Preface
CHAPTER VII: One eminent disposition immediately flowing from the new creature, is a desire to convert, and beget others to God:
PREFACE* THE great and mysterious truth of the trinity of persons in one God, which is the foundation of our Christian faith, and which, though not contrary to our reason, is so much above it, that we could never have had a thought of it, if God had not revealed it to us in his word, is not a mere speculative notion, but a truth, in which the faith and practice of a Christian is concerned; insomuch as it is necessary that every one who is saved should believe that there are three persons, one and the same infinite, eternal God, blessed for evermore. For how can we believe that God hath chosen any of mankind, to make them unchangeably and for ever happy; that the same God hath redeemed and doth sanctify these his elect, if we do not believe that this one and the same God is three persons, to whom these works, so necessary to our salvation, are in the holy Scriptures distinctly attributed? How can we trust in the God of all grace, and his infinite mercies, and adore and love him for that great and indeed unspeakable love, in sending his only-begotten Son to die for us?
And how can we act faith on our blessed Redeemer, as having voluntarily come into the world to accomplish the work which his
Father sent him to do, unless we have distinct thoughts of the person of the Father sending, as distinct from the person of the Son sent by him? And these persons are equally God; for any one inferior could no more have redeemed us than he could have elected or created us.
But they are not so many several Gods; therefore they are one and the same God, equal in all perfections and glory. The author hath
discoursed of the work of God the Father in the second volume of his Works; and of the work of God the Son in the third, with great clearness of light from the Scripture, and consequently with as great a strength of evidence to every spiritual mind. In the discourses of this fifth volume he as clearly and evidently describes in all its glory the work peculiar to the Spirit, in healing and restoring our depraved, wretched natures, by making them alive unto God, and sanctifying them in likeness to him. It is a work which demonstrates him to be true God, as well as the Father and Son are; for life is that which God only can give, and a creating power is as necessary to produce a spiritual as a natural life. Nay, of the two it is more difficult (though nothing is so to God) to raise a dead soul than a dead body. It is also as much a work of God to make us partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), as it was to make Adam at first after his own image. That none may think these truths to be merely niceties or abstruse controversies, and an inquiry into them needless, the author hath made, through all the discourses, proper and pertinent uses, naturally flowing from the doctrines; which may evince, that as all the truths of the gospel have in their own nature a fitness and a proper tendency to strengthen our faith, and to improve our holiness, and to make us not only wiser but better, so God hath revealed them as needful to be known by us for these purposes. And as the gospel is peculiarly suited to raise and tune our hearts to thankful strains and cheerful praises of our Lord Jesus Christ (and in honouring him we honour the Father also), so this doctrine of the work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation, which is pure gospel too, is adapted to excite us to give that glory to him which is due; and in honouring him, we honour both the Father and the Son. I have given on the other side of this leaf a catalogue of the MSS. in this volume, that the reader may be satisfied that he hath all which I promised in the proposals; and also may see that I present him with several other discourses, which I did not offer in them.
I am, Thine entirely in the service of the gospel,
THO. GOODWIN.
A CATALOGUE of the Manuscripts in the Discourse of the Work of the Holy Spirit in our Salvation, directing in what part of the volume the several MSS. are printed.
1. A general and brief scheme of the whole work committed to the Holy Spirit in bringing us to salvation, in an enumeration of all particulars, and what is the glory due to him for it, is contained in Book I., Chap. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
2. Of the gift of the Holy Ghost to us.—How he is at first given to the elect when called, and what is his indwelling within us for ever.
Chap. 8, 9, 10.
3. How the work of regeneration, or the first application of salvation to us, is in a peculiar manner attributed to the Holy Ghost. Chap. 7.
4. That there are two states and conditions God carries the elect through—1. The state of nature. 2. The state of grace.—And how the new birth is the passage between these two states, from which the necessity of regeneration is demonstrated. Book II., Chap. 1, 2, 3.
5. That God, for holy and just ends, permits the generality of his elect that live to riper years, to abide some time in that estate of nature, and then renews and turns them. Chap. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
6. The necessity of regeneration demonstrated by arguments drawn from the nature of reconciliation with God.—That all which God and Christ have done towards their reconciliation to us, will not benefit us unless we be reconciled to God.—This work of regeneration set forth under the notion of reconciliation to God, and some differences of a counterfeit work and a saving work discovered thereby, with an exhortation to be reconciled to God. Book III. throughout.
7. The necessity of the new birth, and some brief explication of the nature of the thing begotten in it, as the similitude of begetting again imports. Book IV., Chap. 1.
8. The eminency of mercy and grace discovered in this work, comparatively with other works wrought in us. Book IX., Chap. 1, 2,
9. The divine power put forth by God in a saving work of regeneration. Chap. 4, 5.
10. Of the new creature, or the thing begotten in us by the Spirit; that beside his indwelling in us, and his acting of our spirits, there are permanent or abiding principles inwrought in the soul; that is, spiritual habiliments, or dispositions so to act. Book V., Chap. 1, 2.
11. The nature or kind of the thing begotten in us, as it is set forth under the notion of Spirit; that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit,
John 3:6. Book IV., Chap. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
12. That this new creature is a change of the heart. Book V., Chap. 4.
13. That it is a different and higher principle than natural conscience, in its greatest elevation of light. Book VI. throughout.
14. That this new creature is peculiar only to the elect, and is a thing specially different from the common work of the Spirit in temporaries. Book VI., Chap 13, and Book VII. throughout.
15. That the virtual cause of regeneration, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Book IX., Chap. 6.
16. Of the three parts of regeneration, and the new creature. 1.
Humiliation for sin, and the necessity thereof. 2. Faith in Christ for justification. 3. Turning from sin unto God. Book VIII. throughout.