Chapter II
That the Holy Ghost, when he makes us new creatures, works in us fixed and
abiding principles of a spiritual life, proved : 1. Became it is a new birth, which supposeth a principle of life given ; 2. Because this new creature is
called spirit ; 3. Because it is called so in opposition to flesh; 4. Because
the apostle speaks of our being bom of God, and so having received a seed of divine life which cannot sin ; 5. Because lie speaks of eternal life abiding in
us; 6. Because, 2 Pet. i. 3, we are said to be partakers of a divine nature, and this is something which is continually growing in us ; 7. The sam-e is
proved from the parable of the sower and his seed, Mark iv. 17, and of the
ten virgins, Mat. xxv.
I have in the foregoing chapter given an account of those opinions which allow no other work of the Holy Spirit, than to move and excite us to holy actions, and which deny his influence to produce in us living and abiding
principles, from which, when regenerated, we have some inherent abilities
(though in dependence still on his renewed enlivening us, both to will and
to do, Phil. ii. 13) to perform them.
I shall now prove the doctrine which I propounded in the beginning of that chapter, which is this :
Doct. That the Holy Ghost doth not only move and stir us up to all good actions which we do, but that in the work of conversion, he produceth in us living and lasting principles of a constant holy life.
I. First, I shall first explain this doctrine.
II. Second, I shall prove it, by several arguments.
I. For the explication of the doctrine. All men may understand the
difference between an inherent power in the soul, or principle wherewith to
act, and the act, or operation itself, be it inward or outward, proceeding from it as the effect thereof. In the body we see a hearing ear (to which
that speech of Christ s concerning spiritual hearing alludes, He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear ), which is made by God, and endowed with a
ready disposition and ability to hear sounds ; and this power is inherent in the ear, and is ordained for hearing as the act. The same we may under stand of the eye ; there is a visive power residing in it, and enabling it
actually to see colours when laid afore it, which are the objects ordained and fitted by God unto it. The necessity of which permanent power in
either we see by experience, and is mainly understood by the example of those whom Christ cured (that were born blind and deaf), if we consider the
different condition of the|persons afore and after the cure ; as also that there was an almighty power put forth, first, to give an inherent power to their
ears and eyes to hear and see, ere their soul could put forth the acts of
hearing or seeing. And of both these, the blind young man cured was so
: John ix. 25, One thing I
sensible that he proclaims it to Christ s praise
know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see ; and he knew too that it was
* Since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
extraordinary, and a work of omnipotency ; ver. 32,
192 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK V.
And however there were a capacity and remote radical power in his soul,
yet it could never have produced an act of seeing anything in this world, which it was in the midst of, without a new bodily eye, or a new endow ment of it with a new power of seeing.
Now there is in the case of a man unregenerate and regenerate, a further
distinction to be made : 1. Of a natural faculty in the souls of each ; 2. Of a principle in the said faculty in order to act ; 3. Of the acts both are ordained for.
Take the soul of a man unregenerate
: it hath naturally and essentially an
understanding faculty in it (he were not of mankind else), and that under
standing hath a capableness and a remote faculty to have spiritual objects taken in by it, and so to act towards them. For when it shall once come
to know them in a spiritual manner, it must be said that it is the under
standing faculty which is essential to the man that doth understand them.
Indeed, before a spiritual light induced into it, it still remains as one born blind as to those spiritual objects ; and it cannot receive them, for they are
spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. ii., but must be super-endowed with a new
ability and principle infused into it by a new birth, or it cannot spiritually
eye, nor at all understand, them as they are in themselves ; and although through adjutories of light, &c., men may see them in the painted glass and literal notion of them, yet not as they are in themselves in their true
spiritual nature ; no, no more than our bodily eyes can see angels, that are of that other invisible world, a higher world than ours, unless they do assume visible shapes, or we see them painted with earthly colours. An-
* Jesus answered and said unto him,
swerably Christ says, John iii. 3,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. They cannot see them. And thus also God pronounceth of the Jews in the wilderness, after forty years experience of God s wonders and giving the law, Deut. xxix. 3, 4, Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto
this day. Eyes they had, and understandings they had, as men, but not
as spiritual men ; and so had not the true sight of spiritual things to affect
their hearts towards them in their spiritual nature, without which God
regards not any other apprehension of them.
Now though this new spiritual visive power with which the understanding is endowed, be for the kind of its being but a quality, and a super-addi tional accident introduced into the understanding, and not a faculty, as the
understanding is essentially inherent in the soul ; yet as it is planted in the
soul in order to receive and take in things spiritual (which are of a higher order of beings unto our natural understandings, and are infinitely tran
scending things natural and worldly, which are the objects of our natural
understandings, and by which, or like terms, the apostle distinguisheth those two differing, both objects and powers of a regenerate and unregene rate man), so this new divine and heaven-born power, elevating and em
powering the soul to discern them, hath justly the name of being enstyled a
* And we know that the Son of God is
* new understanding: 1 John v. 20,
come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is
true, that is, truly to understand him that is true. Thus the bodily eye of man after the resurrection, elevated to see angels (which now are invisible unto it), may be enstyled a new eye, yea, and a
spiritual eye, even as the whole body then shall be a spiritual body (as it
is called, 1 Cor. xv.) ; and yet that change will be but the superinduction of new spiritual qualities, suiting the eye and whole body unto such spiritual
CHAP. II.] IN OUK SALVATION. 193
objects, as angels, &c., are ; the substance both of those eyes and of those
bodies remaining the same that now. And yet those new spiritual liabili
ties then are said to constitute their bodies spiritual, and transform and
raise them into bodies of a higher rank and order like to angels, as Christ
says ; and he speaks it of what manner of persons, in respect of our bodies, we shall then be. In like manner, the whole of a man new born, so endowed with this divine quality of spirit (though it be but a quality), is styled a new man, a
* spiritual man. It gives a new name to the whole man, and doth as truly constitute him such in that sphere of spirituality, and
deserves to be so styled, being the principle of this new spiritual life, as much as the soul with its natural faculties, simply considered, hath the name of, and constitutes the man, to whose body it is joined, in the rank of
a living soul. For though grace be but an accident, yet it is such as is worth all men s souls in the substance of them devoid of it.
And further, If the soul were not, by the infusion of this new spiritual
quality, elevated and admitted into that order of spiritual agents, having
spiritual life, it would want that essential property (in common to all
sorts of living agents in their kinds) to act from within itself ; but must be
acted merely by a principle extrinsecal to itself.
And further, The necessity of such a new spiritual liability to be infused
into our souls, to constitute them spiritual, and agents of that kind, is, that both ace and principle may be of one and the same kind and nature ; a
spiritual acting, proceeding suitably from a spiritual principle ; which had
first constituted the man, in whom it is, a spiritual man, as good fruit is from a tree first made good, as Christ says, without which it cannot bring forth good fruit.
And as the bodily eye, at the resurrection, cannot exert the least spiritual act to those spiritual objects specified, nor those bodies put forth any one
exercise that is proper unto spiritual bodies, until at the resurrection the
body be constituted a spiritual body ; so is it here. And lastly, This endowed spiritual principle in the soul is abiding, and
permanently inherent in the soul, when those spiritual actings cease ; as
the exercise of our present senses do in sleep, or when they are disturbed and hindered.
II. Having thus explained the doctrine, I come now to prove it, by these
following arguments
1. In the words of my text, John iii. 6, the work of the Spirit in us is
expressed to be a being, or thing born, which implies principles of life
given it, in order to acting and operations, or works of life. All other
births do this. They give a natural being ; and so this gives a spiritual one ; and both according to their kind. In Scripture it is not the acts of
faith or love that are said to be born of God, or a man to be born of God
through those actings ; but, on the contrary, they are made signs of a man s being born of God, as effects are of their proper cause. As a
child s crying, which is an act of life, is in law made a sign of a child s
being born alive, so faith is made a sign of a man s being born again
1 John v. 1, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Son of God is born
of God. And this our regeneration doth contain in it many more graces besides faith. And this expression, to be born of God, signified in the
language of the primitive church a fundamental common general character,
denoting a Christian truly and savingly wrought upon by God. Of which new birth, this one act of believing Christ to be the Son of God was an
evidence. Deus possuit in corde fundamentum fidei, says Prosper: God puts VOL. VI. N
] 94 THE WOEK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK V.
in a foundation of faith into the heart, and then draws forth the acts of
faith. So John i. 12, 13, They who believed in his name, which were
* born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of the will of God. They were born first. The like is spoken of the act
of love : 1 John iv. 7, Every one that loveth is born of God, and know-
eth God. The act of loving God is alleged as the effect and the note of
a man s being born of God. That which is added, and knoweth God, shews that act of loving God dependeth likewise on an act of knowledge and of acquaintance with God persuading it, but both of them depend on our being born again. The act of the understanding in knowing God
depends upon being born of God as the foundation of it, as well as the act
of loving. Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God, says Christ, John iii. 5, nor know anything belonging to it. The
Scripture, speaking suitably to this allusion, compares these new powers and abilities unto natural faculties and powers, themselves in the soul, which are the principles of acting ; such as is the faculty and instrument
of seeing, where seeing denotes the act. And the Scripture speaks of giving
eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand : Deut. xxix. 4, Yet
the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and
ears to hear, unto this day. Now that which is properly said to be given by one s birth is the natural faculty and ability of any thing to act so and
so, according to its kind. So then, like as the natural birth brings a man
forth with all the powers of sight, hearing, &c., so doth the new birth the
like. The child exerciseth not these in the womb at the first, yet hath them all in the principle. It is Basil s comparison :* As the power of
seeing in a sound eye ; as art in him who hath acquired it ; such is the
grace of the Spirit in him who receives it ; always indeed present, but not
perpetually operating.
2. A second argument to prove the doctrine is, that the work of the Holy Ghost is termed spirit here in John iii. 6, and a spiritual man, 1 Cor. ii.
14, 15, and that in order to discerning spiritual things. This argument will
be farther strengthened, if the analogy be considered between this new birth
of the soul, and the resurrection of the body (which is called the regenera
tion). Of the resurrection of the body it is said, 1 Cor. xv. 44, 45, &c., that the body is sown a natural body, but it is raised a spiritual body. I would ask what is that new spiritualising of the body, but an endowing it
with such new qualities and abilities as shall fit the body unto a spiritual condition and actings ? It shall be endowed with such new qualities,
namely, as incorruption, glory, agility, &c., and perhaps with new senses, which we cannot now guess at, which are differing from, yet answering unto
these natural qualities and powers our bodies now, as natural bodies, have ; unto which the character of these spiritual bodies is opposed. The
change then is not barely of new acts, but of new powers and endowments
enabling us to act. Therefore, verse 50, he speaks of our present bodies
as those that are incapable of the objects and acts we shall have then :
Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. They want powers to bear and sustain the objects of spiritual glory, and they want qualifica tions to take them in. And, therefore, it is said of those that do not then
* vile bodies shall be
* shall be changed, ver. 52, and these
die, that they
changed and fashioned like to Christ s glorious body, Phil. iii. 21, which
is spoken in respect of new inherent powers and endowments, which are
qualities, and are styled the image of the heavenly man : 1 Cor. xv. 48, * De Spiritu Sancto, cap. 26.
CHAP. II.] IN OUR SALVATION. 195
As is the earthy, such are the earthy, viz., Adam and his sons in their
bodies; for so endowed are ours from him. And as is the heavenly, namely, Christ as risen, and in heaven, such shall our bodies be. All
import likeness in qualifications, &c. Now then look, as the body is at and by the resurrection made spiritual in those respects, in like sense it is
that the soul is made spiritual by regeneration, which is termed a resurrec
tion to the soul, as the other is the regeneration of the body ; as commonly in Scripture they are interchanged. The resurrection is termed a regene
* the first-born from the dead. And this day (says God, Acts xiii. 33), have I begot ten thee. And so regeneration is termed a resurrection : Eph. ii. 5, 6, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ
ration, Matt. xix. 28 ; Col. i. 18, where Christ is called
(by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together. And Christ is as
powerful, yea, and a greater benefactor to our souls now, than he will be then to our bodies. He will therefore be a quickening Spirit to both.
And, therefore, in making our souls spiritual, he doth as much for them, and works the like things, viz., new powers in the soul to see the kingdom of God (as the phrase is in this third of John), as well as he will work new
qualifications in the glorified body, that it may inherit the kingdom of God. To give our bodies such eyes as shall see angels, who are spirits, and are not otherwise the objects of our senses, is but in analogy what is done to our souls in giving them eyes to see, and an understanding to know, God and Jesus Christ, as they are in themselves.
3. A third argument from what is in the text for this, is the opposition
(in John iii. 6) between flesli and spirit. Flesh is evidently evil dispositions and inclinations unto evil which dwell in a man, and which as a root hath
* works
fruits. And pursuing that similitude, the apostle, enumerating the
* are manifest, termeth them the fruits of the flesh.
of the flesh, which
Gal. v. ; and in opposition thereto spirit, in the 17th verse, is used in like
sense. And when Paul, Rom. vii., speaks of that sin that dwells in him, he expresseth it to be a sin that, by occasion of the law, wrought all con
cupiscence, ver. 8. Mark that word wrought. It was a sin which was
distinct from the works of sin, and therefore it was an active disposition and inclination, distinct from those acts, as the cause of them ; which sin
is also called an indwelling sin in the man, and so notes out what is per manent. And in this sense doth the apostle up and down in Rom. vii.
speak of it, terming it flesh, as ver. 5, and himself, in respect of this sin,
* in my flesh, says he, dwells no good thing. And
carnal, ver. 14 ; and
in that very speech of his there, which he speaks by way of explanation or
* In me, that is, says he,
* in my flesh, dwells no good thing, he
limitation,
implies that he had another self, or me, wherein all good did dwell (even as
in himself, as he was flesh, no good thing did dwell), and wherein the con
trary good did dwell ; that is, an inclination to what was truly good and
* to will is present with me. To will what ? Anything that is good, which yet he was not able to perform ; as
spiritual. And therefore it follows,
it follows, but how to perform that which is good I find not ; as if he had
said, Yea, but yet I have so much of good, too, continually dwelling in me,
opposite to this flesh, as is ready to put forth, and doth put forth, though but an imperfect act or will (for the principle is but imperfect, and lasa
principia liabent lasas operationes) unto what is good, when it is presented to it. Now, what is an inward readiness and preparedness to good, and
that spiritual good, as the law is, but a habitual principle indwelling ? And therefore as of that wicked man it is said, he was ready to all evil,
196 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK V.
Acts xiii. 10, so of a godly man it is in like manner said, he is ready to
every good work, Tit. ii. 14, meet and prepared as a vessel is for his master s use, both by its habitual fashion and make, as we say, which are inward dispositions that fit it, by the cleanness of it from defilement, as 2 Tim. ii. 21.
4. A fourth argument is drawn from what the apostle John says, 1 John
iii. 9, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him : and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. He
speaks of our being born of God, and that there is a suitable nature, a seed
of divine life in us which cannot sin or be touched with evil, for it cannot
act contrary to its own nature and being ; as fire being preserved cannot
act contrary to its nature. It may indeed be put out by subtraction of
fuel, yet if it be kept up, and remain fire, it cannot either moisten or cool.
This in analogy is the force of the apostle s reasoning, that every believer
by his new birth receives such a seed of spiritual life, such a heavenly
nature, which cannot sin ; for to do so would be to act contrary to itself.
It is the soul itself which is endowed with the seed of life, and is the sub
ject and intrinsecal principle of action. The Holy Spirit, though he is in
us, and dwelleth in us, yet is not this seed of God here mentioned by the
apostle, for he is extrinsecal to the soul herself, as to the actions which
she doth. Now, it is the property of all things that have life to have, in
their several kinds of life, a principle by which they bring forth actions of
that life. And thus free and intelligent agents, in their kind, have a prin
< in whom we live, and move, and have our being, who, though he be in us, and acts us, yet he is but extrinsecal to the act. For we ourselves, being endowed with principles of action, are moved by him ; and therefore the
ciple of life and action, besides that first and supreme Mover of all,
actions which we perform, as praying, &c., are not attributed to the Holy Ghost as the subject of them, but only as the efficient. We must not say that they are the Holy Ghost s prayers subjectively, but only efficiently. He makes them in us and for us, and helps our infirmities in praying, Rom. viii. ; but that which constitutes us in the ranks of spiritual actors in
the duty, and the subjects of it, is a principle of a spiritual life inherent and seated in the mind and will, and quickening us thereunto. And this
is the seed conveyed in the new birth, and communicated from God, who
hath life in himself. And that a man, thus born again, becomes thereby an agent from a new vital principle within him, is evident from a parallel
* We know that who
scripture in the same epistle of John : 1 John v. 18,
soever is born of God sinneth not ; but he that is begotten of God keepeth
himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. He speaks it indeed of
the unpardonable sin unto death. But when he adds, he that is born of God keepeth himself, he means that the regenerate man is an agent in the
business, and acts from what is within himself. And his saying that he is
born of God, implies that he hath received and doth retain the seed of God
within him.
That the Holy Ghost is not the seed meant in these two places, 1 John
iii. 9 and 1 John v. 18, is evident, as by what hath been said, so by this
farther reason, because it would be improper to say that therefore the man
born of God cannot sin, because the Spirit of God in him cannot sin. This
were utterly improper ; but to say (as aforesaid) that the man who is born
of God, and hath his seed, cannot sin, is a speech which is consonant to
the voice of nature. It implies the voice of an inward disposition, which
causeth a man to say he cannot do thus or thus, contrary to his nature,
CHAP. II.j IN OUR SALVATION. 197
so remaining. It is nature speaks, but the Holy Ghost himself becomes
not the new nature in or unto any soul.
And that other speech, he who is born of God keepeth himself, doth most properly shew, that though the Holy Ghost in us be the great con
servator, and keeper, and actor of us, yet by means of our being born of
God, and receiving a seed of God within us, our understandings and wills
do act, though actuated by him. So that the holy acfions, though the
Spirit excites and stirs us up to them, are our own, and we are the intrin-
secal agent of them, and constituted to be so by virtue of a divine seed,
conveyed to us in our spiritual birth. And the metaphor of seed remain
ing is (as Thomas Aquinas * out of Augustine explains it) an allusion to what God doth to his other creatures, bearing seed according to their kind. He hath communicated to every such creature a seminal principle, ordained
to increase and grow up to such and such effects of bringing forth fruits, as we see in trees, &c. And so in the second creation, God in like manner
puts in a seminal virtue, which, as the seed of mustard, the least of seeds,
as Christ says, is yet to grow up to a tree, the greatest of all other. And
therefore look, what proportion and ordination that natural seed, with its
virtue sown in the ground, hath unto natural fruits and effects, the like hath this seed of God, sown in the soulf of the heart, unto supernatural acts. Seed is the communication of a principle of life from things that
live, ordained to grow up and act according to its kind. And in a similar manner this here is the seed of all that holiness which after follows in our
lives, and which springs from it ; yea, and it is the seed of glory itself. Nor is this seed merely the word of God heard or read by us, and re
maining in our minds and memory, as what we have heard our minds are said
to retain. It is true, if the word heard become e/tpvro$, an ingrafted word
in the heart, changing that stock into its own nature, then indeed it is all one with this seed of the new birth; as the apostle speaks, James i. 18, Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. Wherefore, says he, ver. 21,
* Where
fore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls. This in
grafting of the word is in substance the same with regeneration itself, being a similitude to illustrate it. But though the word be sown, the mere sow
ing it is not regeneration, if it doth not take root in a good and honest
heart, Matt. xiii. 18, &c., and therefore the mere receiving the good seed
of the word, as the stony and thorny ground did, regenerated no man. For if it be so, that the letter of the word falls either carelessly into men s
ears, so that the understanding is not so much as possessed with a notion
of divine truth, it is no more than seed laid up in the hard-trodden high way ground. Or if it falls into the understanding, yet so as not to affect
the heart, the devil soon takes it away, as the fowls pick up loose seed which hath not taken root in the ground. Or if it works so as to stir the
affections, yet still if it wants depth of earth to take root, it is not the in
herent abiding principle of regeneration which we treat of, and indeed such
a bare receiving of the seed regenerateth no man.
That therefore which is meant by the ingrafted word is the law of God
written in the heart (as God hath promised in his new covenant to do it),
utterly differing from the work of the law in the letter of it, which the
heathens had, Rom. ii. For it is such a writing of the law as God had
written in Christ s heart : Ps. xl. 8, I delight to do thy will, my God : * Summa Theolog. Par. i. Quest. 62, Art. 3. t Qu - soil ? ED.
198 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK V.
yea, thy law is within my heart. It is this ingrafted word, the word or law written by the Holy Ghost, 2 Cor. iii. 3, and therefore is distinct from
that Holy Spirit himself, that is the abiding principle wrought in us by re
generation. And as Christ had this law written in his heart, Ps. xl. 8, so we hereby are conformed unto Christ s image, Rom. vi. For what is that
but an inwrought strong disposition in the soul, conforming and inclining it
to what the word and will of God directs unto ? Grace is the word of God concocted and digested into the heart, and made one nature with it. In which sense, and for which cause the word is said to abide for ever in
the souls of men converted, 1 Pet. i. 2, 3. And that phrase, of writing the law in the hearts, imports no less than such an abiding principle. Words
spoken are transient, and vanish into air ; but litera scripta manet, what is
written abides, and is extant to be seen and read.
5. I draw a fifth argument, to prove that the Holy Ghost in regenerating us works an inherent permanent principle of a spiritual life, from what the
apostle John farther says of eternal life abiding in us. It is not only that
eternal life abides upon us (as it is said, John iii. 36, that the wrath of God abides upon him who believes not), but it is said to abide in us.
Eternal life must have a beginning as well as accomplishment. And we all
say that the life of grace is the beginning of a life that is eternal, and will
be perfected in glory, and abides in the mean time in him that hath ob
tained a right unto the life of glory to come. It is not only said that a man hath eternal life, in that sense as a man is said to have an estate, an
inheritance he hath right unto ; but a regenerate man s condition is ex
5 as an unre-
pressed by this, that he hath eternal life abiding in him;
generate man s condition is expressed by the contrary
: 1 John iii. 15, He that loves not his brother hath not eternal life abiding in him ; that
is, in short, he hath not grace. It was a phrase in those times to express a man s spiritual state by that character, that he was one that had eternal
life abiding in him, which phrase I urge. Now, says the apostle, I hope you will all grant that a murderer, whose heart and spirit is full of blood*
to the saints, as Cain s was to Abel (in whom the apostle had instanced), such a man cannot have eternal life abiding in him, as not being consistent with such a heart and inward disposition which his soul is filled withal. He argues from the same topic and principle that he had done, ver. 9, that
inherent grace, that is, eternal life, that abides in the soul, cannot consist with such a frame of heart as to hate the saints as such, and to seek their death and ruin. The act of murder, and that of a saint (as it may seem Uriah was) may with a right to eternal life consist in David, but a heart at
enmity with the saints (which is John s scope) cannot, for it is a contradic
tion to that principle of eternal life which is begun in him and abides in him. You heard afore that grace is called a seed, because it is the seed and beginning of eternal life ; and this place confirms it, these both in
like manner being said to be abiding in a Christian, and the apostle alike
arguing from both.
6. Further to prove my assertion, that by regeneration an inherent and
abiding principle of life is wrought, I argue from 2 Pet. i. 3, According as
his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and
virtue. He speaks not of those external privileges and benefits by justi fication and adoption, &c., which are given us, which is evident by two arguments. (1.) Because they are such things as are wrought in us * Qu. hatred ? ED.
CHAP. II.] IN OUR SALVATION. 199
by power. The giving justification and adoption is ascribed to his grace,
&c., towards us ; and so works done upon us, and out of us, and yet be stowed on us, are usually said to be to the glory of his grace, Eph. i. But what are done in us are the proper objects of power.
(2.) Again, secondly ; It is added that God, or Christ, in giving us these,
is considered as he that hath called us to glory and virtue. Now you know
the true maxim is, that God s calling any person unto any employment or
dignity is joined with the giving him abilities, and a heart suited with prin
ciples answerable. So then his meaning is, that God having by regenera tion and faith called us unto a possession of glory hereafter, and the prelibation of it here, and in order thereunto the exercise of virtue and holiness
in this life ; he hath answerably, by the working of his almighty power in us,
given us a spirit fitted thereunto ; that is, ready furnished with all things that are the beginnings of, and preparations to that life (which you heard termed
* eternal life abiding ), as also to all the duties of godliness, which we are to walk in here. He hath fitted us in some measure for that call
ing. And you see that he speaks in the time past, that his power hath (in time past and already) given us all and the whole of them, as to the several
virtues, seeds, and principles of them.
7. Add to this, seventhly, as another argument, What is that divine nature which is spoken of there in the fourth verse ? Not the divine being of God ; for that cannot be made common between God and us, or divided. It is
therefore inherent grace, which is opposed to lusts in the words following, Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Nature
is an abiding, permanent principle, carrying on the things which it is to act
accordingly. We are not partakers of God s nature essentially, therefore not as a nature ; otherwise than by having his likeness or image in divine
qualities stamped on us, and so becoming like to him, to be holy as he is
holy, which makes us fit to have fellowship with him, and so to take in his
glory, and to be made happy by it, which, unless we agree in a holy nature, and holy dispositions with him, we cannot do. And this new nature denotes a stable and permanent being in the soul ; as also a principle of
working, or it were not truly a nature. Dionysius has rightly expressed it, Nothing can come to work or act till it hath received a nature and a being as the principle thereof ; so nor to act divinely or supernaturally till it hath
a being of such a supernatural nature given to it ; and this is still the same with the seed of God, and eternal life abiding in us. We have by the new
birth a supernatural being, as by the first a natural.
8. It is a seed, a nature, a life, &c., for it is said to grow up in us ; or
else what is meant by growing in grace, and renewing the inner man, and the like ? How can this be meant, but that as a seed, which is an
imperfect communication of life, grows up to a stalk, and blade, and ear, so this of grace in us ? It is such as all other growths are, and subsists
therefore by the increasing of those permanent qualities and virtues. A
living man is not said to grow as such, or as a living man, otherwise than
as he adds one act of life to another. A man is said to grow rich by adding to a heap, but a living man grows in strength and bulk answerably to the
principle of life at first received.
Learn what is meant by those distinguishing characters in the parable of
the four grounds, and in that of the wise and foolish virgins. The stony ground s defect was this, they had no root in themselves, Mark iv. 17. Which speaks the very language of inherent grace, which is that which is
* the root
properly in a man s self inbred and implanted. And Job calls it
200 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK V.
of the matter, Job xix. 28. The foolish virgins wanted oil in their vessels, when that they had oil in their lamps. The wise, on the contrary, had oil in their vessels, when yet their lamps were out, as in Mat. xxv. you read. Let any give a more rational interpretation than this, that the oil in the
lamps is such assistances by motions and enablings as serve to hold forth an outward profession, and to perform the same duties, and to give the same light to others, which the foolish virgins had, but they had not grace in the heart, oil in the vessel, as a stock or treasury abiding in them, when that in the lamp might be out. But the wise virgins had that abiding in them when themselves were asleep, and their lamps clean out. It uses to be made an argument in this case or point, that if there were not abiding principles of grace, that then, when a believer is asleep, he ceaseth to be a holy man or a believer. If life lay only in the actings and stirrings of
life, then when they cease there would be no* intercision of life ; and so eternal life, as such, should not abide in a man, as you have heard. And the argument is strong as to the point. But it is more strengthened by this scripture, Mat. xxv., speaking the same, or the like to it. There are Christians not only asleep, as they are men, but even as Christians also, and their lamps go out, their profession and actings in a great measure
ceasing ; and yet they have oil in their vessels, grace in their hearts, ready to be drawn up into the lamp, and to become matter of a new shining forth in good works.
It is also urged, that if it were not for such inherent principles abiding, a holy man could not be denominated holy, but when he acts holily ; as a man s countenance is not denominated ruddy for blushings or flushings, but from the constant constitution and complexion. And here you see a confirmation of the foregoing argument also, for they are denominated wise
virgins, when yet their actings ceasing, they were as fools and not wise ; even as Solomon says of himself, that in the midst of his decay, his wisdom, that is, his grace, remained with him, Eccles. ii. 9. Yea, this oil in their vessels or hearts did they carry with them into glory with the bridegroom, and were made vessels of glory, as you read there. Yea, and it is said that our souls are thereby made meet for glory, Col.
i. 12, and prepared for glory, Rom. ix. 23 ; even as well as thereby they are prepared for every good work, as vessels meet for our master s use, 2 Tim. ii. 21. And when we die, not only our
* works do follow us, Rev.
xiv. 13, as a man s treasure, which he hath wrought and gotten ; but also the soul itself is wrought by God here for this very purpose, to be made
capable of a further degree of glory, as it brings grace with it into the other world : 2 Cor. v. 5, Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame
thing is God. Not onty have we actively wrought, but we ourselves are here passively wrought by God, having our fruit the increase of inherent
holiness, Rom. vi., and the end everlasting life. And therefore, 2 Cor.
v. 8, he had said we shall be clothed with glory if we be not found naked; that is, devoid of the image of God, but clothed upon with it, as the apostle elsewhere also speaks.
* Qu. an ? ED.
CHAP. III.] IN OUR SALVATION. 201