Zach. 12.11. What else? Zach. 12.11. He cannot look on a Saint, that sailed not first through the Ocean of tears, and therefore he falls on his face with Abraham, Gen. 17.17. Gen. 32.24. Iob 3. 1 Sam. 1.15. Psal. 119.136. Isa. 38.14. he wrestles with God like Jacob, he roars out his grief with Job, he pours out his soul with Hanna, he weeps rivers of tears with David, he mourns as a dove with Hezekiah, yea, like a crane, or a swallow, so doth he chatter, Isa. 38.14. O the bitter pangs and sore travel of a man, when he must be born again.

The fourth step is, Seeking rightly for comfort: He runs not to the world, or flesh, or Divel, miserable comforters all, but to Scripture, to Prayer, or to the Ministery of Gods word; if he finde comfort in Scriptures, he meets with it in the Lex ostendit peccatum, at Solum Evangelium peccati remedi­um. Aug. tract. 17. in Joh. Gospel; not the Law, but the Gospel (saith the Apostle) is the power of God to salvation, to every one that believeth, Rom. 1.16. The Law is indeed the ministery of death and damnation, 2 Cor. 3.7. but the Gospel is the glad tidings of salvation, Luk. 2.10. The Law shews a man his wretched estate, but shews him no remedy, and yet we abolish not the Law, in ascribing this comfort to the Go­spel onely; Rom. 1.16. 2 Cor. 3.7. Luk. 2.10. though it be no cause of it, yet is it the occasion of it: those doleful terrors, and fears of conscience begotten by the Law, may be in their own nature the very gates and downfal to the pit of hell; yet I cannot deny, but they are certain occasions of receiving grace; and if it please God that the man, now labor­ing in his pangs of the new birth, do but rightly settle his thoughts on the Gospel of Christ, no doubt but thence he may suck the sweetest comforts and delights that ever were revealed to man. Or if he finde comfort in prayer (to which he ever and anon re­pairs in every of these steps) then is it by Christ, in whose name onely he approacheth to that heavenly throne of grace: no sooner had the King of Niniveh humbled himself, but his proclamation runs, Ionah 3.8, 9. Let man and beast be covered with sack cloth, and cry mightily unto God, — Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? and thus the man now wrestling with the grievous afflictions and terrors of his conscience, Who can tell (saith he) if God will turn away his fierce anger? let me then cry mightily unto the Lord of heaven, let [Page 33]me cry, and continue crying, until the Lord of mercy do in mercy look upon me; and if for all this God give him a repulse, for reasons best known to himself, if at the first, second, third, fourth, or at many more times, he seem to have cryed in vain, at last he flyes to the ministery of the Word, and if he may have his will, he would hit upon the most skilful, experienced, search­ing, and sound-dealing man amongst all Gods Messengers: thus was it with Peters hearers, whose hearts being pricked, and rent with legal terrors, then could they begin to cry it out, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Act. 2.37. Act. 2.37. Thus was it with the Jaylor, who after his trembling and falling down to the ground in an humble abasement, could then begin to say, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Act. 16.30. Act. 16.30. And thus the man now ready to be born again, if he finde no means to asswage the rage and terrors of his guilty conscience, at last he comes to Gods Minister with a What shall I do, what must I do to be saved? Alas! now I feel the wounded conscience, the broken heart, the spiritual blindness, the captivity and poverty of which often you have told me; if then there be any instruction, direction or duty, which may tend to my good, or free me from this evil, now open those lips that should preserve knowledge, now direct me in Gods fear, and I will willingly follow it with my utmost endeavors.

And now (and not till now) hath Gods Minister a strong and seasonable calling to amplifie and magnifie the soul-saving suffici­ency of Christs death and passion; were the blood of Christ, and promise of Salvation proffered to an unwounded conscience, what were it, but like the pouring of a most soveraign balsam upon a sound member of man? It is the onely, right, everlasting method, first to wound by the Law, and then to heal by the Gospel; first to cause smart for sin, and then to lay to a plaister of Christs blood; and therefore when the heart is broken, then hath the man of God his warrant to binde it up again, then may he magni­fie Gods mercy, then may he set out to the height the heavenly beauty of Christs passion and person, and thus playing the Mid­wife by his high and holy art of comforting the afflicted, at last the childe of God (prepared for his birth) becomes a man born again.

The fifth step is a clear (I say not a general sight, which he had before) but The clear sight of Christ laid open to the eye of Faith; [Page 34]no sooner is the poor wounded soul informed throughly in the mystery and mercy of the Gospel, but he then looks on his Savi­or as the Jews on the brazen serpent, and seeing him lifted up on the cross, he cannot but see in him an infinite treasury of mercy and love, a boundless and bottomless sea of tender-heartedness and pity, a whole heaven of sweetness, happiness, peace and pleasures; After the spirit of bondage, enters the Spirit of adoption; the terrors of the Law leads him to the comforts of the Gospel, his sorrow for sin brings him to the clear light of his Savior; and then as a man in deaths-pangs, that lifts up his eyes to heaven whence cometh his help, so he in births-pangs lifts up his eyes to Christ, who must either help him, or he sinks under his sin to the bottomless bottom of hell. And I must tell you, this sight of Christ Jesus to an humbled sinner (together with those glorious priviledges which he brings with him, as Reconciliation to God, forgiveness of sins, adoption, justification, righteousness, wisdom, sanctification, Matth. 6.29. redemption, it is a most pleasant, ravishing, heaven­ly sight: Not Solomon in all his royalty, no, nor the lillies of the field arrayed better then Solomon; not all the curious sights on earth, nor all those glittering spangles in heaven, can possibly afford such pleasure or delight to the eye of man, as doth this one ob­ject (Christ bleeding on the cross) to the soul of a sinner. Ima­gine that you saw some malefactor (whose tryal and doom were past) to be led to the doleful place of execution; imagine that you heard him wail and weep for his mis-spent time, for his bloody acts, for his heynous crimes; yea imagine his wailings and weepings so bitter, that they were able to force tears from others, and to make all eyes shoot and water that but lookt up­on him; if this man in this case should suddenly see his King run­ning and riding towards him with his pardon in his hand, what a sight would this be? sure there is none to this. Thus, thus it is with the man sorrowing for sin, whilest he is weeping his case, and confessing what a little step there is betwixt him and dam­nation (as if he were now at hells mouth, the very place of exe­cution) in a maze he looks upon Christ, whom he sees with a spear in his side, with thorns in his head, with nails in his feet, with a pardon in his hands, offering it to all men that will but receive it by faith. O here's a sight indeed, able to revive the wickedst man upon earth, dead in sins and trespasses. And now [Page 35]there is hopes of the birth, if it once come to this, there is more then probability of an happy delivery, we may call it the stirrings of Gods childe, or the first feelings of life, before he is born again.]

The sixth step is, An hungring desire after Christ and his merits, and to this step blessed are they that arrive; Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, Matth. Matth. 5.6. 5.6. Filled? how? I will give unto him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely, Revel. 21.6. Rev. 21.6. this is the step (as if it were in Jacobs ladder) that raiseth him on high to­wards heaven; it is such a token of true faith, that he who hath it, needs no more doubt that he believeth, then he that breatheth needs to doubt that he liveth; and why? his thirst of worldly things is cooled, his thirst of heavenly things inflamed.

Object. But Christ saith, He that drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst.

Sol. Non siti miserae indigentiae, sed siti copiosioris fruitionis. No hungry man did ever with more appetite wish for meat, nor thir­sty man for drink, nor covetous man for money, nor ambitious man for glory, then he now longeth to be reconciled unto God in Christ; in this case, had he the pleasures and profits of a thou­sand worlds, willingly would he part with all for the application of Christs sufferings, it is that soveraign blood that can onely heal his soul, it is that bitter passion which can onely quench his thirst; give him but the merits of Christs death (whereby God and he may be at one) and he cares not though he suffer death and hell again, yea he will venture goods, life, all; or if that be not it which the Lord requires, he will do whatever behoves him, even sell all, all that he hath, part with all sin that he loveth, yea were it his right hand, or his right eye, nothing shall be dear to him, so that he may injoy his Savior. O here's a thirst above all thirsts! it breeds ardent desires, vehement longings, unutter­able groans, mighty gaspings, just like the dry and thirsty ground, that gasps, and cleaves, and opens for drops of rain. David, though in the desert of Ziph, a barren and dry land without wa­ter, yet he complains most because of his thirst, My soul thirst­eth for thee O God, Psal. 63.1. Psal. 63.1. This is that violent affection that God puts into the hearts of those who seek him in sincerity and truth; never was Ahab more sick for a vineyard, nor Sisera for [Page 36]milk, nor Sampson for water, when God was fain to open him a fountain in the jaw of an ass, Iudg. 15 19. then is a truly humbled soul af­ter Christ, ever thirsting and longing, that he may hide himself in his righteousness, and bathe himself in that blood which his Savior shed for him. I have read of a gracious woman, who la­boring in these pangs, and longing after Christ Jesus, cryed out, I have born nine children with as great pain as other women, and yet I would with all my heart bear them all over again, yea bear them, and bear them all the days of my life, to be assured of my part in Christ Jesus. One replying; Doth not your heart desire and long after him? Oh! (said she) I have an husband and chil­dren, and many other comforts, I would give them all, and all the good I shall ever see in this world, or in in the world to come, to have my poor thirsty soul refresht with that precious blood of my Savior. So eager and earnest is the heart of each man (parch­ed with the angry countenance of God) after this blood of his; I thirst, I faint, I languish, I long (saith he) for one drop of mercy; my spirit is melted in me into tears of blood; my heart, because of sin, is so shaken and shivered; my soul, because of sorrow, is so wasted and parched, that my thirst is insatiable, my bowels are hot within me, my desire after Christ is extreme­ly great and greedy. Stay! all these expressions are far short of those longings, Rev. 2 17. no man knoweth them, save he that receives them, save he that is born again.]

The seventh step is, A relying on Christ: no sooner he consi­ders and remembers those many melting invitations of our Lord and Savior: Iohn 7.31. Isaiah 55.1. Matth. 11.28. If any man thirst, let him come unto me: Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters: Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden with sin: but (resting himself on the impregnable truth of these blessed promises) he throws himself into the merciful and meritorious arms of his crucified Lord. Come life, come death, come heaven, come hell, come what come will, Rom. 8.35, 38, 39. here will he stick for ever: Who (saith Paul) shall seperate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or di­stress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No: I am perswaded (not these, nor more then these) neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to seperate us from the love of God, which [Page 37]is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Rom. 8.35, 38, 39. Thus it is with the man laboring in this birth: what (saith he) doth Christ call the heavy laden? why, Lord, I am heavy laden with a weight, a mass of sin, and if he may come that is called, Lord, I come, I come, and now I am come, with thee will I build my tabernacle, with thee will I rest for ever. Nor is this any wonder, experi­ence tells us, the hunted beast flyes unto his den, the wounded man hyes unto the Surgeon, and so the poor man broken and bruised with the weight of sin, how should he otherwise but cast himself willingly into the sweet compassionate inviting armes and embracements of Christ, whose promises run, I will ease him, I will refresh him? You may see sometimes a little infant, Matth. 11.28. upon apprehension and approach of some sudden danger, how hastily he runs into his mothers arms: even so a truly wounded soul (pursued by the terrors of the Law, and frighted with the angry countenance of Almighty God) it flyes with speed into the bo­som of its blessed Redeemer, there it clings unto his blessed wounds, there it rests upon his meritorious death, there it grasps about his crucified body, there it hides it self in the clefts of this Rock, yea there it sticks with this full resolution, that should all terrors, all temptations, all men, all devils, combine together to cast him into hell, they should tear him, rent him, pull him, hale him from the bleeding wounds, and tender bowels of his heaven­ly Savior. This was Jobs case, who in the bitterest of his pangs could cry it out, saying, Though the Lord slay me, yet will I trust in him, Job 13.15. And I must tell you, this Vrisin. parte secunda catech. q. 6. Fides justificans non est tantum noti­tia, sed etiam fiducia, qua­tanquam medi­um applicamus nobis meritum Christi, ac in eo acquiescimus. Trelcat. l. 2. institut. Lo­quens de natura fidei justifican­tis, apprehensio ejus 2^ex una cognitionis in intellectu, al­tera fiduciae in voluntate, utram (que) inclu­dit fides— At noluit Bellar. fidem esse in vo­luntate. affiance, de­pendance, adherence, reliance (or whatsoever else we call it) up­on the merits of Christ, is the right justifying faith, whither if a man once come, there is but one degree more, and he is then born again.]

The last and highest step is, Ʋniversal obedience to Christ. No sooner hath he cast himself upon him, but he takes him (not one­ly as a Savior to redeem him from the miseries of sin, but) as an husband, a Lord, a King, to serve him, love him, honor him, and obey him: Now will he take his yoke upon him; now will he bear his cross and follow after him; now will he enter into the narrow way; now will he walk in the holy path; now will he as­sociate himself to that sect and brotherhood that is every where spoken against; Act. 28.22. now will he oppose himself against all sin what­soever; [Page 38]now will he shake off his old companions, brethren in iniquity; now will he keep peace and a good conscience towards God and man; now will he watch over his secret sins, lustful thoughts, occasions of evil; now will he direct his words to the glorifying of God, and to give grace to the hearers; now will he conform all his actions to the soveraignty of grace; now will he delight in the word, the ways, the Saints, the services of God; now will he never more turn again unto folly, or to his trade of sin, yea though Satan set upon him with baits and al­lurements, to detain him in his bondage, but by one darling-delight, one minion-sin, yet he resolves to answer him as Moses did Pharaoh, There shall not so much as an hoof be left behinde; for well he knows, one breach in the City exposeth it to the enemy, one leak in a ship will sink it in the sea, one stab in the heart will speed a man to death, one knot in a threed will stay the needles passage as well as five hundred, and therefore he will sell all, all that he hath, even all his sins, to the last filthy rag of his minion-delight, his bewitching-beloved-bosom-sin. And now is the new man born amongst us, will you view him? Old things are passed away, 1 Cor. 5.17. behold, all things are become new, 1 Cor. 5.17. His heart, his eye, his ear, his tongue, his understanding, his will, his memory, his conscience; his love, his hatred, his hope, his fear, his joy, his sorrow; will you any more? his thoughts, his words, his actions, his affections, are all new; this conversion is universal, this change is a through change; now is Christ form­ed in him, now is he transformed into a new creature, before he was in making a new man, but now he is made new, God the Father accepts him for his son, God the Son stamps on him the Image of his Father, but more immediately God the Holy Ghost hath thus moulded and fashioned him, as I have let you see him, and now he is born again] which except a man be,—he (shall not) cannot see the kingdom of God.

You see how God brings along the man whom he purposeth to make his; Vse. 1 and yet let no truly humbled sinner be discouraged [Page 39]if he observe not so distinctly the order of these steps, and espe­cially in that degree as (you see) we have related; for if in sub­stance and effect they have been wrought in them, if he have them in truth (though perhaps not in this degree) I dare pro­nounce of him, that he is surely born again. It is one of our wor­thies hath said it, that in our humiliations, and other preparative dispositions, we do not prescribe precisely just such a measure and quantity, we do not determine peremptorily upon such or such a de­gree and height, we leave that to the wisdom of our great Master in heaven, the onely wise God, who is a most free agent: But sure we are, a man must have so much, and in that measure, as throughly to humble him, and then to bring him to his Savior; he must be weary of all his sins, and of Satans bondage wholly, willing to pluck out his right eye, and cut off his right hand, I mean to part with his best-beloved bosom lusts, to sell all, and not to leave so much as an hoof behinde; he must see his danger, and so haste to the City of refuge; he must be sensible of his spiritual misery, that he may heartily thirst for mer [...]y; he must finde himself lost and cast away in himself, that Christ may be all in all unto him; and after must follow an hatred of all false and evil ways for the time to come, a through-change of former courses, company, conversa­tion, and setting himself in the way and practice of sobriety, honesty, and holiness. The sum is, of every soul is required thus much: first, a truly penitent sight, sense, and hatred of all sin: secondly, a sincere and unsatiable thirst after Jesus Christ, and righteous­ness, both imputed and inherent: thirdly, an unfained, and un­reserved resolution of an universal new obedience for the time to come. If any man hath had the experience of these affections and effects in his own soul, whatsoever the measure be (less or more) he is safe enough, and may go on comfortably in the holy path.

Now then let me advise thee (whomsoever thou art that readest) to enter into thine own soul, Vse 2 and examine thine own state, whether or no thou art yet born again: Search and see, whether as yet the spirit of bondage hath wrought its effects in thee; that is to say, whether thou hast been illightened, con­vinced, and terrified with a sensible apprehension, and particu­lar acknowledgement of thy wretched estate: Search and see, whether as yet the Spirit of adoption hath sealed thee for his own; that is to say, Whether (after thy heart being broken, [Page 40]thy spirit bruised, thy soul humbled, thy conscience wounded and awaked) thou hast had a sight of Christ, and hast thirsted af­ter him, and hast cast thy self on him, and hast followed his ways and Commandments by an universal obedience? If upon search thou canst say (without self-deceit) that so it is with thee, then mayest thou bless God that ever thou wast born, certainly (I dare say it) thou art born again. But if thou hast not sense or feel­ing of these works, if all I have spoken are very mysteries to thee, what shall I say? but if ever, if ever thou meanest to see the kingdom of God, strive, struggle, endeavor with thy might and main to become truly regenerate: thus whilest the Minister speaks, it is Christ that comes with power in the word, Ezek. 18.31, 32. thou mayest say perhaps, it is not in thy power, thou art onely a meer patient, and Gods Spirit the agent, and who can command the spirit of the Lord, that bloweth where he listeth, at his own will and pleasure? I answer, It is indeed the Spirit, and not man, that regenerates or sanctifies: but I answer with­al, The doctrine of the Gosp [...]l is the ministration of the Spirit, and wheresoever that is preached (as I preach it now to thee) there is the holy Ghost present, and thither he comes to regene­rate: nay, I can say more, there is a common work of illumina­tion, that makes way for regeneration; and this common work puts a power into man of doing that, which when he shall do, the Spirit of God may, nay will in the day of his power mightily work in him, to his quickening and purging; if then as yet thou feelest not this mighty work of God in thee, and yet fain wouldst feel it, and gladly dost desire it (otherwise I confess it is in vain to speak) follow me in these passages; I shall lend thee two wings to bear thee, two hands to lead thee to the foot of this ladder, where if thou ascend these steps aforesaid, I dare certain­ly pronounce of thee, thou art the man born again.]

The first wing is Prayer, which first brings thee to Gods throne, and (there, if thou hast thy request) then to the new birth; if I must acquaint thee how to pray; Hos. 14.2. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously,—and then it follows, I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, ver. 4. Jerem. 30.18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoak, turn [Page 41]thou me, and I shall be turned. The soul may object, I may say thus, and be no better: But I answer, say it, though you be no better, because God bids you say it: Say it, and say it again; it may be he will come in when you say it, Hosea 14.4. Pray that God would please to prepare thy heart, to sanctifie thy affe­ctions, to order thy will, to preserve thee from sin, to prepare thee for growth unto full holiness and righteousness: this was the effect of Jeremiahs prayer, Convert me, O Lord, Ier. 31.18. and I shall be converted; heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, Ier. 17.14. O Lord, and I shall be saved: Turn thou us, O good Lord, and so shall we be turned, Jer. 17.14. and Lament. 5.21. Lam. 5.21. It is the Lord that converts, and heals, and saves, and turns; and Prayer is the means to produce this effect in thee: when we are required to pray, to repent, and believe, we are not to seek strength in our selves, but to search into the Covenant, and turn the pro­mise into prayer. As the Command is, Repent, Act. 17.30. Now the Covenant is, Christ shall give repentance, Act. 5.31. and therefore pray, Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, Jer. 31.18. then bow thy knees, and humbly, heartily, frequently, fervently implore the influence of Gods blessed spirit: Cry with the Spouse in the Canticles, Awake, O North-wind, Cant. 4.16. and come thou South­wind, and blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow forth, Cantic. 4.16. The more rushing and mighty this wind of the Spirit is, the more will he make thee fructifie in his graces and blessings; therefore cry again and again, O Lord, Psal. 51.10. let thy Spirit come upon me: create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. O Lord Jesu, send thy Spirit into me, which may restore me from this death of sin, unto the life of holiness. Thus wouldest thou ask, and continue asking; thus wouldest thou cry, and continue crying, then could I assure thee of the promise which God hath made, and cannot deny, he that asketh receiveth; and, he that seeketh findeth; and, Matth 7.8. to him that knocketh (by con­tinuance and perseverance) it shall be opened, Mat. 7.8.

The second wing, or hand, that bears and leads thee to these steps of the new birth, is, Constant hearing of the Word: thou must attend the gates of wisdom, and wait on her posts; thou must come to Gods house, and hearken to the ministery of the Word: no doubt, but if thou beest constant in this duty, God will stir up some good Samuel, God will use some of his Priests (consecrated to that [Page 42]office) to beget thee again: Understand this soberly; for if Jesus Christ himself should preach to the soul every day, and give not out of himself, the ordinance would be empty to it: it is Christs coming in to his people in the ordinances, that onely fills the em­pty soul with good things. To this purpose are Gods Ministers called Spiritual Fathers, I have begotten you (saith Saint Paul) through the ministration of the Gospel, 1 Cor. 4.15. 1 Cor. 4.15. The Pastors tongue is the Lords Conduit-pipe, and hereby he drives the sweet and wholsom waters of life into the souls of his chosen; onely do thou frequent the means, and thou shalt see at one time or other, God will remember thee in mercy: It is true, I know not when; and therefore I wish thee miss no Lords-day to repair to Gods house, lest the day of thy neglect might have been the day of thy conversion; certain it is, no man should expect Gods blessing without his ordinances; no eating of bread without plowing and sowing, no recovering of health without eat­ing and drinking, no posting on land without somewhat to ride on, no passage on seas, without somewhat to sail in; so no blessing, no grace, no regeneration, no new birth at all, without waiting upon God in his ways, and in his ordinances. Now then, as thou desirest heaven, or (the way to heaven) to be born again, I beseech thee make high account of this ordinance of God, the preaching of his Word: In preaching of the Gospel, light, moti­on, and power goes out to all, which men resist: and some are destroyed, not because they could not believe, but because they resist, and will not obey, and so dye, Act. 7.51. Luke 13.34. Ezek. 33.11. Hos. 13.9. and yet I wish thee not onely to hear it, but after thou hast heard, consider of it, ponder on it, and lay the threats and reproofs, the precepts and promises, unto thine own soul: thus if thou hearest and meditatest, I doubt not but Gods word will be a Word of power to thee, and (together with prayer) bring thee towards the new birth, whither except a man come, he cannot (possibly) see the kingdom of God.

Thus far of the new birth: Gen. 28.12. you see we have mounted those steps, whose top (like Jacobs ladder) reacheth up to heaven; wit­ness the next word, he that is born again shall see the kingdom of God, but he that is not born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

He cannot see the kingdom of God.]

THe priviledges of the new birth are these two, to see,] and to see the kingdom of God.]

First, to see,] Which is all one (saith a Modern) as to enjoy: Aretius in loc. yet a man may see that which he doth not enjoy; but without regeneration there is no sight, much less possession of the kingdom of God.

To see then is the lesser happiness, of which the unregenerate are debarred; but to see, in it self is a great and gracious privi­ledge, to which the regenerate are admitted: for whether by Gods kingdom be meant the kingdom of grace, or the kingdom of glory, Happy are the eyes that see these things.

But whose eyes are they? If we examine the unregenerate, he sees no whit into the awful Majesty of God the Father, he sees no whit of the beauty, mercy, and pity of his Savior, he sees no whit into that glorious highness of Gods Spirit in Heaven, nor yet of his nighness to his brethren on earth: Hence it is, that when he comes into the Temple, among the Congregation of Gods Saints, his soul is not delighted with their prayers, praises, Psalms, and Service; he sees no comfort, no pleasure, no content in their actions. But the new man is of better sight, the graces of the Spirit, and the ward-robe of Gods glory are all produ­ced to his eye, as if the Lord should say, Come, and see: so Mo­ses, Stand still, and see the salvation of God: Venite, & vi­dete. Psal. 46.8. Exod. 14.13. Ephes. 1.18. Rev [...]l. 3.18. so Christ to his A­postles, It is given to your eyes to see these things, to others but by parables. He that is born again hath a spiritual eye, and a cele­stial object, The eye of his understanding is enlightned (saith St. Paul:) anointed (saith S. John:) To what end? But that he may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the Saints, Ephes. 1.18. See a privi­ledge, of which the unregenerate is ever barred, his minde is dark, even darkness it self, Ephes. 5.8. And therefore it is no wonder, Ephes. 5.8. what is said by our Savior, that he cannot, cannot see] the kingdom of God.

The second priviledge is the object of this sight, here called the kingdom of God.] By which some understand Heaven, some the way to Heaven; most of the Ancients say, that by this King­dom is meant Heaven: Calvin is of minde, that not heaven, Calvin in loc Aretius in loc. Parum refert. but a spiritual life is thereby understood: Aretius saith (and I am of his minde) that whether we understand the one or the other, It matters not much: Sure we are, that both these (Grace and Glory) are annexed to the new birth, and both very well [Page 44]may be implyed in this word, the kingdom of God.]

First then, if by the kingdom of God is meant the kingdom of Grace (whereof our Savior speaketh, The kingdom of God is within you, Luke 17.21. Luke 17.21.) See to what a priviledge the new man hath attained, all the graces of God, all the fruits of the Spirit are now poured into him: If you ask what graces? what fruits? St. Gal. 5.22. Paul tells you, Gal. 5.22. Love, joy, peace, long-sufferings, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: or would you have us to contract them? St. Paul doth it elsewhere, the king­dom of God is—righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Ghost, Rom. Rom. 14.17. 14.17.

First, Righteousness, and that is either active or passive; ho­liness of life, or (the cause of this holiness) our righteousness in Christ: If the first be meant, no sooner is man born again, but he enters into the holy path, he declines all evil, and stands at the sword point with his most beloved sin; or if ever any sin (through the violence of temptation) seize on him again, he is presently put again into the pangs of the new birth, and so re­newing his sorrow, and repairing repentance, he becomes more resolute and watchful over all his ways: Rom. 12.9. And as he abhors evil, so he cleaves to that which is good; his faith like the Sun, sets all those gracious heavenly stars on shining, as hope, and love, and zeal, and humility, and patience; in a word, universal obedience, and fruitfulness in all good works: not one, but all good duties of the first and second Table, begin to be natural and familiar to him, and though he finde some duties more difficult, yet he re­solveth, and striveth to do what he can, and is much displeased and grieved, if he do not as he should. Or if by righteousness is meant passive righteousness, 1 Cor. 1.30. to wit, our righteousness in Christ, no sooner is a man born again, but he is cloathed with this righ­teousness; the other (God knows) is but weak and full of im­perfection, Extra nos est justitia, non in nobis: Luther. de instit. Chri­stiana. and therefore to speak properly, It is the righteous­ness in God, that makes us appear righteous afore God: would you have a plain case? as Jacob to procure the blessing of his father, hid himself into the apparel of his brother, and so received it to his own commodity, under the person of another: thus the new man puts on the righteousness of Christ, with which being clad as with a garment, God accepts him in his stead, his faults being covered with his Saviors perfection.

Secondly, from this Righteousness ariseth Peace: no sooner is man righteous, but he is at peace with man, at peace with God, at peace with himself. He is at peace with man; Isa. 11.6. The wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard with the Kid, saith the Prophet, Isa. 11.6. The meaning is, that in the kingdom of Christ, when a man is called into the state of grace (howsoever by nature he is a Wolf, or a Leopard, or a Lyon, or a Bear, yet) he shall then lay aside his cruelty, and live peaceably with all men, with all men, I say, bad and good; for if bad, the Apostle implyes them, As much as in you is, have peace with all men, Rom. 12.18. Rom. 12.18. Or if good, then he cannot but have peace with them, yea, although before his conversion he hated and ma­ligned them, yet now he is ravished with the delight and love of them, and to this end he labors might and main to ingratiate himself into their blessed Communion; true, how should he but love them, and sympathize with them, whom he believes one day to meet in Heaven, and there to enjoy them, and they him for ever? Nor is this all, he is at peace with God, he hath hum­bled himself, and confest his fault, and cryed for mercy, and cast himself upon Christ, and vowed amendment of life; so that now God by his word hath spoke peace to his soul, by the me­diation of Christ it is obtained, and by the testimony of the Spirit he feels it within him. This is that Peace which passeth all understanding, it made the Angels sing; Peace upon earth, it makes his soul reply, My peace is in heaven: what else? The storm is past, and the rain is gone away, he that lay for a night in the darkness of sorrow, and weeping for his sins, now he beholds the Son of righteousness appear (as the Disciples often did upon the Mount of Olives, signifying peace) all quiet, and calm, and pleasant. Nor is this all, he is at peace with himself, I mean his own conscience; that which before stirred up the fire, that brought him to a sight of sin, and sense of Divine Wrath, that filled him with fearful terrors, compunction, remorse, and true sorrow for sin, it is now turned good and quiet. Solomon calls it a continual feast, Prov. 15.15. Prov. 15.15. who are the attendants but the holy Angels? what is the chear, but joy in the Holy Ghost? who is the feast-maker but God himself, and his good Spirit dwelling in him? Nor is this feast without musick, Gods word and his actions make a blessed harmony, and he endeavors to continue [Page 46]it by keeping peace and a good conscience towards God and man.

Thirdly, from this peace issueth joy in the holy Ghost; no sooner is a man at peace with man, with God, with himself, but he is filled with joy that no man can take from him; this joy I take to be those blessed stirrings of the heart, when the seal of re­mission of sins is first set unto the soul by the spirit of Adoption; For thus it is, the soul having newly passed the pangs of the new birth, it is presently bath'd in the blood of Christ, lull'd in the bosom of Gods mercies, secured by the Spirit of its inheritance above; and so ordinarily follows a Sea of comfort, a sensible taste of everlasting pleasures, as if the man had already one foot in heaven. But I hear some object, They have felt the pangs, cast themselves on Christ, resolved against all sin, and yet no com­fort comes. It may be so, though not ordinarily; certain it is, whosoever hath this joy is new born, yet not every one new born hath this joy; if any then be in such case, let him hear what the Spirit of truth saith, Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him, Isaiah 64.4. Isa. 64.4. Waiting patiently (saith a Modern) for the Lords coming to comfort us, either in temporal or spiritual distresses, is a right pleasing and acceptable duty and service unto God, which he is wont to crown with multiplyed and overflowing refreshings when he comes. To this end saith the Prophet, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as Eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint, Isa. 40.31. Isa. 40.31. Nay, and should a man dye (saith my Author) in this state of waiting, if his heart in the mean time sincerely hate all sin, heartily thirst for the mercy of God in Christ, and resolve truly upon new universal obedience for the time to come, he shall certainly be saved; because the holy Ghost saith, Blessed are all they that wait for him, Isa. 30.18. Isa. 30.18. Or if this will not satisfie his desire, let his desire quicken and set on work (with extraordinary fervency) the spirit of prayer, let him have re­course again and again unto the promises of Scripture towards the poor, heavy-laden, penitent souls; and when the time is come (if it will come) which God hath appointed, then shall he feel this joy unspeakable, the joy of the Holy Ghost; and this [Page 47]is the head, the height, the top, the highest step in this kingdom of grace, the kingdom of God.

Or secondly, if by the kingdom of God is meant the kingdom of glory, see then what a priviledge waits on the new man; no sooner shall his breath and body be divorced, but his soul mount­ed on the wings of Angels, shall straight be carried above the starry firmament, there shall it inherit the kingdom, Luke 12.32. Luke 12.32. Matth. 7.21. Acts 14.22. an heavenly kingdom, Matth. 7.21. the kingdom of God, Act. 14.22. and truly called so, for 'tis a kingdom of Gods own making, beautifying and blessing; a kingdom beseeming the glorious residence of the King of kings; a kingdom creating all Kings that but inhabit in it. But here my discourse must give way to your meditations: I cannot speak this priviledge, there­fore conclude with Austin, Augustin. Anima quae amat ascendat frequen­ter, & currat per plateas caelestis Jerusalem, visitando Patriar­chas, salutando Prophetas, admirando exercitus. Mount your meditations on the wings of faith, and behold in Heaven those states of wonder, Patriarchs shining, Prophets praising, Saints admiring, hands clapping, harps warbling, hearts dancing, the exercise a song, the ditty Alleluiah, the quiristers Saints, the consorts An­gels, &c. See more of this in my last things. In this fountain of pleasure let the new-born Christian bathe his soul, for his it is, and he it is onely that shall see it, in­joy it; Except the man born again, no man shall ever see the kingdom of God.

And now (beloved) say, Vse. what would you do to obtain these priviledges? should any hand reach you a Crown for the pains to take it? should any but cast at your feet a bag of gold, and you might make it your own for the stooping, would you not for so great a reward do so little a service? Matth. 11.30. and what is Gods ser­vice but perfect freedom, the yoke is easie, the burthen is light, but the reward is grace, glory, endless felicity. Bestir then your selves, and if ever you mean to see the kingdom of God, endea­vor to run through this new birth, and to lead a better life then [Page 48]heretofore you have done. Thus whilest the Minister speaks, Christ comes with power, and therefore he speaks and per­swades. I conclude with my speeth to thee (whosoever thou art) into whose hands this Book is fallen: the truth is, the work is weak, and answerable in that kinde to the Author of it: many and many a stitch in my side, many a pull at my heart, many a gripe in my stomack (besides the pangs of my soul endea­voring to practice what I have writ) have I suffered and felt since I first begun it; and yet the comfort I have received my self in this one necessary thing, hath made me (contrary to the desires of my best friends) to run through this short work, by taking a longer time, as my continual disease would now and then suffer me. If (when I am gone) thou reapest any spiritual good by this my surviving pains, it is, next to Gods glory, all my desire; Yet I live, but to save thy soul I care not how soon I might dye, yea on that condition I could be willing (if God so pleased) the lines that thou readest were writ with the warm­est blood in my heart: willing, said I? yea, I could be willing and glad (as little blood as I have in my body) to let it run and run, for thy spiritual good, to the very last drop in my veins. I say no more, consider what I have said, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.