Chapter II
The eminency of God s mercy in our regeneration evidenced from these con siderations : that no motives from us can be supposed to incite God to do this for us; that we do not so much as concur to the work, but are merely passive to it. The uses of the doctrine.
Unto all that hath been said, this may be added further, that there can be supposed no motives inciting God to bestow this blessed change. It is not according to works of righteousness which we had done. In giving other mercies, after he hath begotten us, he may at least take occasion from something in us to move him ; as, to give perseverance, for he that hath begun a good work will perfect it : for artifex amat opus ; and he ^is faithful that hath begun it, to finish it. So to him that hath brought forth fruit already, he is therefore moved to purge him, that he may bring forth more fruit, John xv. 2. And to him that hath, shall be given, as Mat.
xxv., and often elsewhere. He crowns his own works in us with a farther increase. But before regeneration, there is neither any work of ours by us, nor work of his own in us, to move him. In giving glory, though he doth not bestow it propter opera, for our work, yet secundum opera, accord
ing to works. I speak as to degrees of glory ; so everywhere up and down in Scriptures. Only in this work of regeneration there is neither propter nor secundum. Even according to works is excluded. No secundum, but
CHAP. II. J IN OUK SALVATION. 411
of his mercy. According to mercy (so Paul). According to his abun dant mercy (so Peter) hath he renewed us.
2. The lesser concurrence man himself may be supposed to have in any work done by God for us, the greater, the entirer is the mercy shewn in it, for then it is wholly God s. Now of all things, whatever may be supposed we can do for ourselves, we cannot beget ourselves ; as not at first could we have created ourselves. Neither can any creature do this for us. So John i. 13,
* Who were born (says the evangelist), not of blood, nor of
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. This birth goes not by blood. Neither that we are born of great parents, or of good. Therefore
* say not
* you have Abraham to your father. Nor is it of the will of the flesh, the power of man s corrupt will, who is born nothing but flesh. Water may as soon of itself attain the form of fire, as the will of the flesh, that is, the will as acted and informed by flesh, elevate itself, or be elevated
(says Christ)
(remaining flesh) into the least disposition or act of holiness. It is not in him that wills or runs, but in God that shews mercy. Nor is it in the will
of man, nor of our parents or friends, that use all means to do us good ; nor of the holiest, through their prayers or endeavours, to work it. Abra ham would have had Ishmael, but God would not. No power or will of
any creature whatsoever can regenerate us ; but it is God who of his own
will begetteth us, as it is James i. 18. And the reason of this is founded upon this observation, which holds in
nature, that the more noble the birth is, the more God hath a hand in it ; and this being the most noble, and wholly divine and heavenly, therefore
it is alone from God. Animals are only said to be begotten. Now beasts
being more ignoble creatures, unto their begetting God concurs but by the
ordinary way of providence, for they traduce both soul and body. But the
birth of man, being of the most noble creature, God therefore reserves the main immediate stroke in it unto himself ; and the parents having prepared the body through that plastica et prolifica seminis vis, God comes and
infuses the soul. And therefore, Heb. xii. 9, he is called the Father of
spirits, and they but the parents of our bodies. Sol et homo generant hominem, says the philosopher, that is, God and man do beget man. But
in this new birth, because the most noble of all, God doth all, and all is to be ascribed to him : James i. 17, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. And then he instanceth in
this of regeneration, Of his own will he begat us. The coherence evi
dently argues this to be so noble and so perfect a work of God s, and of Buch a kind as is wholly heavenly and divine, and from him as the Father
of lights. That as nothing but the sun itself, that is, the visible Father of
lights, can cause a true genuine likeness or image of itself, whether in the
eye or in a glass, or in a parhelion in the clouds, so none but God alone can and doth frame the true image of himself in the hearts of men. This
rich and noble begetting us of his will is therefore wholly heavenly and from above ; for it is a perfect birth, a good and perfect gift, and so entirely descended from above ; whereas the works raised in the hearts of temporary believers are made up, partly through the influence of heaven, partly from
self-love stirred up and excited thereby, and so are but imperfect gifts ; like those creatures begotten by the sun warming and shining on mud, as
frogs and other creeping things, whose form is raised and educed out of
that corrupt matter the beams of the sun fell on.
I add, that take the substantiate of it, we contribute nothing, but are
412 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
merely passive. Therefore an infant is as capable of all the essentials of
regeneration as a man grown up is ; and therefore of baptism. For what
are the essentials of regeneration ?
1. Christ s apprehending us, ere we him, Phil. 3. Thus children are
capable of being apprehended by Christ ; even as children in the womb are
comprehended by the mother, though they hang, as the earth, in the middle, not laying hold on her.
2. The Holy Ghost shed down into the heart, as here in the text. This
children are capable of, for John Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb, Luke i. 15.
3. The new creature, in all the principles of it, the habits of holiness
wrought, the workmanship (as it is called) which children are also as
capable of ; for as they are capable of all the evil dispositions of sin, and
inclinations to it, so of holiness ; yea, and therefore of sin now, because once of holiness. So as in receiving all these, a man may be wholly pas sive ; and yet these are the substantiate . All that follow are but the
actings, by the Spirit, of that new creature in us, and our apprehending that
for which we are comprehended (as the apostle speaks) ; yea and it is as
certain that ere any man can be born of Christ, he must be apprehended of Christ ; and ere he have spirit or divine nature begotten in him, he must have the Spirit come upon him ; as also ere he can put forth the least act
of holiness, he must have the principle of holiness ; as no man that hath not a principle of life can stir a finger, or that hath not an eye can see. So then, in receiving all these a man of riper years is passive, and the
receiving of all depends upon no foregoing actings of his. Turn me (say they in the prophet)
* and I shall be turned, Jer. xxxi. 18. Whereas afterwards acti agimus : Eom. viii. 13, We by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh. Not the Spirit alone, but we by the Spirit, who in our
prayers is said to help our infirmities, ver. 26. And therefore they are
said to be our prayers, as well as the Spirit s in us. When the lamp is once lighted, put oil to it and it burns, but who shall light it ? When the wheel is made round, an easy touch sets it a-going ; but who shall round
it ? In this therefore we are merely passives ; though when thus turned, we also turn to God, Jer. xxxi. 18.
Even of all the good works we are enabled afterwards to do, this is the womb, the foundation ; so as without this one work first begun in thee, no work thou doest or canst do, hath the name of good ; even as all evil
thoughts and lusts in the heart proceed from that corrupt nature we had at our birth. That is the mother of all abominations, which David in his
confession, Ps. li., had recourse unto. So is this seed of God, the divine nature at first put into us, the seed abiding, whence all that is good and
acceptable springeth. They are all fruits of the Spirit, as the other of the
flesh, Gal. v. All the good we bear is from the root. First (says Christ) make the tree good. In some trades there is required frames of workman
ship to be set up, or cast, ere they can work ; as to a printer, a press ; to him that will cast letters, a matrix (as they call it) ; to a weaver, a loom ; to a smith, a forge ; to a goldsmith, &c., moulds to cast metals in, from whence they receive their fashion. And the whole actings in their callings afterwards do depend on such workmanships and fabrics at first erected. Now so is it here, as in two places to follow these metaphors the apostle holds forth. The one Eph. ii. 10, Ye are his workmanship, created to
good works. A new workmanship must be created ere any good work will be effected. The other text is Eom. vi. 17, You have obeyed from the
CHAP. II.] IN OUR SALVATION. 413
heart that form, mould, or pattern of doctrine ye were delivered into,
g/ ov Kag&doQrirz. The word of God he compares both to a pattern or
sampler of obedience, and to a mould or matrix which their hearts were
first cast in themselves, that so they might become a meet, fitted, and pre pared womb, in which and from which all obedience might receive its for mation and shape, and there be cast. Now you know that such as the mould is, such are the things cast therein ; if they be misshapen, then are
all the metals cast therein spoiled, as in some wombs the formation of
children also is. Thou mayest perform works of all sorts that are good ; but let me tell thee, unless thou hast thine own heart first made a new
workmanship, a workmanship created and forged by the Spirit anew, as a
principle thereunto, thou spoilest all in the doing, thou marrest all in the
making. This for the reasons of this point. Use 1. Let the saints bless God in a more special manner for this work of conversion and regeneration wrought in them. Study the riches of that mercy which have been shewn in it. Put this eminently and usually into
that catalogue of mercies which thou givest thanks to God for. Two things are not reminded enough by us, our first birthsin, to humble us in our confessions ; our first birth-mercy to make us thankful ; wherein abundance of mercy is shewn, there God looks for abundance of thanksgiving. Many years after Peter remembers it, to bless God for it, and stirs up them to it, and puts himself into the number ; who hath begotten us. So Paul also
speaks (who delights and takes often occasion to tell that story), To the King immortal, &c., 1 Tim. i. The links of that chain,
* Whom he hath
predestinated, them he hath called ; them he hath justified ; them he hath
glorified, we should always wear about our hearts, to oblige us to thank
fulness and obedience. Kings usually owe more to their births, in which
they were mere passives, than to all their after achievements. Kings are therefore wont to celebrate their births. At the beginning and the laying the first foundation of God s great works of wonder, the angels are still
brought in singing and rejoicing ; at the foundation of the earth, Job
* When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. So at the birth of Christ, an heavenly host, a multitude
xxxviii. 7,
sang. We read not so at his resurrection. Again, at the conversion of a
sinner, there is joy amongst all the angels. Heaven rings of it that a new
heir, a new prince, is born. And besides the substance of the mercy itself,
if thou canst find out any peculiarity of mercies that environ it in the circumstances of it, consider them, and bless God for them, this work being one of the greatest acts that ever God did about thee, or towards thee. God sometimes plots to set forth the mercy of it, to make his hand and
love in it the more eminent and remarkable. Christ s birth was accom
panied with a star, which made it observed by the wise men ; and all Jeru salem was troubled at it. And as our late chronologers undertake, it fell out in the four thousandth year of the world, as the finishing the temple, his type, in the three thousandth ; and also at a time of general and universal peace. Some circumstances or other, perhaps, thou mayest dis cern in thy new birth, if thou hast had the advantage to discern the time or occasion of it. I shall mention some that are not merely circumstantial ; whereof, though some one may be different from the other, yet in their
variety they have some peculiarity of mercies.
1. The longer thou didst live before God turned thee, and yet did it, and
the more sinful thou wert, this in one respect wonderfully heightens the
mercy of it. Christ encountered Paul as a man would do an enemy in the
414 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
open field, unhorsed him in full career, when his heart was more than ever
set to mischief, and near the place of doing it.
2. On the contrary, the sooner God turned thee, if in thy youth, this was mercy to thee, for God had thy virginity,
* thy first love, before lovers had bruised thy breasts. I remember (says God)
* the kindness of thy youth, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, Jer. ii. 2. Paul in
this respect complains of it as a disadvantage to him, that he was born out
of time, 1 Cor. xv. 8, and like a truant had been put to this school or
academy long after other apostles, who had the start of him. He seems to mention it with a little holy envy at the honour others had before him, who were (says he) afore me in Christ, Rom. xvi. 7, and thereby were
elder disciples than himself.
3. If God at thy conversion gives thee a greater stock and measure of
grace, brings thee forth in a fuller stature in Christ the first day, herein is
great mercy shewn. Thus Paul was recompensed. He was born a strong man the first hour, insomuch as being the chief of the apostles added no
thing to him in experience or knowledge, Gal. ii. Many are born weak
lings in comparison, and are long a-growing up to what thou perhaps at first
receivedst.
4. If when God began to work it he did effect it speedily, in this he was kind to thee, Hos. xiii. 13,
* Ephraim is an unwise son, he stayed long in the place of the breaking forth of children, if as Matthew, we come at the first call The rude and barbarous jailor had quick despatch. He came in trembling at midnight to Paul, and was converted with joy before break of day, yea, the same hour, Acts xvi. 25-34. The Philippians, the
first day they heard it, Phil. i. 5. If as Paul, immediately thou conferrest not with flesh and blood, Gal. i. 16. If as soon as God called thou heardst, and wert not rebellious, but openedst thine ear, this is an effect of God s
peculiar love to thee.
5. If God put thee to less trouble and horror, brought thee forth with
less pains, in this his mercy appears. Some souls have very hard labour. Paul lay but three days, and Christ from heaven pities him, and sends Ananias to him. The stone in some men s hearts God dissolves, when
others are cut for it, and lie roaring night and day. Lydia s heart was
gently opened, and by faith closed up again (as Adam s was for Eve) ere she was aware. Though sometimes it falls out, the lesser fine, the more there is in rent after, in greater temptations.
6. Greater mercy is displayed to thee if God came in then with much
joy, whenas he deals so roughly with others, as Joseph did with his brethren ;
but no sooner thou hadst begun to confess and open thy mouth to speak to him for his love, but he fell on thy neck and kissed thee, yea, came and kissed thee sleeping, and with joys first awakened thee ; and instead of shew
ing thee the rack, the dungeon, the everlasting chains of wrath, and shutting thee up under the law, he had thee down into his wine cellar, and brought thee to a banquet. The Thessalonians were thus dealt with : 1 Thes. i. 6, Ye became followers of the Lord, having received the word with joy in the Holy Ghost, &c. In a thousand of these varieties doth he deal with souls, and playeth with us in his wooings, that his ways should be past finding out. Aid if all the stories of souls converted in this as well as in the pri mitive times were written, you would admire Christ for nothing more than
his art of love, and the variety of his artifices in wooing, and his manifold wisdom in contriving mercies in conversions.
7. The more exemplary our conversion was, the more peculiar was the
CHAP. II.] IN OUR SALVATION. 415
mercy shewn in it. And such was that of those fore-named Thessalonians : 1 Thes. i. 7, 8,
* Ye were ensamples to all that believe, and in every place your faith to God-ward was spread abroad. Such likewise was that of the Romans, Rom. i. 8 ; and of the Ephesians, so Eph. ii. 7. And thus Paul also speaks of his conversion : that he was a pattern of mercy to them that should afterward believe. And thus much shall serve to shew the greatness of this work, from the abundance of mercy that God shews
forth in it. Use 2. You that have received this mercy from God, shew mercy to others ; if in anything, in endeavours what in you lies to beget men to God. Though God alone doth it, yet he useth means ; though means contribute
nothing, yet God useth them, as the clay to open the eyes. Hast thou a chamberfellow, a pupil, a friend, a brother still in their natural state ? Oh, if thou hast received mercy from God, endeavour to bring them in to obtain like mercy with thyself
! On some have compassion, save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire, Jude 22, 23, with fear lest they should die ere converted, snatching them with all violence Can you endure
to see men burn ? Hear what James also says in his last words : If any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. Let him know ; he
speaks of it as a matter of such high worth and moment as few consider the worth, the greatness of such a work.
* Let him know he saves a soul from death, and whom would not that move ? And it is a means of for
giving innumerable sins. Who, with speaking a word, would not get a man
in debt for thousands freed ? A man that converts another (though he con
tribute so little that God doth all), yet the person converted owes himself
to him, Phil. i. 9. Oh, what do we then owe to Christ ? And we have
nothing but ourselves to give to him.
Use 3. Despise not the ministry nor work of it. It is to convert souls, and therefore it is the best calling in the world : 1 Tim. i. 12, And I thank Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faith
ful, putting me into the ministry ; the despised ministry, that few of you now-a-days will be of that calling. The wares it deals in is souls, men and
their salvation : 1 Tim. iv. 16, Thou shalt save thyself, and them that hear thee. He could not give a greater motive unto any work. God had but one Son, and he made him a minister : Rom. xv. 8, Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, which he preached among the Jews, through all their cities. One of his royal titles is, a
bishop of souls, 1 Pet. ii. 25 ; only he is the chief, the arch-bishop, 1 Pet.
v. 4, and we undershepherds.
Use 4. Lastly, What is then the glory of the church, and so should be of universities ? Even this, that multitudes of converts are born again therein, and they filled with such. In the 87th Psalm, 3-6, the psalmist enters into a comparison, in this very respect, of the surpassing glory of Sion and Jerusalem, the mother of us all, above all those nations and cities that were then renowned in the world, as Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, &c., who boasted of those worthies and heroes that they had brought forth and been the mothers of, their Belus, Trismegistus. Glorious things (says he)
* are
spoken of thee, city of God, and far more glorious than all the nations.
1 1 will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me : behold
Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia ; this man was born there. Among their familiars they used to boast and brag of their brave and gallant men
416 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
* But of Sion it shall be said, This and that man w born in her. If he had intended to vie and compare Sion with Babylon and
as born among them.
Egypt, in respect of an outward birth and nobleness in that respect, or for
worldly excellencies, that make men renowned, they might have excelled
Sion, at least equalled her sons in that respect. But Sion, considered
here as the city of God, her glory spiritual, her children here spoken of born of the Spirit, and she a spiritual mother of them (as, Gal. iv. 25-29, the apostle speaks), and so their birth answerable and suitable to the dig
nity of the mother, that she brought forth every day multitudes of saints and regenerate men, children and citizens of that Jerusalem and Sion that
is above, the mother of us ; her glory in God s account was ten thousand
times greater than what the flower of all other nations could pretend to. And therefore he adds that God, when he makes up his catalogue of those whom he accounts of, should pass by all theirs, and leave them out, and
set them only that were regenerate and born in Sion, as the only excellent ones of the earth. As it follows, The Lord himself shall establish her
(as having such a royal generation for her race and progeny), the Lord
shall write, when he counts up the people, that this man was born there.
All which the apostle alludes to, speaking of this heavenly city and her
* Ye are come to mount Sion, the city of the living God, the
children :
heavenly Jerusalem, the first-born which are written in heaven, Heb. xii.
22, 23. And this was Sion s glory and establishment then : Ps. cxxvii., As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, such were the children of her
! And whilst former times have boasted they have sent forth out of such a college so many bishops, deans, &c., or famous writers, men of such and such learning and renown, the memory of whom you continue in your windows, let the glory which
youth as these. that such may be yours
you affect be, that such and such a man was born again here ; and blessed
are the colleges that have their quiver full of them, as the psalmist there
goes on. And these shall more speak for you, with your enemies in the
gate, than all other arguments. Yea, God himself will establish you, and these that cry, Down with her, down with her, shall not dare to
attempt it, much less to effect it.
CHAPTEE III.
The eminent mercy of God in our regeneration appears, inasmuch as all three
persons concur in it, though it be attributed, efficiently, more eminently to
the Holy Ghost.
I shall farther demonstrate this truth from the solemnity that is in heaven at the effecting of this work of regeneration, in a set distinct con
currence and appearance of all three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost therein ; which will yet further shew the greatness of divine mercy in this work.
This great and happy conjunction appears in Titus iii. 4-6 : But after
that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared, not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. There is a distinct and conspicuous appearance of these three. The word
used in the text is svztpdvq, After that the love and kindness of God
CHAP. III.] IN OUB SALVATION. 417
appeared. When our Lord and Saviour was born, it is said his star appeared, Mat. ii. 7. The same word is used ; and the remembrance thereof, the church called
eiri<pavia, the Epiphany unto this day. But here is a greater Epiphany than that was, an appearance, not of one star, but of three, the three persons ; not a constellation, but a great conjunction in the heaven of heavens.
* God our Saviour, as a distinct person from Christ, who is also called
1. There is the Father, who in the 4th verse is called
* our Saviour, ver. 6. And of the Father it must be meant that it is said, that
* He hath saved
us, and that He hath shed on us the Holy Ghost, through Christ our Saviour : the Father is spoken of as distinct from those two.
2. There is the Holy Ghost s appearance, who is said to be richly, or
* abundantly shed, which in those times often was visible : Peter and the
rest having received the Holy Ghost, he doth appear to the senses of the standers by
: Acts ii. 83, He hath shed forth this (namely, the Holy Ghost, mentioned and spoken of in the very words afore)
* which we see and hear. Your senses may inform and convince you ; it was so evident an
appearance, both in the shapes of tongues, as also in the gifts and graces on a sudden poured forth upon illiterate and sinful men. The same appear ance of the Holy Ghost you have in Cornelius, Acts x. 44, which was con
spicuous to standers by ; that it is said, ver. 45, They of the circum
cision were astonished, because on the Gentiles also was poured out the
gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and
glorify God, ver. 46. And 3. Here is Christ s concurrence also :
* which he shod on us
through Christ, says the text. For upon the preaching of Christ, and
upon mentioning of his name, did the Holy Ghost fall upon men. Peter
preaching Christ, and peace by him (Acts x., ver. 36 to ver. 44), when he had centred his discourse in ver. 43, That to this Christ all the
prophets gave witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him
* That whilst Peter
shall receive remission of sins, the next words tell us,
yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. The Holy Ghost took that very cue (as we say) to come in and
enter upon the stage ; that is, then to fall down on all that heard the word ; thereby witnessing, that as remission of sins was through his name
only, so that the Holy Ghost, to work faith in his name, was poured
forth, through his name also. As the same Peter had before in that Acts ii. 33, informed his hearers, that
* Christ, being exalted at the right hand of God, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this.
For explication of this. It is true there is a joint concurrence of all
three persons in every action that is done ; for opera Trinitatis ad extra
sunt indivisa. But then of such lesser works and appearances of God, you read the mention of their concurrence but singly in several and scattered
places of Scriptures. So it is scatteredly attributed to the Father to create, and to the Word, and to the Spirit. But where and when in any work you find at once and together all three appear, all mentioned in a chapter, as here in the text for regeneration, that work is ever some eminent work, and hath a not only upon it, a solemnity in it. Yea and thereby is signified, that over and above their ordinary and common influence, they have a
special, distinct, and extraordinary hand and operation. As God s presence was ordinarily in the pillar of fire, and the cloud in the wilderness ; but if
the glory of God at any time appeared over and above upon the tabernacle,
VOL.. VI. D d
418 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
then some great thing was in hand, either of judgment or mercy. Perhaps many other instances might be brought, wherein these three great persons
are together brought in as met in the like near conjunction. I shall instance
but in two, the greatest of all other, and but in these because they hold
some parallel with the work of our regeneration, and are patterns of it. They both of them appertain to our Lord Christ our head, to whose image we are
ordained to be conformed, and so will serve to illustrate the like done towards
us in this regenerating of us.
1. What was the greatest work of wonder that ever God did in the world ?
It was the incarnation of the Son of God : Jer. xxxi. 22, God hath created
(says the prophet, speaking of it) a new thing in the earth, viz., that a woman should encompass in her womb that Gheber, that strong and giant
like man, Christ, God and man, without the help of man.
Now at the instant time and moment when this was to be done, there
was a manifestation and declaration of all three persons in it. A record is
extant how all, though invisibly, concurred in it, not darkly, with an us in
general words, as at the creation, Let ?/s make man, but clearly and dis
tinctly. And as at the transfiguration of Christ (which Peter maketh the
solemnest and most glorious manifestation of God that ever he had been an
eye and ear-witness of, 2 Peter i. 16, 17) you find, to grace the solemnity
of it, Moses, Christ, and Elias talking and conferring together ; so ^here, there is the very conference recorded. A set and solemn conference it was
in heaven, and the words spoken set down at the instant of Christ s con
ception ; the Father declaring his decree about it to the Son, and the Son
speaking to the Father of his willingness to it. Paul hath recorded and set down the very words as a great secret, as it must be accounted : Heb. x. 5, When he comes into the world he says ; it is the Son of God he speaks
of, as existing afore he took man s nature ; and the words that follow, spoken
by him, are expressly said to be at the time, instant, or moment of his com
ing into the world, and his being made flesh when he came into the world,
as prophesied of by David ; and Paul affirms he then did utter them. This
his taking flesh was a going forth from his Father (as himself styles it in
John), the setting out upon the greatest adventure and design that ever was. And therefore Christ, at the time of his first setting forth, thought fit to
speak something about it, as a distinct person from his Father, as he that
should be interested in it (for none was to be made a sacrifice but he), to let him know upon what ground it was he undertook it, merely in obedience to
his will. The like he did when he suffered : Not my will, but thine be
done, which was his motto from first to last. Sacrifice and offering thou (as speaking to his Father)
* wouldest not, but a body hast thou
prepared me.
Now as Christ is thus expressly introduced, so it is to be noticed that his
Father had given the occasion, having first declared to him and revived the
remembrance of his everlasting decrees and prophecies about it. For the
speech of Christ, ver. 7, Then said I, Lo I come to do thy will, is evidently
in answer to another speech first uttered and declared to him by his Father, which he repeats, ver. 6, When in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins,
thou, Father, hadst had no pleasure, then or thereupon said I, Lo, I
* also the memory of God s decree, and an old record
come ; reviewing
about it : In the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, God. God the Father hath declared his will, both vim voce, et scriptis ;
and the Son his, and the Holy Ghost, the secretary of heaven, is brought * Qu. reviving ? ED
CHAP. III.] IN OUR SALVATION. 419
in as a recorder of all this : ver. 15, Whereof the Holy Ghost is a witness. That word also bids us take in this allegation of Christ s speech, as that which is referred to, as well as to that quotation which followed. And he was in a peculiar manner in this, for none else could have told it as uttered at that very time but he.
And for this Christ hath expressly told us, that as he and his Father do confer together about the great transactions of man s salvation, so that the
Spirit hears all that passeth, John xvi. 13. Nor yet did he stand by as a bare witness to relate it and confirm it to us, but was sent down by both as a principal actor, that had the great and ultimate hand in effecting of it.
The Son of God speaks of a body prepared by the Father for him to take up
: A body hast thou prepared me. The Father had a hand in it then, but by whom ? By the Holy Ghost ; so expressly, Luke i. 85, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore shall that holy thing that shall be born of thee be called the Son of God. Here is, then, if not a visible gopay/a, as our divines call that at his baptism, yet an evident record of an invisible and distinct con
junction of all three persons at the instant of Christ s conception, bearing their parts in it.
1. The Father declaring it as his will, both to the Son and the Spirit. 2. The Holy Ghost, as the person sent by the Father, to perform and fashion that body in Mary s womb ; this tabernacle being of another
building, which God pitched, and not man, Heb. ix. 11 and viii. 2.
And 3. The Son, as the person that owns and assumes that body so pre pared for him to dwell in it, as in a tabernacle, as the author to the Hebrews terms it : Lo I come into the world ; which was only done by his takinc* that body to himself, into one person with him.
And this great and eminent concurrence of all three may perhaps more
clearly be gathered from the story of the angel s coming to Mary, Luke
i. 26, 27, &c.
1. God the Father sent his angel. The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David ; and the virgin s name was Mary. God the Father gave his angel his commission, and a particular note of all the circumstances, as punctually as any one that sends a messenger of an errand. God sent him to a city of Galilee, and by name Nazareth, to a virgin espoused, and her husband s name is in the note ; a man whose name is Joseph, and his lineage of the house of David. You see God the Father was deeply in it.
2. The Holy Ghost, he was sent, as was observed, ver. 35, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.
3. God the Son must needs be supposed most in it of all three. For by virtue of his assuming unto one person that holy thing which was conceived in her, it was, that, ver. 32, He was called the Son of the Highest. And
if he had not actually assumed, married into one person with himself, that which was formed in her womb by the Holy Ghost, it had not been called the Son of God, as ver. 35 it is. He it was who put on and wore, and married this flesh made of a woman, and therefore his consent was of all other most
explicit.
And thus began the New Testament (as became it) with the discovery of the three persons in that great work, at which the era of the New Testa ment itself began. And this so distinct a discovery of the three at the in
carnation, being thus express and eminent, hath not been enough noticed
420 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
by our divines, nor added, in handling this argument, unto those other at
Christ s baptism and transfiguration. How this at Christ s conception, and
that happy contract, and espousal, and union made between the human and divine nature, will conduce to illustrate the like at our regeneration, I
shall shew when I have added another conjunction, more famous, because more visible, namely, at Christ s baptism, where usually our divines begin the discovery of the three out of the New Testament. And this I shall also
speak (though more briefly) unto, because both these put together will have their joint virtual influence of tending to clear the point in hand.
The meeting of the three persons at his conception was invisible, for the
* in the lower parts of the earth, hidden and under ground, as the psalmist speaks. And unto
formation and union of his human nature was, as ours,
which, speaking of Christ s formation in the womb of a virgin, the apostle
alludes, Eph. iv. 9. But what was as then uttered and transacted between
the three persons in secret, was at his baptism to be proclaimed upon the
house-top. It was the public owning, inauguration, and instalment of the Son of God. It was the solemnisation of that marriage between the two
natures, human and divine, which had been carried more privately, yet by
all the same three witnesses. And accordingly, God took a time for this, when all the people were baptized and standing by (so Luke iii. 21, Mat.
iii. 5), who had come out of Jerusalem, and all Judea, and the region about
* And Jesus was baptized, and praying, ver. 21, heaven opened, which is the greatest outward
Jordan, when they were all thus standing by.
miracle in the heavens, as an earthquake, or opening of the earth, is on the
earth. And heaven opened to let down the revelation of the greatest mys
tery, which only could be coalitus, or from heaven revealed. A light comes down from the throne of God, and all three persons make an outward
manifestation of themselves. Pater in voce, Filius in homine, Spiritus Sanctus
in columba* And what is the business they appear about ? But to own
their former act and work. To proclaim that Christ. They had met to make the Christ at his conception, now they meet openly to proclaim him
to be the Messiah and Son of God ; yea, and to seal up and give testi mony to the human nature itself (who had lived thirty years without any such extraordinary revelation) that he was indeed the Son of God ; that
this holy thing born of that virgin was the Son of the most high God, as
the angel told Mary. And unto both these testimonies and transactions
of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, both at his conception and bap
tism, doth that triple testimony of the three in heaven refer, mentioned
by John the apostle, 1 John v. 5, 7, even to this, that Christ is the Son
of God.
But have I told this long story merely to this general purpose, to shew
that in God s greatest works of wonder there is a distinct appearance of the
three ? or withal, to add a new instance of the Qsopavia of the three, and indeed the first mentioned in the New Testament, and upon the greatest occasion ? No ; not to these ends only or chiefly have I told this story, as
singly to be considered ; but further, as more particularly conjunct with
the thing in hand, as parallel withal, though transcending this of our new
birth, and first conception of the new creature in us, or that other work, the
manifestation of it at the sealing of salvation, or the revealing of Christ in
us (as it is called, Gal. i. 16), the forming the new creature for Christ and
the three persons to dwell therein.
There is nothing in Christ, or of Christ, but it is set up as an image or * August., Tract 6, in Johan.
CHAP. III.] IN OUR SALVATION. 421
pattern of the like to be done to us in our measure, being predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, Rom. viii. As he was circum
cised, so we have a circumcision ordained for us, Col. ii. We have a
crucifying, burial, resurrection, as he had ; we have a conception, a form
ing Christ in us, an uniting us to Christ. As in him there was the union of two natures, there is a time wherein we are made adopted sons, as well as there was a time in which he was born the natural Son. I might quote scriptures for all these, but you know them. In the 4th of the Galatians, the 4th and 6th verses compared, the apostle seems to institute a parallel between God
* sending forth his Son, made of a woman, and his sending forth (for he useth that word of both in common)
* the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father ; But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father ; thus clearly paralleling the concep tion of the human nature and union with the natural Son of God, and our
being made adopted sons by the coming of the Holy Ghost into our hearts. Observe the parallel in this respect by comparing scriptures.
1. As there was a fulness of time, an instant of time, when the Son of God was to be made flesh, and so be admitted a member of this world, so there is a fulness of time, a set time to send down his Spirit into the heart
to regenerate it. Gal. i. 15, 16, But when it pleased God to reveal his Son in me (says Paul). God let me run on much of my time, of which he speaks ver. 13, 14; but having chosen me before, and separated me from the womb, he had a set time when to reveal his Son in me.
2. When that set time is come, set by the Father, of whom Paul there
speaks, the Father begins and sets all a-work in the conversion of that
soul. This Christ expresseth in the 6th of John, where Christ, giving the reason why some souls come to him and not others, he resolves it into his Father s act and will, as the main (verses 64, 65, which is the conclusion of his discourse about it), But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. Now he attributes to his Father a double hand or stroke in it, one towards the soul itself, the other unto Christ himself, that is to be married now
to it.
(1.) There is God the Father s actual drawing the soul to Christ, a
whispering to the heart to persuade it to take his Son ; himself secretly woos the heart for him, ver. 44, 45, No man can come unto me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him : and I will raise him up at the
last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be taught of God.
Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Of this you read, Psa. xlv., what kind of words he
speaks, and what counsel he gives a soul that is brought to Christ ; as
ver. 14, Hearken, daughter, and give ear, even as he had spoken to
his Son to make himself a sacrifice.
(2.) As he thus actually draws the soul to Christ (and the Father is at
that work, and at the cord s end), so he actually gives the soul unto Christ, that Christ would both take the soul and own it when it cometh to him.
Thus, ver. 37, All my Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And he speaks this as the rea
son why some believe and some not, though they hear the same sermon,
422 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
and have the same means. So ver. 36, But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. Now, Christ giving these as reasons why some came and some not, and why he receives those that come because
the Father draws, and the Father gives, speaks of both as of two like acts
of the Father done by him at conversion ; then it is the Father thus gives, and the Father thus draws. And though God had given them to the Son
of God from everlasting (as John xvii., Thine they were, and thou gavest them me ), yet now he renews that act of giving them to Christ. There
fore, de prasenti, Christ useth the present tense : All that the Father gives me ; it is a giving de prcesenti, as a drawing deprasenti, to distinguish it from that from everlasting. And so as Christ resolved it into his Father s
will, Heb. 10 (as you heard), why he came into the world at all, so, ver. 38, he resolves the reason why he owns and receives them that come to him unto his Father s will in like manner. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this gift or donation is as if then and at that time the Father should rise up in hea ven and say to his Son, Yonder is a soul which I gave thee from everlast
ing, whom thou diedst for upon the cross ; and now is the fulness of time
written in my book, the set time appointed by me to have mercy on him, for him to come unto thee ; now take him for thine, take hold of him, and draw him to thyself, and so joins with Christ in drawing him. This is
the Father s work in regenerating us.
2. The Son s work is as follows :
(1.) Of himself he says, John x. 14, 15, I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father liand I lay down my life for the sheep. He knows them particularly and personally, as they know him, even by name. And
as he loves us, ere we love him, so he knows us ere we can know him ; yea,
look, as distinctly as the Father knows him, and he knows the Father, even
so distinctly doth he know and take notice of all his sheep, and this when he is to bring them to himself, as ver. 16.
(2.) At that time he first takes and apprehends that soul as his, and to be his for ever, in answer to that gift of his Father then made, Philip, iii. 12,
I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I arn appre hended of Christ Jesus. He speaks of that act put forth by Christ in
apprehending him first, ere he did him, which is the fundamental act of union. As Christ loves first, so he apprehends first. And as he had com
pared before his Christian life to a race which he was to run, so here he
tells us how Christ took him first by the hand, and held him when he first entered into that race. However, he means it of that act of Christ s at his
first conversion, which is the foundation of all that we afterward pursue after. And herein you see the parallel runs on as at Christ s conception ; as then the Son of God his work was to take to that body fitted for him
* He took not to, or he took not hold of angels, but the seed
(Heb. ii. 16,
of Abraham ), so us at our conversion, and thus works the union.
3. The Spirit s work hath been discoursed of before. I shall now only mention that text in Gal. iv. 6, Because ye are sons (namely, by election),
* God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And this Spirit works faith in us, which is hands, and feet, and
all. It is seminally the whole new creature ; hands to lay hold on Christ
again, and we embrace him, Heb. xi., and embrace him gladly, Acts ii. 41.
4. As all three persons thus between and among themselves deal secretly, and treat with each other for us, the Father giving and recommending, the
CHAP. III.] IN OUR SALVATION. 423
Son apprehending, both sending the Holy Ghost into the heart ; so in our
coming to God, both first and last, we have our pass from one person to the other, and have distinctly to deal with them all ; which is contained in one verse, Eph. ii. 18, For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. And this is more open and more sensible to us, as the other more secret. The word in the original is fgoffayuyhv. The Spirit, being come into the heart, leads us by the hand back again to Christ ; and
Christ leads us to the Father.
I will give you but one instance of one conversion, which I have had
recourse to hitherto all along, and which is Paul s, who professeth himself
converted, as for the substance of it, &ig TU-TTOV, for a pattern, 1 Tim. i. 16. And though his story hath this extraordinary in it, that Christ visibly appre hended him, and the Holy Ghost fell on him in laying on of hands upon him, yet for substance the same things are done in heaven for us by the
three, who love us as they loved him. Even as at Christ s baptism all
three appeared, but at ours not, yet we are baptized in the name of all the
three. In the substance of salvation, conversion, faith, &c., the apostles had not any privilege that we have not.
1. The Father s good pleasure appeared in Paul s conversion, as you have it expressed, Gal. i. 15, 16, When it pleased God, who separated me from the womb, to reveal his Son in me.
2. Of Jesus Christ you may read twice in the Acts, chapter ix., from the 6th verse, and chapter xxvi., how Christ bestirred himself at his conversion. He meets him in the way, at the place and time appointed. And himself
* And he said, Who art thou, Lord ? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest
speaks to him, ver. 5, 6,
: it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do ? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into
the city, and it shall be told thee what thou shalt do. And Christ directed him what to do. And not only so, but speaks himself to Ananias: ver. 11, And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called
Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus :
for, behold, he prayeth. You see he gives as particular directions as God
the Father did to the angel, when he sent him about the conception of his
Son. It is to shew what notice he takes of all the circumstances of a soul s
conversion. No kind husband could more bestir himself at his wife s labour, than Christ did at Paul s travail in the new birth. He calls up Ananias at
midnight, as it were, bids him go in all haste to help him : Behold (says
* he prays, ver. 11 ; he is in his throes.
he),
3. The Holy Ghost (ver. 17, 18) wholly falls upon him, and this at his
laying on of hands, and his being baptized.
Use. You that are regenerate, and born again, the saints and children of
God, shall I affect your hearts a little ? Whom would not this love move ? There was a time, though perhaps thou knowest it not, when all this ado was in heaven about thee, unknown to thee, when thou wert first married unto Christ, the greatest espousal that ever was transacted, one alone ex-
cepted, and that was when the human nature and divine were espoused
together in Christ. And the same kind of stir that was for Paul was also
for thee ; what was done extraordinarily and visibly by him, was as effec
tually and strongly carried on and done for thee. He was directed by Christ what to do, and Ananias directed to go to him, and his condition made known to him, that he might know what to speak unto him. Now
the same hand did secretly guide and direct thee ; perhaps to go to such a
424 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
congregation which thou hadst no mind unto, or for fashion-sake frequentedest ; or thou fellest into such or such a company, of such or such persons, who spake so or so unto thee ; or such and such an accident befell thee as thou wert going such or such a journey ; as Saul, in seeking his father s
asses, was met by Samuel in the way, and he is anointed unto a kingdom ; and so wert thou taken in the heat of the pursuit of vanities. And as his secret providence directed thee, so perhaps the minister or person that
spake unto thee when thou wert first drawn to believe or close with Christ, had such a word put by God into his mouth, as if he had known thy very heart and condition, such promises as most nearly concerned and suited
thy spirit, and condition, and temptations ; even as he directed Ananias to
speak to Paul what most concerned him. And when by this invisible con duct he had brought thy heart and his word together, he then shed forth his Spirit upon thee, who made that good word effectual to thee ; and it returned not empty to him that sent it, but had that blessed effect that he intended. Or perhaps when thou wert first humbled and stricken for sin, God took a keen arrow out of the quiver of his word, and put it into the hand of an able minister or friend, which shot by him at random (as when Ahab was stuck), was carried home by the wind of the Spirit, that went with it into the heart and wounded it. And such circumstances as these may move thee to acknowledge that good hand that was the mover and orderer of them in heaven, in analogy to his dealings with Paul. But above
all, the three persons affect thy heart with the love of God the Father unto thee. At such a time when thou wert in the church, in the midst of the crowd, first the Father he spied thee out there, and remembers it was the time, the full time to have mercy on thee, which he had written in his book ; and thereupon riseth up (as it were) in heaven, and saith unto his Son (as Christ upon the cross did to his mother, Woman, behold thy Son )
* See, Son, says he, behold thy spouse, designed unto thee from ever
lasting. Take him and apprehend him for thine at my hand : I will see you married, and the indissoluble knot tied ere he stir from hence. Which
is more than as if the greatest king on earth should espy, in the midst of
multitudes, a beggar standing in rags, and say to the prince, his eldest son, Go, marry her here afore me. And then when he had bespoke Christ s
heart, he also bespake thine. He let down a cord of love into it, which took hold thereof, and drew thee by it to his Son and to himself.
And when Jesus Christ had thy soul actually anew commended to him by his Father, he, looking on thee, said with himself, That soul ! surely I should know it. This is the very same that my Father presented unto me from everlasting, says the second person, in all that glorious array which I am to be the endower of her with, which made her appear so lovely, as it then took my heart ; but it is so much altered since, I scarce can know it, being defiled with so many sins. And yet again, saith the man Christ
Jesus, it is the same was presented unto me by name, with all these verysins, when I was to suffer. I know her sure enough by a good token ; for she was brought and presented to me in the garden, and hanging on the
cross, with these very sins she is now guilty of; and I have the remembrance in scars upon my soul, which these sins made, when my soul was made an
offering for sin. And so he takes her for his. And then he sends his
Spirit into thy heart ; and what the Spirit wrought upon thee when he drew thee unto Christ, I leave that to thine own experience to bring to mind.
Now the joy that was thereupon in the breast and bosom of God the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, was not contained alone in this transaction,
CHAP. IV.] IN OUR SALVATION. 425
but to make the solemnity the greater, it was diffused throughout the hea vens. Not one, but two parables are made on purpose by our Lord Christ
to express this jubilee unto us, in Luke xv. First, there is a man that sought his lost sheep ; then a poor woman that sought her lost groat. The stir and
zeal each shewed about it is sufficiently expressed, as deciphering the heart of God and Christ therein to such a soul, in that he leaves ninety-nine to seek such a soul, long before it thinks of seeking him, which it doth not, but is prevented by him. And he goes out with that resolution, not to give over seeking until he hath found it, come what will. And this eager reso
lution is expressed, ver. 4, He leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and goes after that which is lost, until he find it. And then, when he hath found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. What doth this signify, but his own abundant gladness ? He hath at last found it. with care to
keep it. And this action of laying it on his shoulders speaks his heart, as
saying within himself, Have I now got you with all this trouble and pur suit ? I will now make sure work of letting you run away again, or giving me any more the slip. So doth he rejoice ; and so careful is he, that he
lays it on his shoulders ; he doth not venture to drive it afore him. No, he will not trust it so loosely. He doth not only hold it in his hands, though therein (as Christ says) it is safe enough, for my sheep none shall
pull out of my hands ; but puts himself to some trouble and care about it,
lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Oh, how full of joy is God s heart and Christ s heart, that he cannot contain it in his own breast, but makes a
solemnity of it ! calls together a parliament of his neighbours and of his
friends, ver. 6, and makes such a matter and story of it, saying unto them,
* Rejoice with me ; for I have found my sheep that was lost. So then,
its having been lost is that which increaseth his joy. And yet, when all is
done, it is but a ragged, scabby sheep all this ado is about. Oh, but God
loves it ; Christ hath laid down his life for it. For who is this sheep ? Ver. 7, it is a sinner that repents. And who are those friends God calls
together thus to rejoice ? Ver. 10, There is joy in the presence of the
angels of God. The higher house of heaven is called together on purpose to rejoice, though the lower house regards not such a poor soul.
Well, but it will be said, it may be thus at so great a shoal of converts
as in the conversion of the Jews shall fall out, or when three thousand in
a day are converted, as Acts ii. Nay, but this is at the conversion of one
sinner. And as Abraham made a feast at Isaac s weaning, so God feasts
the angels with the conversion of each and every sinner. And it is em
* the angels of God, even those that have God to rejoice
phatically said,
in, have their joy yet more full by the addition. But it carries with it this
reason, that it is because they are friends. The account is, ver. 6, God and Christ are so well pleased with it, as the angels know and perceive full
well their nearness and oneness with God, and ingratiate themselves by
joyful acclamations at their conversion.