Chapter VI
Of the last part of our conversion, ivhich is our turningfrom our evil thoughts
and ways unto God.
Holiness in the heart is the main and ultimate birth brought forth in
regeneration ; and to make us partakers of God s holiness is the sum and
scope of all towards us, both of his election, Eph. i., and of all his dealings
afterwards, Heb. xii. 10 ; and without which, ver. 14, no man shall see
* It is Augustine s argument, Libro de Pastoribus, torn, ix., p. 1333. Absit ut dicamus vobis, Vivite ut vultis, securi estote, Deus neminem perdit
: tantummodo fidem Cliristianam tenete ; non perdit ille quod redemit. Hsec si dixerimus, con-
gregabimus turbas ampliores, et si sint quidam qui nos sentiunt hoc dicentes non
recte sapere, paucos offendimus, sed multitudinem conciliainus.
390 THE WORK OP THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
God. Now the essential holiness that is in God we cannot be partakers of, neither by imputation, as Osiander dreamed, much less by real transub-
stantiation to be Goded with God, as some have arrogantly asserted. We can be no otherwise partakers of it than in the image thereof, Eph. iv. 24, which after God (as pattern or prototype) is created in righteous ness and true holiness. You have the same, Got iii. 10, After the image of him that created him.
Now man being fallen, and having lost this image, which was at the first
immediately given, without any instrumental means then used by him to
stamp it on the soul, God was pleased, in restoring and renewing this
image in man s heart a second time, to set up mediate instruments that should have his image stamped upon them first ; and by the means thereof to communicate to us this holiness first imparted to those. Now these
patterns or middle instruments, on which God first stamped his holiness,
are, 1. His word or law evangelised ; 2. The man Christ Jesus ; and both in this respect are termed o Xoyos, the word of God : the first, viz., God s word, bearing a doctrinal image of God s holiness ; the other, viz., Christ, being a living, transcendent image of it. Therefore you shall find in the
Scriptures of the New Testament our sanctification or holiness set out to us, 1. By a change or conformity in the heart to the written word and whole law of God, Bom. vi. 17, Heb. x. 16, James i. 21 ; and, 2dly, it is set forth by a conforming or changing the heart into the image of Christ : 2 Cor.
iii. 18, But we all with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the
Spirit of the Lord.
Now we must know that a real conformity to the word and law of God
is true saving holiness and sanctification, as a conformity to Christ in his
death, resurrection, and ascension ; and though all these are never separate
each from the other, yet the first is more discerned by us at first than the
latter. Many in regeneration at first find a suitaWeness in their hearts to the duties and rules of the word, whatever they know of it, when yet they are ignorant of, or at least attend not unto, that holiness in them as it is the image of Christ in his death and resurrection. And even that other is true holiness, and whoever hath it shall be saved. For which my ground is in Heb. x. 14-16, For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us : for after that he hath said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them, after those days saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. Where we see the sanctification of those Christ hath for ever perfected, and whose sins are forgiven, are set out by their having the law written in their hearts, &c. And therefore
Paul, for the comfort and support of weak believers, doth in his own person, Kom. vii., set forth the holiness of a believer, as it is the law of God written in the heart, which, ver. 23, he termeth the * law of the mind, by which he consents to the spiritual law of God in the inner man, ver. 22, which
law, ver. 25, he serveth, and would fain obey, and have no other in his mind, even then, when with the flesh he serves the law of sin. So then this is true sanctification, though not the tola ratio, or the whole notion of a Christian s sanctification, who also is changed into a more glorious image of Christ, which at least is as the varnish to this other conformity to the word as the groundwork of it. And accordingly it is made part of the covenant of grace, in difference from the old covenant, that the law is written in the heart : Heb. viii. 9, 10, Not according to the covenant that
CHAP. YI.J IN OUR SALVATION. 891
I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt ; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord ; I will
put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And David s instance in that medal of a gracious heart, and the copy of his own (Ps. cxix., throughout) shews how it stood pointed to the law of God. And answer-
ably it is the general description of the saints in the Old Testament, who were taken into the covenant of grace
: Isa. li. 7, The people in whose heart is my law ; yea, of Christ, and by Christ, it is said, Ps. xl., Thy law is in my heart.
For though this holiness be legal, in respect of the materials and pattern of it, the law of God, yet it is not legal in respect of the subject or state of the person that hath it begun, or in respect of the tenure of the covenant, or of the virtue efficient that wrought it. For the person that hath it is the subject of the covenant of grace, belongs to that division and jurisdic
tion, and hath it wrought in him by virtue of Christ s death and resurrection, though as yet he picks not out in his own discerning that this is the image of Christ in him.
Now those mataphors or similitudes which the Holy Ghost hath chosen forth to express that change of heart, as it is an inward conformity to the law and word of God, are especially three : 1. Casting the heart as in a mould into the same image of spiritual holiness that is stamped on, and found in the word. 2. Ingraffing the word on the heart, and so changing the stock (the heart) into the same nature. 3. Writing the law in the
heart. All which we have implied in Rom. vi. 17, But ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine into which ye were delivered.
The words in the Greek are ei$ ov vragsdoOrjTs ruxov didayfis, That form of
doctrine into which ye were delivered; and so out of the Greek the margin varies them.
The substance of his comparison comes to this, that their hearts having been first, in the inward inclinations and dispositions of it, framed and
changed into what the word requires, they then obeyed the same word from
the heart naturally, willingly ; and the commandments were not grievous, because the heart was framed and moulded thereunto. The heart must be made good ere men can obey from the heart ; and to this end he elegantly
first compares the doctrine of law and gospel delivered them unto a pattern
or sampler, which having in their eye, they framed and squared their actings and doings unto it. And he secondly compares the same doctrine unto a mould or matrix, into which metals being delivered have the same figure or form left on them which the mould itself had; and this is spoken in respect
of their hearts. Therefore this word rvirog is a common word, and will
serve both these purposes and aims, both which in common signifies the
express image, effigies, form, or first draught of a thing unto which another
is to be framed or fashioned, whether it be in a mould into which metals or
clay is cast, and so have the same stamp or print upon them, as we see in
goldsmiths work and other trades (and this suits to the stamp in their
hearts wrought thereby), or whether it be after a copy, pattern, or sampler which one having in his view before him, frames and fashions his work unto
it, as Moses framed all things according to the pattern in the mount. And
this suits the expression of their obedience from the heart ; and this he
clearly intends, for the words are, e/ g ov wagaSofljjrg, into which ye were de-
392 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
livered, rather than which was delivered you, as our translation was pleased to render it. Other arts and sciences are said to be nobis traditce, delivered to us ; but of this doctrine it is said that we are delivered unto it, to be framed and conformed to it. And this is that which I have afore me, that the work of sanctification is a work framing and casting the heart itself into the word of God (as metals use to be in a mould) ; so that the heart is made of the same stamp and disposition with the word. This similitude being opened from the Scriptures will afford some light unto us. There are four things for the opening of it.
I. That the word and law of God evangelised may truly be compared to such a mould.
II. That our hearts must be fashioned unto it ere they can be saved. III. I shall shew the way how the heart is moulded to it. IV. I shall explain the work itself, what it is to have the heart truly moulded to it.
I. The word may truly be compared to such a mould. A mould, you know, is an mstrument that hath the representation or shape of something engraven in it, to the end to leave the same stamp and fashion upon the things that are cast in it. Now such an instrument hath God appointed his word to be. For,
1. It hath the representation of his holiness in it. For whereas man had raised and defaced that image or likeness to God in holiness and righteous ness, wherein he was at first created ; and so that living copy of the law was lost (that written in men s hearts by nature being imperfect, and but some footsteps of some outward parts of this outward letter of the law remaining), God therefore writ out the copy of that image in his most holy word ; that, as Adam s heart had then the perfect image of God, so this doctrine hath that absolute form upon it now. And therefore this law is called holy and righteous, which are the attributes of God himself, and which are the parts of God s image whereof it consists, Eph. iv. 22. Adam was the real image, this the verbal ; but both have the same form, God being the archetype of both.
2. It hath not this image on it, only for man to look on, and so to see the picture of his estate in innocency, and bewail it as now lost, as James says of a negligent hearer of the word, that he beholds his face therein as in a glass, for the present, but forgets it ; no, but God hath appointed it, in the virtue of the gospel, to be, as the common standing mould, instru mental through the knowledge of it, to renew that his image again in man, and to cast all his people s hearts into it. That whereas there are but two especial ways more eminent to work the image of anything in another solidly and substantially, the one by way of engraving or sculpture by the hand of some artificer on some stone, metal, or other material ; the other by way of casting metals or plaster into a mould, so as they are fashioned unto the figure of it, without losing any of their materials ; now God having once at first created his image on man s heart by way of engraving, as by his own
finger, and the soul having now lost that image and being changed into another, namely, that of sin and wickedness (the image of Satan), God therefore does now rather take this second course, and new casts the heart
again, using the artifice of his Spirit ; and his word is as the instrumental cause or mould, bearing that former image, and fashioning the heart thereunto.
II. Let us see why the heart must needs be thus new cast in such a mould ; the reasons of it are,
CHAP. VI.] IN OUR SALVATION. 393
Reason 1. Because we are by nature cast into the devil s image. For if we would draw the devil s picture we would draw pride and malice, revenge,
lying, and murder, and all sinful dispositions. Now Adam s sin, by its
virtue, does at our first birth mould us into this image ; so says David, Ps.
li. 5, I was shapen in iniquity, formatus, as Immins* and others read it. All the limbs of sin are fashioned in our hearts, and our hearts to them ; Gen. vi. 5,
* The fiction, or fashion, or frame of the heart is evil, as the word signifies. And we coming thus into the world with this shape on us, and thus cast, our hearts are also daily more hardened in this sinful fashion by the examples of men. Therefore we are said to live to the lusts of men, 1 Peter iv. 2 ; that is, we apply ourselves and our desires unto the com mon sin of others, suffering them to mould us also ; which the apostle thus
living according to the course of the world, Eph. ii. 1. And the same apostle says, Rom. xii. 2, Fashion not yourselves to the world, //,?}
expresseth,
<
jN^jj/Aor/^go^g, ne accommodetis vos ad hujus seculi figuram, to the figure or fashion of this world, so Erasmus paraphraseth it. Seeing therefore you are thus by nature cast into a sinful frame, and are more and more in that
estate moulded by the fashion and mould of others bad examples
: upon that account the apostle there requires a change, or metamorphosis i^zra-
fagpouffdt, that is, get the form and fashion of your hearts altered, for so the word signifies, a transforming or changing of a thing from one form to another. Men s hearts that are shaped like to devils the lusts of your father (says Christ) you will do being cast anew in the word, are made
partakers of the divine nature, 2 Peter i. 4. So that by it we come to be
like to God, and have his image again renewed in us, which that mould
bears, without which image of holiness thus imprinted by the word upon our
hearts, we can never come to receive happiness from him.
Reason 2. Unless our hearts be thus new moulded, we remain vessels of dishonour, and not
* fit for our master s service. What is it that chiefly makes one vessel differ from another, but the fashion of it ? You have
vessels made of the same matter, whereof one, because it is cast in the mould and fashion of a baser utensil, is therefore used about dishonourable em
ployments. But now another that is cast in another mould, though of the same metal, is served up to the table, and used in honourable services.
Nothing puts a difference between these two except the fashion, that they are
cast in a several mould. This is part of the scope of the apostle s com
parison, 2 Tim. ii. 20, 21, In a great house, there are some vessels of
honour, and some of dishonour. Now the vessels of honour are described
to be such as are sanctified and prepared to every good work, and meet
for the master s use. Fitness to be employed in God s service is that which makes any one to be a vessel of honour, and that fitness it hath is from its being sanctified ; which sanctification is a new casting of it, and a giving the heart new dispositions, such as the word requires. Until,
therefore, the word hath changed thy heart, thou art a vessel of dishonour. Thou mayest indeed be gilt over with civility and formal profession, but
till thy fashion be altered, that is, the frame of thy inward parts, thou remainest a vessel of dishonour, and fit for nought but wrath, Rom. xix. 22. These reasons, you see, are suited to the expression or similitude used
in the text.
III. In the third place, I will shew you how this is done and wrought, so
far as this metaphor will, out of the Scripture, give us light.
1. God begins to work by humiliation and contrition, and breaks the * Qu. Junius ? ED.
394 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
heart all in pieces by the word. A founder that hath a statue or image to make of some hard metal that hath a contrary form on it (as suppose a horse to be cast into a man s shape) will first knock that metal in pieces. And so had our hearts need be dealt withal, they not only bearing the
image of the devil, but that image being seated in our inward parts, and not
only in the superficies or outside, as artificial forms are, yea, and being as brass and iron hardened in that fashion : Isa. xlviii. 4,
* I know thou art
obstinate, thy neck is as an iron sinew, and thy brow as brass ; so that the heart will not yield or apply itself to the fashion and mould of the word. Ministers may preach to you long enough, and your hearts still retain the same dispositions, because they are not broken with a sense of your sinful
estate, and the curse due unto it ; for the heart is enmity against God, and cannot be subject to God, Horn. viii. 7. It will not yield to the mould, therefore it must first be broken. Hence in Jer. xxiii. 29, the prophet compares the word to a hammer, that breaks the rocky hearts of men in pieces.
Yet 2. That is not enough, for it must be melted also ; therefore it is not only a sense of your misery that will prepare you for this new moulding, but a melting also. Hence, as the word is like a hammer to break your hearts, so it is like fire to dissolve your hearts and make them soft and
pliable, and so fit to take any impression. Thus Jer. xxiii. 29, and thus 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27, Josiah s heart was melted, and became tender at the
reading of the law. And this similitude the prophet alludes to when shew
ing the inefncaciousness of the word upon their rebellious spirits, not
praying into* conversion. He says, The bellows are burnt, the founder melteth (or endeavours to melt their hearts) in vain. Reprobate silver
shall men call them, Jer. vi. 30. And this melting of the heart thus con
tains two things.
(1.) It imports the separating the corrupt dispositions and lusts of it (as the dross and scum useth to be in the melting of metals) which before were blended with it, their dross, till then, remaining within them, as the
prophet speaks. But now he purgeth it from the midst of them, by the
spirit of burning, Isa. iv. 4, or (as it is in Mai. iii. 3) They are purified as gold is purified ; the very inward dispositions to sin being mourned for, complained of, hated, and cast out with loathing.
(2.) And as this melting fetcheth out the dross, so, 2dly, it softeneth the good metal ; it makes all the faculties pliable, and apt to receive the
impressions of the word with meekness, as James speaks of receiving the word. It maketh it a meek heart, an heart of such a temper as will be content to do anything that God shall command. It can suffer exhortation and suffer reproof, Heb. xiii. 22. It suffers the word to frame it which way it will, and to that end urgeth it, presseth it, stamps it upon itself again and again in private, till an indelible impression be made, and till it finds the same dispositions wrought to obedience which the word requires.
(3.) This transformation is done by the intervention of knowledge or
faith. The mind being enabled to conceive what is that good, perfect, and
acceptable will of God, and so approving of it as good for him, the whole man is thereby fashioned ; so Rom. xii. 2, we are said to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, to prove what is that good, perfect, and
< The image of God is said to be
acceptable will of God. And Col. iii. 10,
* renewed by knowledge. For we are not wrought on as a piece of dead clay, but according to the nature of the soul, which being an under-
* Qu. prevailing unto ? ED.
CHAP. VI.] IN OUR SALVATION. 395
standing creature, the heart is wrought upon by means of it. Faith believ
ing, approving, applying the word as good, the will and affections are
presently fashioned to it, and so there is a change wrought in the whole man.
IV. Now, fourthly, for the work itself, if it be asked what this transforma tion of the heart into the word is, I answer, It is a universal frame and temper of all the faculties of the soul, whereby each, in their proportion, are respectively made suitable to the word in their inward several disposi tions, and prepared and fitted to do whatever the word commands.
1. It is a change, though not of the substance or faculties of the soul, yet of the temper, frame, and disposition of it. For a thing moulded remains the same metal it was before, only the frame and fashion of it is altered ; and yet the alteration of that fashion works a great change in it, both in its name and nature. And the metal that once was a dish being turned into a pot, hath a new name given it ; and in genere artificialium, the spirit of it is altered. So when a man s heart is changed by the word, though the same nature of man remain in him still, yet he receives a new name, Kev. iii. 12, and is a new man ; and so called because the fashion of his heart is altered, and in genere spiritualium, he is another man, differ
ing from what he was before.
2. By this change all the faculties are made suitable to the word. Even as you see the mould and the thing moulded fit one another, as the seal and the wax do so too, so the heart, which before was enmity to every commandment, now is moulded in and by the word. It delights in the law
according to the inner man, and finds an agreeableness between the law and
its own disposition, there being answerable dispositions wrought in all the
* Fear me, the heart answers, I desire to fear thy name, as it is said of them, Nehem.
faculties of the soul to what the word requires. If God says,
i. 11. If the word says, Keep the Sabbath, the heart can say, The Sabbath is my delight, Isa. Iviii. 13. If the law says,
* Love the brethren, why the heart finds an instinct begotten in itself to do it (as there is in
birds to love their young) ; thus believers are said to be taught of God to love one another, 1 Thes. iv. 9.
3. There is a change in all the faculties, according to their several tendencies and poises.
(1.) There is a change in the understanding or judgment, and when it is thus changed, there will be an ability, Boxiftdfyiv, to try what is the accept able will of God, to judge and know how he ought acceptably to be served. Such a renewed mind is quick in the fear of the Lord, Isa. xi. 3, to try
it as the touchstone doth gold, and also to consent to the law that it is
good, and good for him, Rom. vii., and to esteem every commandment
concerning all things as right, Ps. cxix. 128, and to set an high price on
every ordinance and every duty, as being matters of great moment. And so it is ready likewise to disallow and
< hate every false way, as you have
it expressed in the aforesaid psalm, and also in Rom. vii.
(2.) The print of this mould in the conscience will be a quick, vigorous
light, so as the motives that are spiritual, and for the glory of God, shall
naturally rise up in the mind and move the heart : 1 Peter v. 2, Feed the flock, not for lucre, &c., but of a ready mind.
(3.) The stamp of it in the will, will be a propensity to choose the things that please God (as it is said of those eunuchs, Isa. Ivi. 4), those things that most of all please God, will be most of all pleasing to a holy soul too, and he will walk in them to choose. The will being thus transformed, the mind needs not be wrought off by selfish ends unto holy duties, but will be
396 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
* in a ready mind, to feed the flock. Taking care for them naturally (as Paul says, Phil. ii. 20), even as a nurse for the child. And thus Paul makes to be more than obedience itself, when the heart is thus framed : 2 Cor. viii. 10,
willing (as the apostle s phrase is, 1 Peter v. 2)
* Not only to do, but to be willing. Also part of this stamp and impression lies in the will s having a strong bent and bias upon it, forcibly carrying it in all the turnings of a man s life towards the commandment, and obedience unto
it, and causing the will to incline to, and follow the command, and likewise to stick unto it ; even as the iron doth move with, follow, and apply itself to the loadstone.
* I have sworn, and I will perform it, says David, Ps. cxix. 106.
, (4.) So answerably this stamp of inward holiness is set on the affections, when every affection, according to the nature of it, is exercised in and about the law, and the things thereof. Even
* sorrow is after a godly sort, for the breach thereof, and for sin as committed against a holy God. Also hatred is raised against the things therein forbidden, and a love to the
things commanded, and joy in the performance. See Ps. cxix. throughout, where all sorts of such affections as these towards the law of God are recorded. Thus when every faculty is seasoned with a new disposition towards God s precepts, and the obeying of them ; when there is an universal conformity of all faculties according to their several kinds and
offices, and also their subordinations one to another, with a natural fitness and disposedness unto what the law requires, then is the heart moulded in the word.
4. There is a preparedness unto all duties revealed in the word, and a
facile readiness to be employed in them, so that (as is said 2 Chron. xxx.
19) the whole heart is prepared for every duty. And this the similitude
implies, for it is the end of casting metals into this or that form, that they may be serviceable to such or such an use. Now when the soul is cast into such a frame that the heart is as a vessel meet and prepared for the master s use (as it is said, 2 Tim. ii. 21), then it maybe said to be moulded in the word ; even when all the powers and faculties of the soul are become weapons of righteousness (as the apostle s other similitude in this chapter is), as being made on purpose for righteous uses. And it is the fashion in a weapon that gives it the fitness for such a use, as a spade, by reason of the fashion of it, is fit to dig the earth, but not to cut with, a bowl to drink in, and a sword to fight with. Not but that a godly man s heart may at some times be dulled, but still as in a weapon there is an habitual fitness, which it hath from the fashion of it, as in a sword or knife to cut, and there is an actual fitness, namely an edge, which though it be
blunted, yet the habitual fitness is not taken away, so it is in a godly man s
heart, though the frame and fashion of it still remains the same. Thus there is an habitual preparedness to good duties, yet the edge and actual
vigour may be wanting, till it be whetted again, Deut. vi. 7 ; his heart may be hacked and battered, and so at the present made unfit, yet the fashion
is still the same, and one good prayer or sermon whets it again, and brings its edge again. Now wicked men want both these fitnesses. Indeed, in the furnace they will bow to any fashion (as the heart of Saul and of Pharaoh did), but when they are once out of it, they will return to their own frame again.
5. This inward stamp of holiness is both an universal and propor tionable impression upon the heart, which the mould of the word leaves upon it.
CHAP. VI.] IN OUR SALVATION. 397
(1.) It is universal. There is no small scratch or raze in the mould, but it will appear in the thing cast in it. Therefore civil men that have
impressions of the second table, and few or none of the first, were never
truly moulded in the word.
(2.) It is proportionable. Look what cuts and engravings are deep est in the mould, these will make the highest and fairest embossments on the things cast in them, the very smallest and shallowest being visible too : so it is with one converted by the word, and who hath his heart moulded in it. The stamps of those duties which God most of all re
quires of him in his particular and general calling, will be most eminent upon his heart. The great things of the law will be the great desires of
his heart to fulfil, and not be taken up about mint and cummin only, Mat.
xxiii. 23.
The second similitude the holy God is pleased to use to express the
change of the heart into the word and law of God, is this of
* engrafting the word upon the heart, as a graff on a stock, with ability to save and
change it : James i. 21, Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able
to save your souls. I must first fix the interpretation, because this trans
lation is controverted by some interpreters, although not many.
1. Some say that the word g^purog imports that which is natural, and is
so far from signifying the engrafted word, that it is opposed thereto ; so
* natural branches are to be engrafted, Bom. xi. And the Greek scholiast
kept so close to that meaning, that he plainly interprets the engrafted word here to te the natural light of reason. But this interpretation is manifestly false ; for, 1st, this word is to be received, and therefore is not by nature, nor any thing natural ; and, 2dly, it is said to be able to save our souls, which the light of nature is not.
2. Others would have the word of God called g^purog, in this sense, that
it is native and genuine, which signification is opposed unto what is artificial,
affected, adulterate, or counterfeit : as if you should call a true virtue eppvrqv dgzrriv, that is, a genuine true virtue, not acted or counterfeited. And so ef&pvTos Xoyog would signify the pure naked word in its simplicity, un
mixed, unadulterate with man s inventions ; and so it would be all one (as they urge it) with what this same apostle had called it,
* the word of truth :
ver. 18, With the word of truth he begat you. For God useth not false hood nor error to beget men to himself. And I confess I was tempted to
this interpretation, by paralleling it with 1 Pet. ii. 2, where he exhorts them
* the sincere milk of the word, adoXov Xoyov, without deceit, but
to desire
as it comes from the dug, not mixed with medicines or waters. The like
to which also you have 2 Cor. ii. 17. And that which further strengthens
it is, that in the other words and phrases, in coherence with these in either
places, both in Peter and James, there seems to be a parallel, and there
fore in this also, both James and Peter using the same words in either.* The one says, laying aside all naughtiness, receive this word ; the other
says, laying aside all superfluity of naughtiness, desire the sincere milk of the word. And thus the meaning of James s exhortation should be as if he had said,
* You that were begotten at first by the word of truth (that is, the sincere word), take heed you receive that only which is the true, pure, and genuine word of truth ; as that which is only able to save your souls.
At4ff/tAfW>j nadav xax/ai/, so Pet., ver. 1 . ^AfftlqcfcfMJ vraffav
, so James.
398 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
For as it was that pure word which begat you at first, so that alone must
build you up to life.
But that which I have to say concerning this interpretation is,
1. That it is not called the word of truth, James i., ver. 18, in opposi tion to error and falsehood, so much as by way of eminency, as it is thus
* The word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
called too : Eph. i. 13,
It is too low an epithet to say it is styled the word of truth in opposition to what is erroneous, feigned, and false, or devised, for that is but what is common with it to every philosophical truth. But it is so called for the
eminency of truth in it ; with which also that eulogium of Paul concurreth, This is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation.
2. Whenever the word t/jupvrog is used to signify that which is genuine in their sense, yet then withal it is applied to, and made the epithet of, some inward quality or disposition of the mind of man, which is inbred and inherent therein, as when it is applied to virtues and the like. And so
according to this meaning of it, if we would suppose the word of God were termed tppuros, as noting forth purity, sincerity, or truth of it, yet still
withal it would connotate and import this other interpretation also ; namely, inherent or inbred, in our hearts and minds ; or that which is ordained to be inwrought or engrafted in us.
I come, therefore, to the third and most usual interpretation, which our
translators have chosen, namely, that it signifies the engrafted, or rather
engraftable word (for it is nomen verbale, not participium) ; that is, it is
that word whose end, use, intent, and ordination by God, is to be engrafted,
inbred, and ingenerated into the souls of men, and is to be received to that
end. And so it is a metaphorical allusion to seed or a plant that is sown,
engrafted, or inoculated either in ground, or into a stock, and especially the
latter. That look, as the word 6vp<pvrog f used Kom. vi. 5, which is akin
to this, and of the same stock (as I may so speak), and which, as there
* planted together ; being there spoken of Christ and his members, being planted together in one, as two twigs growing, or set in one common stock, becoming and growing up into one tree ; so
used, signifies
efj,<puTo$, here
spoken of the word of God, signifies planted, or plantable within us, these two words differing but in this, that the word there is a compound with ffvv, that is, together with, but this here is compounded with &v, or in, and so the one signifies grafted, or planted together one with another ; this other here
signifies planted in: the first being spoken of Christ and us, and our
being planted together in one ; this latter being spoken of the word of God
as planted, or to be planted, in our hearts.
Obj. But some urge that this interpretation cannot stand, because the same word cannot signify both what is natural and what is engrafted too, for these two are opposed, Rom. xi. 17. 21. The natural branches are
opposed to those grafted in. Now it is evident (say they) that the word
tftpvrog doth signify (at least sometimes) that which is natural.
Ans. 1. But first, I answer, the word in Bom. xi. used for engrafted,
is not tptpvrct, but another word, and so prejudgeth not this sanctification*
here.
Ans. 2. The word eppvrof in common imports whatsoever is inbred and
seated in the inwards, whether it be by nature, or otherwise set in, so as
that it becomes as nature. And thus the Latin word insitum answers to it
in the like large signification ; or as we say in English, implanted in one,
whereby we express, not only what hath been by nature, but as well what
* Qu. signification ? ED.
CHAP. VI.] IN OUR SALVATION. 399
otherwise is inwrought, though acquired by education, breeding, or habitual custom.* So then this word, though upon other occasions it may be used
for what is originally natural, and inbred by nature ; yet withal, it still allows us that other signification of what is inwrought by an engrafture, or otherwise acquired. In the book of Wisdom, chap, xii., ver. 10, ttiffos
t/j.<pvTov is put to signify an inbred hatred, or grudge, not that which was by nature, which we call an antipathy ; but that which had been inbred by
injuries, and yet was so deeply rooted, that it is as if it were natural. And
* seated in the heart : so that this word g/a-purog may well bear either sense.
thus, S/J,<PVTOV is all one with zyxdfiiov, that is,
This being cleared, it is evident that the apostle James s comparison and allusion is to liken the word to seed cast into the earth, or to a graft or more noble plant set into a stock, being ordained to take root, or to be inoculated and made co-natural with, and so to bear fruit in the heart
according to its kind ; which interpretation is most natural to this place. For, 1. This interpretation excludes not that other of being natural, taking it in respect of what the word doth consequenter, and in the event become to the heart by its engrafture ; for thereby it doth become natural and inbred in, and genuine to the heart, and as a new nature.
2. It agrees in this sense with the coherence and scope of the apostle, and his foregoing passages, for,
(1.) Whereas he had declared, ver. 18, how they had been begotten by the word, as of seed (which is formed into and becomes the substance of the new creature), now in the 21st verse he exhorts them to receive this word they had been thus begotten by, so as to grow up more and more, and to bring forth fruit ; which he expresseth by being doers of the word, in the following 22d verse. Only in carrying on of this exhortation, he takes up this other metaphor as genuine to this scope, as that other of
begetting was to the former, namely, comparing the same word of God in that respect unto seed sown in a soil, or to a graft engrafted on a stock, which by becoming one nature with our hearts, and by changing the stock thereof into its" own nature, doth increase our graces in us more and more, and causeth us to bring forth fruit, which he termeth doing of the word. And this is withal a better parallel with that place of Peter fore-mentioned, and his scope, than the former interpretation. For even just thus : Peter had spoken of the word first, as the means of begetting us, chap. i. 23, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, by the word of God. And
then, chap. ii. ver. 2, he exhorts them under a new metaphor, as new born babes to desire that word as milk to grow thereby ; even as we have the like.
(2.) He had indeed begun and laid a foundation for this very allusion in
ver. 18, in styling believers, and men begotten again, the first-fruits of God s
creation, as ordained to be so after regeneration : He begat us, says he,
4 that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creation (even as, 1 Cor. xv. 23, Christ is termed the first-fruits of them that sleep ) ; alluding to Jer. ii. 3,
* Israel is holiness to the Lord, the first-fruits of his increase. They are then begotten to that end, that in their future course of life themselves and all their actions might be consecrated to God as the first-
fruits of the creation (holiness in one man being more to God than all the creation without it). Now, then, in answer to and prosecution of this * Even as 6v/i,<pvrV66ai. (which is of the same kindred) imports both engrafted with another ; and withal what is together in nature with another, simul naturd. See Stephan, in
400 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
allusion there begun, to the end to exhort them to accomplish this, what
could be more proper than to make use of this new comparison of the word of God unto a graft ordained to be engrafted on their hearts ; and
accordingly to exhort them to receive it as such into their souls, unto the end that they might in the sequel of their lives be consecrated wholly to God, in bringing forth fruits to be offered up unto God, as the first-fruits were.
(3.) The very words here used, receive, and receive with meekness, these words comply evidently with that sense of engrafting rather than any other. The phrase to receive is proper thereto, for we say the stock receives
the graft as let into it ; and the words with meekness are added, for it is
received into such a stock, man s heart, as hath the life of sense in it. And
also because that in order to this receiving the word by an engrafture, the
corruption of the heart is to be parted with, yea, and cut off, as the old top
* with meekness,
is, to make way for the new graft. He might well add
for thus to cut off lusts is painful and troublesome. Christ tells us it is to
cut off members, to cut off hands, and pull out eyes ; and this tree to be
lopped is the heart of a man.
(4.) Other scriptures do fall in to confirm this metaphor (here used) of
the engrafture or sowing the word of God in our hearts, in order to the
bringing forth of fruit in us : 1 Cor. iii. 9, You are God s husbandry, and we are labourers together with God ; which work or labour is in the
verses aforegoing said to be planting and watering, ver. 6, 7. Again, John xv. 16, Christ sending forth his disciples to preach the word, and to
convert souls, and to build them up to life, expresseth it thus, I have chosen you, that you should go forth (namely, to preach), and bring forth fruit ; therein comparing their preaching to sowing seed or engraft
ing plants which should bring forth fruit. Again, Col. i. 6, the word of
truth, as thus planted by the apostles, is said to bring forth fruit in them, and in all the world. Moreover, in the same 15th chapter cf John, Christ
is not only said to bear fruit in us by our abiding in him, as the vine, but also by
* his word abiding in us. For as at the 1st and 4th verses he had said,
* The branch bringeth not forth fruit unless it abide in the vine, so at the 7th verse he says, If you abide in me, and my words abide in
you. So then where we, that is, our persons, are said to be engrafted into Christ, even there also it is said, that in order to bringing forth fruit, his word must be engrafted into us also, as we are into him, he expressing the one as well as the other by one and the same word of
* abiding in. And thus James his tfipvros, spoken of the word, and Paul s cv^vroi, Bom. vi., spoken of Christ and us, do well agree in one and the same kind
of allusion. Thus I have fixed the interpretation. To come now to the opening of the particulars contained and implied in the metaphor.
1. God (whose word this is) is tacitly compared unto a tree, who hath
all excellencies, perfections of holiness, justice, wisdom, truth, righteous ness, goodness in him essentially.
2. His word is as the seed, or as twigs growing out of the tree, fit to be
sown, inoculated or engrafted in the hearts of men.
3. And look, as seed or twigs plucked or fallen from a tree hath virtually
all the perfections of the tree it comes from, and being planted or inocu
lated, spreads forth into the same likeness, and brings forth like fruits ; so this word of truth, fallen from God, containeth in it all his perfections communicable to us, holiness, mercy, goodness, &c. The law, or his commandment, is holy, spiritual, just, and good, Rom. vii. 12, 14, as God
CHAP. VI.J IN OUR SALVATION. 401
himself is ; and the gospel hath the mind of God and of Christ in it, 1 Cor.
ii. 16.
Only, 4, look, as seed or a graft brings forth no fruit if it remains alone, unset, but it must be engrafted into some stock, or sown in some soil, if it
brings forth fruit, so this word of truth remains as a dead letter, un
fruitful, unless it be received into men s hearts, and there takes root, and abides ; even as Christ says the branch cannot bring forth fruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, John xv., so the word brings not forth fruit unless engrafted into us ; yea, to that end it was ordained and delivered by God, and preached by us. The epithet here given it imports this end and ordination of it. It is called the engraftable word, and so termed as it is in itself in respect of this its end and ordination, ere that yet it is received into the heart ; for he thereupon founds his exhortation to them to receive
it as such, as being the word that is ordained, intended for this, and whose end is to be engrafted, to be insititious as the perfection thereof (it is a noun, not a participle) ; as when we say, a child-bearing woman, that phrase im
ports not so much one actually with child, as fit in respect of age or condi
tion for it.
5. To be engrafted is not barely to be outwardly let into the ear or un
derstanding, but to be let into the heart, there to be recreated, there to abide and become one therewith, and (if you will) to be naturalised into the heart. The graft, if it take on the stock, is let into the very pith ; so must the word be, and then it is that it becomes Xoyog s/^v^og. Then is the word ensouled (tppvros and tyxdgfaoG are used for one) ; and so the in
terpretation of natural comes fitly in, the word and the heart becoming one in nature. The word is not only received into the conscience, to be a
guide or rule of life, but also into the heart, as a graft that doth naturally coalesce with the stock. Other scriptures express this under other meta
phors, comparing the word to milk and meat, which, received into the
stomach, are turned by the digestive faculty into the spirits, blood, bones,
flesh, &c. And this is the true import of that phrase in Heb. iv. 2, ^
ffvyxMga/Aevos rv\ marei, speaking of the word, that it profiteth not, because
it was not digested by faith, and so turned into blood and nourishment.
6. And lastly, It imports not barely its beirg made natural to the soul, as meat is with the body, when turned into flesh and blood, for the meat turns not man s nature into its nature, but the man s nature assimilates it unto itself. But this metaphor further imports, that the word turns the
soul of man and the dispositions of it into the nature of itself, as a noble
plant doth a more wild stock, Isa. Iv. 11. He speaks of his word and the
power thereof, which shall prosper to the ends he sends it, whereof one end is, ver. 13, that
* instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree ; in
stead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree ; that is, the nature of the
trees themselves shall be changed by it. Again, in meat digested, the nature of man useth all the blood and spirits gotten by it according to its own will and temper, which still remains the same ; but this word, engrafted into the heart, converts all the sap and strength in the stock to bring forth
fruit according to its own kind, for the virtue of it overrules all, and it
brings forth according to the kind of itself. And therefore in that, Col. i., the word is said to bring forth fruit in us, and not so much we ourselves to do it. Grace is the word concocted, and the fruit of holiness is but the word brought forth into the life.
Use. Therefore be exhorted to get the word thus received into your hearts, or it will not save your souls. The engrafted word (says James) VOL. VI. C C
402 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK YIII.
* is able to save your souls. It saves only as it is engrafted ; else the
whole word of God is not able to save you, but will condemn you. Men
that hear the word and are enlightened by it, either receive it as the earth
doth the rain, and brings forth thorns and briars, Heb. vi., the very rain
making lust more fruitful, or else they receive it as engrafted (as James
speaks), and that is, when it changeth the heart, and then it saves. Whereas,
of the other it is said, that they are near to cursing, whose end is to be
burned. Nor is it having the graft tied about with a thread, or the word
to stand in the memory or outward profession, but it must take root and
become one with thy heart.
The third similitude whereby the Holy Ghost expresseth sanctification to
be conformity to the word or law of God is here, in Heb. x. 14, 16, For
by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified; ver. 16,
4 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord ; I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I
write them. 1. He says, I will put mylaw into their hearts. 2. * And
in their minds will I write them. And thereby he intendeth to express
sanctification as differing from justification. For so he distinguisheth them
in the prophet s intention. For having said (ver. 14), that by one offer
ing Christ had perfected for ever them that are sanctified ; he allegeth the
saying of the prophet, as in one including sufficient proof of this assertion, and punctually allegeth both for the subject and predicate thereof. The
subject is them that are sanctified, to which he applies these words, Those in whose hearts he puts and writes his laws, that is, those whom he
sanctifies ; such he hath perfected for ever, in respect of justification, by
that one offering ; which he proves from these words of the prophet which
follow, ver. 17, And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more, and therefore they are perfected for ever. So then writing the law in the
heart is true and genuine sanctification. It is such, that to the persons that have it justification belongeth. Now let us consider these two phrases.
1. Putting the laws into their hearts.
2. Writing the laws in their minds, which still aim both at one meaning.
1. He is said to put the law into their hearts, which you may conceive
by what he did to Adam at the first, into whose heart he put his law. Now
what was that law, as it was put into Adam s heart, but all sorts of holy
instincts, properties, and inclinations unto whatever God did command ; and an antipathy against whatever God did forbid ? This was the law of
nature in his heart. The laws of God in Adam were Adam s original nature, and the constitution of his soul and spirit ; which we may all easily appre hend by what we conceive to be the law of nature in beasts, and other crea
tures, which God hath put into them to act according to their kind, as to
beasts to love their young, to birds to build their nests at such a season, with skill to do it. When God created man at first, he gave him not an
outward law written in letters, or delivered by words ; but an inward law
put into his heart, and concreated with him, and wrought in the frame of
his soul. And the whole substance of this law of God, the mass of it, was
not barely dictates or beams of light in his understanding, directing what to
do ; but also real, lively, and spiritual dispositions, and inclinations in his
will and affections, carrying him on to what was so directed, as to pray, to
love God and fear him, to seek his glory in a spiritual and holy manner.
They were inward abilities suitable to every duty. And as an evidence of
the law having been Adam s nature, we have the shadow of it in the hearts
of all men, which evinceth it. For they do by nature ra rou vopou, Rom. ii. 14,
CHAP. VI.J IN OUR SALVATION. 403
the things of the law ; though the inward part of the law, the holiness and
spiritualness of it, be blotted out, which was then Adam s nature. And the remainder of this, even in corrupt nature, and by nature without outward revelation of the law, is an evidence that this spiritual part (which is that of the law which is lost) was once in man as his nature ; as we know what corn the earth once bore, by the stubble that is found upon the field. So
then, that just, and holy, and spiritual law we now have extant in the
word, is but historia Adami, the story of Adam s heart, viz., of those in
stincts and properties which were once there ; as Pliny s Natural History, or Aristotle s Historia Animalium, is the story of the several instincts, pro
perties, and living dispositions, and postures of all sorts of living creatures,
painting out in a lifeless story that which (when you come to see these several creatures) you shall perceive naturally acted by them. And because the same law is renewed again in the soul, it is termed the law of the mind, which serves and observes the law of God, as the heliotrope doth the sun, or the needle the loadstone, being pointed and touched by it. The law of God is become the law of the new nature, and so the law of nature anew ; and commands as a law (even as sin is termed the law of the members, Rom. vii. 23), ruling also as a law useth to do.
* Writing the law in the heart, which imports the very same thing. And one contrary serving to explain another, we may fitly understand what it is to have God s law written in the heart, by what is meant by the writing its contrary, namely, sin and
2. The second phrase is in Heb. x. 16,
corruption, in the heart, Jer. xvii. 1. There sin is said to be written in
their hearts, as with the point of a diamond, that is, deeply engraven. Now what manner of letters these are wherewith sin is written on our hearts, we have woful and daily experience of. They are letters suitable to the paper they are writ on. The soul is a living, active creature, never resting, and these letters are answerably strong, vigorous, active, and lively inclinations and provocations unto what is evil and wicked, in all the varieties of it which naturally arise. Such answerably are those holy characters written on a living soul; and this the apostle expresseth, 2 Cor. iii. 3, Forasmuch
as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not in tables of
stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. His scope is to clear that diffe
rent writing of the word of God, by the power of Christ, in regenerate men s
hearts, from what it is in unregenerate men s hearts, who also have the law
written in a sort in them. He compares the latter to that writing the law
by God at first on a stone, or by Moses on a book. So, comparatively, it is
written on unrenewed hearts, where, when written in their understandings, memories, and consciences, it appears and remains, yet for the powerful
efficacy of it, it is but as if it were written on stone. There, indeed, he
that hath it may read it written, for in the letter of it it shews itself, but
yet it is but written on a stone or in a book. But now, says the apostle, suppose you see the same law, by the power and finger of God written on
flesh, on a creature active and living, if you see this law thus written by the same power and finger of God which first put laws into living creatures
to act so and so, what difference would there be evident between the former
writing and this ? Such is the writing the law in regenerate men s hearts
(says the apostle), It is written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the
living God ; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart ; that is (says he), you must understand these letters and characters of the word written to be answerable to the Spirit with which they are written.
404 THE WOKE OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
Now, this is the Spirit of the living God, who is a pure and mere act, and
his life is holiness and righteousness, and he acts accordingly ; and these
letters, therefore, are such dispositions of life (like unto God s) as shall in
cline the creature, by a vital principle, to act holily. The letters are spirit and life in the soul, and not dead characters as on stone, such as in un-
regenerate men s minds the law makes.
They are also written there as on fleshly tables ; that is, suppose you should see the living God would say he would write on a living heart,
these letters wrote must bear a likeness to the subject or paper written on, and so have living impressions suited to every faculty and power in the
soul, expressing the outward letter in living and active energies and virtues,
according to the capacity of each faculty. Conceive it thus : if you should
see the statue of a man completely cut out in stone (which is one part of
the apostle s comparison to which he compares unregenerate men s hearts),
having all outward members, yea, and the inward parts also, cut by a dead
tool by the same artificer, and you should hear God (who is the Father of
life, and is able to raise out of stones children to Abraham) say, You behold
this man of stone, this dead nose, eyes, &c., which bear the resemblance of
a man ; come, you shall see what manner of man I, that am the living God,
will make of him, after my image ; what would you expect, but such a man
as now you see yourselves to be, having all the members answerable to
those in that man of stone, and also not only the outward shape of a dead
eye carved in stone, but a living, quick, sparkling, sprightful eye, that could
discover this world and all things in it out of a vital principle ? What
would you expect to see but a heart likewise and pulse beating, veins full
of blood, the arteries of spirits, a living fleshly man, having all members
like to that man in stone, but living and acting according to their several
offices and properties, enlivened with a restless soul that enflames them ?
So it is here. Paul, when a pharisee, had the law carved forth in all the
lineaments of it on his conscience and understanding. He had a form of
truth and knowledge in the law ; but when Paul became a believer, he had
all this form and the members of it turned into spirit and life in him, into
properties and instincts answerable to that outward form, as hath been
CHAP. I.] IN OUR SALVATION. 405