Book IX
Of the eminency of mercy and grace discovered in this work of regeneration, comparatively with other works wrought in us. Of the greatness of the
power which God manifests in regenerating us, Of the influence which Christ s resurrection hath on our regeneration.
CHAPTER I.
The eminent mercy of God towards us in our regeneration evidenced, because
it is the first apparent discovery to us of our election. And because this work alone makes an alteration in our state, doth it once for all, brings us
into an eternal state of happiness, and alone makes a specifical change in us.
I HAVE discoursed of the nature of the work wrought in us by God in
regenerating us, and of the several parts in it ; the next thing to be con sidered is the eminency of mercy, which is shewn in this work. So emi nent it is, that it hath singularly obtained the title of mercy, and obtaining mercy: I who before (says Paul, 1 Tim. i. 13) was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy. He speaks of his con version : And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant (namely, in that first work, in working faith and love, as it follows), with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. And thereupon he breaks forth into that
high celebration of God for the mercy in it : ver. 17, Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory, for ever and ever ! There are three sorts of works whereby our salvation is completed and
accomplished.
1. Immanent in God towards us, as his eternal *love set and passed upon us, out of which he chose us, and designed this and all blessings to us.
2. Transient, in Christ done for us ; in all he did or suffered representing of us, and in our stead.
3. Applicatory, wrought in us and upon us, in the endowing us with all those blessings by the Spirit ; as calling, justification, sanctification, glori fication.
My purpose is not to institute a comparison of this work in us with those two mentioned, transacted towards us or for us by God and Christ, but only with those other of the latter sort, wrought in us after conversion. And so compared, this first work, and the concomitants of it at first, have some things therein which may and should cause us to look upon it as a most abounding mercy, surpassing those other fore-mentioned that follow
after it.
1. Because it is the first discovery, appearance, and manifestation of the
first two, election and redemption, in the persons to whom they were in-
406 THE WORK OF THE HOLT GHOST [BOOK IX.
* When the kindness and love of God appeared. And
tended : Tit. iii. 4,
how, and when, did it appear ? Ver. 5, According to his mercy he saved
us, by the washing of regeneration, &c. God s eternal love, like a mighty
river, had from everlasting ran, as it were, underground ; and when Christ
came, it took its course through his heart, hiddenly ran through it, he
bearing when on the cross the names of them whom God had given him ; but was yet still hidden here as to us, and our knowledge of it. But the
first breaking of it forth, and particular appearing of it in and to the per
sons, is when we are converted, and is as the first opening of a fountain, whereto the calling of the elect Jews in the last days is compared, Zech.
xiii. 1. And accordingly, in the first of the Galatians, Paul expresseth his
conversion to be the first revealing Christ in him, and of God s grace to wards him : But when it pleased God, who called me by his grace, to
reveal his Son in me, chap. i. 15, 16.
2. There is no other spiritual mercy we can lay claim to as ours before
this, or without this ; but upon it we are led unto all mercies. This Peter
(first epistle, chap. ii. ver. 9, 10) expresseth, both in the negative and affir mative thereof : the negative, in saying that afore their calling (of which, in the words afore, he speaks) they had not obtained mercy; the affirma
* they had obtained mercy. Whilst a man lives without regeneration, he is also without promise
tive, but now (namely, upon calling)
: Eph. ii. 12, He hath now quickened you, who in times past were strangers to the cove nant of grace. * And what are promises but the golden veins or rivulets
that mercies run into, as the dust and sand of the purest gold use in several
rills to do ? Which promises, though they were bequeathed before by God s
eternal decrees, and purchased by Christ s death, yet the right to them, the
seisin, the possession of them, is given at conversion : 2 Pet. i. 3, 4, after he had said that his divine power had given to them all things belonging to life and godliness (that is, furnished us with all requisite abilities there
* through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue, he adds, Whereby are given to us (delivery of seisin thereby is made) exceeding great and precious promises ; so as the youngest convert may upon regeneration go over and run through all the Scriptures, and view and
unto),
lay claim to whatever is promised of spiritual blessings therein. And often times all the promises are brought by the Spirit in unto this young heir, upon his first birth, for them to do homage, at least to own him, and acknow
ledge him as their heir.
3. Then it is that both the first and the greatest sum of pardoning mercy is granted and expended on us, in the forgiving both of more sins, and of them at once, than perhaps ever after at several times. All the sins a man had committed for twenty, thirty, or perhaps more years, lay on heaps ; and forgiveness had not been given forth, not so much as for one of them,
all that time. And every commandment brought in his bill, which the
Spirit reduced unto heads, and made catalogues of particulars under each head: I was a blasphemer (says Paul, and had blasphemed times with out number),
* a persecutor, injurious. And God forgave them all at
once, as it is said Mat. xviii. 24, 27, even ten thousand talents at once. All the debt and arrears that had run on score so many years, were then
acquitted. In the last chapter of James, and the last verse, the apostle, exhorting to convert souls to God, says, He that converts a soul, though but one soul, hides a multitude of sins ; for all his sins, till then, lay unforgiven. This you have Col. iii. 13, where, setting forth the mercy of * Qu. promise ? ED.
CHAP. I.] IN OUR SALVATION. 407
their calling out of their unregenerate condition, which he describes in these words,
* And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh ; and going on, You hath he quickened together with him (there is their first conversion) ; then follows, having forgiven you all trespasses ;
all, and at once together, namely, then when quickened. Which great debts in that former estate had been so long contracting.
I need not here debate that point, whether all the sins Christ died for are at that time forgiven, though that forgiveness be renewed every day, when pardon for new sins is asked by us, and so is to be sought for every day, as our Lord in his prayer hath taught us. It is enough for the proof of my assertion, and acknowledged by all, that then it is, that such a multi tude of sins past, so long continued in, come first to be actually forgiven ; and that after calling he gives them forth pardon by the day, every day for the sins of the day, peccata quotidians incursionis. He that is in the state of grace asketh pardon every day for the sins of the day, as he committeth them ; as well as we do pray for daily bread (as in the Lord s prayer we are taught). And we daily
* confessing our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive them, 1 John i. 7, 9, And Christ s blood still cleanseth us from all
sin. All along he speaks of it, as of the continuation of a continual act that cleanseth ; as a running fountain doth what defiled things are brought to it : as in that respect it is compared to a fountain opened for sin and
uncleanness, Zech. xiii. Fountains are called living waters, because they continually run, after their first springing, and cease not ; and thus the blood of Christ doth, and washes from the sinful Sowings of that original uncleanness which is continually bubbling up in us. Yet, at this first open ing of it, it may be compared unto a sea, in that respect we are now upon, of
pardoning us at first, as Micah vii. 19, God s pardoning mercies are com
pared ; but in respect unto the continual cleansing us, it is compared unto a fountain that always runs. And the difference of these two may be thus
illustrated. There is a father that spares and fojgives a son that serves him every day, and dischargeth his dribbling debts (as I may, in comparison of the ten thousand talents at first, term them) still as he runs into them : but God s first forgiveness is as that of the father of the prodigal, who had
spent all his stock given him, and run out of cash millions ; or as a father that hath a son that is a merchant, who breaks and is found thousands in
debt, and he at once dischargeth all, and gives him a new stock to set up, and to begin the world anew with. A father brings forth his bags at such a time, and layeth forth more mercy at one clap, than by daily supplies all a man s life after.
4. This work of regeneration doth alone make that great alteration men
tioned, of a man s state before God for all, and that for ever. That this makes the alteration of a man s state, I have shewn. The apostle Paul hath
it, Titus iii. 5, Hath saved us by the washing of regeneration.
(1.) That this alone doth make the alteration of the state is evident, because all other alterations after, are gradual, and additions of degrees, within the compass of the same state. Yea, even that great change from
grace to glory is but from faith to sight, from imperfect to perfect. We know but in part (yet in part), as 1 Cor. xiii. 12, Now we see through a
glass darkly, but then face to face ; now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known. The same things which we believe, and know
in part, we shall then see the whole and full of it. And it is but instead of seeing them in a glass as now, then to see them face to face. The state
of the man is one and the same, as to the grace of God, when a Christian
408 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX
liveth, and after when he dies. To be the Lord s, is the state of the man in both. The fellowship the same, it is but the change of place, not com
pany. Rom. xiv. 8, Whether we live or die, we are the Lord s. Faith
itself hath eternal life in it, 1 John v. 11, 18. And not in hopes only, but
* abiding in him, 1 John iii. 15. Death and heaven are accounted the great changes. As Job xiv. 14, I will wait till my change will come. But this is a greater, a turning from darkness to light, from Satan to God, Acts xxvi. 18. Yea, indeed, God then actually gives the whole right of all, that ever he gives forth afterwards ; then in the lump, afterwards by parcels. The Scripture calls it salvation, and being saved, speaking in the great and the whole of it.
it is in part
And (2.) this great change is made but once. There is but one baptism, as
* one faith ; and as the faith was but once delivered to the saints, Jude 3, so baptism is but once to be administered. And why ? Because the thing
signified, sealed up thereby, which is regeneration, is but once wrought (but the Lord s supper is often celebrated, 1 Cor. xi., As oft as ye receive ), which is therefore called a baptizing into the likeness of his death and resur
rection, Rom. vi. 4, 5. And that in two respects, which are the same with those before. 1. Inasmuch as Christ died but once, and rose but once, Heb.
* Once in the end of the world he died, and
vii. 27, and Heb. ix. 26, 27,
offered up himself, even as it is appointed for men once to die. And 2. That the estate he rose into is an eternal state of life : Heb. x. 12, He
for ever sat down on the right hand of God. Now both these the apostle
applies in that Rom. vi., unto men regenerated, and baptized into Christ, by instituting the parallel between our state by regeneration, signified by baptism into Christ s death and resurrection, and Christ s death and resur
rection itself, in both these very respects fore-mentioned, in these words, ver.
9, 10, 11, Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto
sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. From whence he infers, ver. 12, that sin shall not reign. It is a promise, as well as a command. And those words, Likewise reckon yourselves, import the parallel to lie in this, that as Christ died but once, and rose but once, so we are planted by baptism and
regeneration (which work bears the resemblance of his death and resurrection, and whereof baptism is the sign) but only once. And thus as, in Heb. ix., we heard the apostle saying, that Christ died
* but once, so in Heb. x. 26 we read, that for that very reason it is, that those that have been illumi
nated, and made partakers of the Holy Ghost, &c. (of whom you read in the 6th chapter of that epistle), that if they shall
* sin wilfully, after they have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacri
fice for sin : which is all one as to have said on Christ s part for us, for Christ died but once. And it is once, therefore answerably hereunto, there cannot be a new repetition of the work of regeneration, which they pro fessed to have received at their baptism ; which that 6th chapter of the Hebrews, verse 6, had given a clearer explanation of ; that
* those who have been enlightened, and tasted of the good word of God, and have been par takers of the heavenly gift, &c., if they shall fall away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance.
And why ? But because as Christ died but once, so men are renewed but once. And therefore those that hold total falling away from regenera tion, must either hold no second regeneration for such, which is to put them
CHAP. I.J IN OUR SALVATION. 409
into despair ; or they must say, that regeneration is often reiterated, and then that baptism, the sign of it, ought also to be repeated (even as the Lord s supper is), and then Christ s death reiterated also ; for these are
parallels in the apostle s intention.
5. As the change wrought in regeneration is once for all, so the estate we are brought into thereby is an eternal estate, never to be changed. As
Christ died once, and lives ever, and death hath no more dominion over
him, likewise reckon yourselves. This second Adam, Christ, that came to
restore us, being immutable, and his state unchangeable, such is the state and condition of the members of him, 1 Cor. xv. 45. And they are called
Christ s fellows, Ps. xlv. 7, being made partakers of fellowship with him, in his death, and in the virtues and glories of his resurrection, Phil. iii. 10 ; and regeneration (whereof baptism is the sign), is their admission into that
* In that they live,
society. And they are admitted in socios perpetuos.
they live unto God ; and sin hath no more dominion over them. Now then, all this put together
: 1. Regeneration changeth the state of a man ; 2. this alone doth it ; 3. once for all ; 4. brings him into a perpetual estate ; all this (I say) put together, argues the mercy transcendent. And
further, by how much the misery of that estate from which may be
greatened, or the privilege of that estate into which we are by regeneration
brought, may be aggrandised (which is not my scope), by so much is the
mercy of this new birth to be estimated by us.
6. This alone makes the specifical change. All other changes that follow
are but gradual. I intend to make this branch distinct from the former, as
to my purpose in hand (though I confess it may be made one branch, in
volved in the foregone), the change of a man s state of salvation is mainly a moral, legal, forensical change ; as that change which of a man condemned
to die, unto a state of life ; or that of a servant, to a son (which out of Rom.
vi. was instanced in) ; of an heir of hell, to be an heir of eternal life. And
the greatest change of our estate lies in such privileges ; or, as John ex-
presseth it, John i. 13, in giving us authority to be the sons of God. But over and above such as these, there is a physical change, which is more properly the impress of regeneration, which is a work in us. The
other changes are the consequents or concomitants thereof ; and that is it
that makes a specilical change, as all births, and generations, and corrup tions are said to do. Other changes, by growings up in grace, are but
gradual, from faith to faith, Rom. i. 17 ; from strength to strength, Ps.
Ixxxiv. 7 ; from glory to glory, 2 Cor. iii. 18. It is true, the substance of
a man s nature, as a man, is one and the same afore and after. It is there
fore called but putting off an old man, and putting on a new ; even as
you cast off or put on another garment. And also that holiness, or the
divine nature, is but a quality, which, as it is more worth than a man s soul
devoid of it, so doth raise the soul into another kind or species of man,
taking it together with that indwelling and information of the Holy Ghost, who dwells in that inner man, Eph. iii. 16, as another soul in our souls.
Nay, the very body, the animal part, is said to be the temple of the Holy Ghost. And it is added, who is in you, in your souls, namely, by a
* He dwelleth with
nearer conjunction than in your bodies. John xiv. 17,
you, and shall be in you. And the conclusion of both is, that take this new creature, with this indwelling of the Holy Ghost in it, and the old
man, with the inhabitation of Satan in him, and it makes, analogice, a
greater change in kind than if a beast were made a man, a clod of earth
a star.
410 THE WOKE OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
If the spiritual body and the natural body (of which the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. xv. 44), if the heavenly man, Christ, and those that appertain to him ; and the earthly man, Adam, and his earthly ones, ver. 47, 48, may by the apostle s arguings and comparisons (and so in his account and in
tentions) be said to differ, like the several species of creatures, which you reckon differing in kind, ver. 39. By these differing species, he sets out the difference of the natural and spiritual body, ver. 44, whenas that is but the change of qualities in them, which yet is said to make this vast difference. A vaster difference must needs hold much more in this trans mutation of our souls we treat of. The one is natural, the other is spiri tual. The persons are in the Scripture termed another generation of men. Peter distinguished those that are disobedient, 1st Epistle, chap, ii., ver. 8, and those born again, ver. 9, with a but of discrimination. But ye are a chosen generation. Christ calls the other a generation of vipers. The
* These are the generation of them that seek thee. And to the other a distinct generation is attributed by Christ, as in that speech, They are wiser in their generation than the children of light, who are of another sort. And hence it comes to pass that the change made by the new birth is in Scripture expressed by such changes ; or, as the apostle s word is, Rom. xii. 2, by such a f^ra/^o^ufftf, Be transformed by the renewing of your minds. It is a word which the poets used to express those changes which they feigned, from men to beasts, or beasts to men. The reality of which in this work might by many scriptures be made good, by shewing how the specifical properties of men s spirits are altered ; like as if a lion were made a lamb, and such like. And this change the new birth makes at first, and that alone, in wholly beginning that new kind, which was not before.
psalmist says,