The Instrument of Regeneration
“Of his own will begat he us, with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” — JaMEs i. 18.
From this passage, it is very obvious, That the Gospel is the instrument whereby God brings the soul forth in a new birth.
The: Scripture distinguishes between the efficient and instrumental causes of regeneration. We are said to be born of God, and to be born of the Spirit, but we are no where said to be born of the word, or begotten of the word, but by or with the word. Sin entered into the heart of Eve by the word of the devil; grace enters into the heart by the word of God; that entered by a word of error, this by a word of truth; “Ye are clean through the word I have spoken to you,” John. xv. 3, whereby our Saviour means the word outwardly preached by him, for it is the word spoken by him. Not that it had this efficacy of itself, but as an instrument of their sanctification, rendering them ready -to every good work. The holiness therefore which it begets, is called the holiness of truth, Eph. iv. 24, opposed to the lusts of deceit, verse 22. Lusts grow up from error and deceit; and holiness of the new man grows up from truth, i= For explication, take the following propositions:
The law is not the instrument. The law taken in general for the legal administration prescribed to the Jews, was instrumental in renewing, because there was a typical Gospel in that judaical administration, ‘“‘ For to us was the Gospel preached as well as unto
them;”’ Heb. iv. 2; they were evangelized, as the
word signifies: the judaical administration was compounded of law and Gospel; the moral law, as a covenant of works; the ceremonial law, representing the covenant of grace. The law of God, or Gospel among them, is said to convert the soul. Psal. xix. 7. But the law, taken as a covenant of works, was not appointed for renewing the soul; otherwise what need had there been of enacting another law for that work? And those that say, the law is instrumental in conversion, or inflaming our affections to obedience, say, that all the benefits by it are to be ascribed to the covenant of grace in Christ. It is true, the law considered in itself is preparatory to cast men down, and show them their distance from: God, and contrariety to his commands: but the law without the Gospel never brought any man to Christ. Whatsoever it doth in this case, is not of itself, but by the mingling the Gospel with it, which inspirits it to such an end. Though the law did not encourage sin, yet it gave no help against it,but left the soul under the dominion of it, which is evident by the apostle’s inference, “Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace;’’ Rom. vi. 14; hence the property of the law, which is meant by the letter, 2. Cor. ili. 6, is to kill, but the Spirit gives life; that leaves under the severity of justice, after sin had entered; but the spiritual administration wherein the Spirit works, is to quicken and renew the soul, and make it able to get above the guilt and power of sin. The apostle therefore wholly excludes the law, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?’’ Gal. iii. 2. That is, the word of faith, as the Gospel is called, Rom. x. 8. By spirit is meant, saith Calvin, the grace of regeneration, as by faith is meant the doctrine of faith. I might have preached (as if the apostle had said) the works of the law till my lungs had been worn out, and the renewing Spirit would never have entered into you by that fire, but it descended upon you in the sweet gospeldew. The Gospel is therefore called the “ministration of the Spirit,’? and the “ministration of righteousness,’’ 2 Cor. ili. 8, 9. It is the chariot or vehicle, wherein the Spirit rides, the proclamation by which it is declared, the channel through which it is conveyed. The law discovers the righteousness of God, as well as the Gospel; but that demands a righteousness from the creature, the Gospel confers a righteousness upon the creature; the law shows us God’s righteousness in his nature, and grace. The iaw is a hammer to break us, the Gospel God’s oil to cure us; the law: makes sin live and our souls die, “When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died;’’? Rom. vii. 9; the Gospel makes sin die and our souls live. The law awakens the lion, the Gospel lets out his blood. At the best the terrors of the law chain up our furious affections, but the sweetness of Gospel mercy changes them. The law prepares the matter,
the Gospel brings the new form. That was appointed
for the rule of our walk, not for the restoration of our life. And they are the promises of mercy which are the motives to return; rebels will not submit to their prince, as long as they know they shall have no quarter. Hue and cry make the thief fly away the faster. By the great and precious promises we are made partakers of the divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4. The promises
of the law being conditional, belong not to us without fulfilling the condition, of which we are incapable of ourselves. The law therefore since that fall is destructive, the Gospel restorative, and the promises of it, the cords whereby God draws us.
The Gospel is this instrument. It is an instrument to unlock the prison doors, and take them off the hinges; strike of the fetters, and draw out the soul to a glorious liberty. It is by the voice of the archangel, men shall rise in their bodies: it is by the voice of the Son of God in the word, that men rise in their souls. Nothing else ever wrought such miraculous changes; to make lions become lambs, Isa. xi. 6; Hos. iv. 13, beloved idols to be cast away with indignation; to make its entrance like fire, and consume old lusts in a short time; these have been undeniable realities, which have created both affection and astonishment in some enemies as well as friends. It has a more excellent instrumentality in it, than other providences of God, because it is a higher manifestation. Kivery creature conducts us to the knowledge of God, by giving us notice of his power, wisdom, and goodness, Rom. i. 20. The declaration of his works in the world, is instrumental to make men seek him, Acts xvil. 27. Every day’s providence declares his patience; every shower of rain his merciful provision for mankind, Acts xiv. 17; every day’s preservation of the world under a load of sin, manifests his mercy. The heavens have a tongue, and the rod hath a voice; the design of all is to lead men to repentance, Rom. ii. 4. If these, therefore, be some kind of instruments upon the hearts of considering men, the Gospel being a discovery superior to all these, in manifesting not only a God of nature, but a God of grace, must be designed to a choicer and nobler work: the heavens and providences are instruments to instruct us, this to renew us. ‘It is not a natural instrument, to work*by any natural efficacy; as food doth nourish, the sun shines,
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ae or the air and water cool, or as a sharp knife cuts, if it be applied to fit matter. If it were thus natural, it would not be of grace: though the shining of the sun, or the healing diseases, are acts of the goodness and mercy of God, yet the Scripture calls them not by that higher title of acts of grace. If the operation were natural, the Gospel would never be without its effect, wheresoever it were preached; as the sun, wheresover it shines in any land, both enlightens and warms. Our Saviour then would have had more success, since the Gospel could not have greater natural efficacy than from his lips; yet the number of his converts were probably not much above five hundred, for so many he appeared to after his resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 6, when many thousands in that land heard his voice, and saw his miracles. Christ, who was always able to give himself success, would not, perhaps for this among many other reasons, to advance his spiritual above his corporeal presence; and to prevent any thoughts of any natural virtue in the word, without the power of the Spirit working by it. Every day teaches us, that though many see the glass of the Gospel, yet few see the glory of God in that Gospel. Were it natural, then, that all that hear it are not renewed, would be more miraculous than that any are; as it was more a miracle that the sun should stand still in Joshua’s time, against its natural course of motion, than that it moves every day in the heavens. If it were a natural instrument, it must
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then have life in itself; but how can the voice of a‘ man, or the words and syllables in a book, be capable ° of receiving spiritual life, which they must have be —
fore they can naturally convey it to others? Were it a natural instrument, it would have the same effect upon the soul at one time, as at another. But does not daily experience testify, that the word shines at some particular times upon the soul with a clearer ray than at other times, that such.a soul has thought itself in another world (as it were), and that too when it has been much clouded by the weakness of the instrument declaring it? Lastly, were it natural, the wisest men, men of the sharpest understandings, could not resist it; no man can hinder the sun’s: shining upon him, when he is under the beams of it; it would warm him whether he would or not; yet have not such been the most desperate opposers of it in all ages of the world, as well as in the times of the apostles? It is not then a natural, but a moral instrument, which will follow afterwards, when we come to consider how it works. It is the only instrument appointed by God to this end in an ordinary way. God has made a combination between hearing and believing, Rom. x. 14, 17, so that believing comes not without hearing. The waters of the sanctuary runonly through the channels of the Gospel; the mines of grace are found ‘only in the climates of the word. Why does not air nourish? because God did not set that, but meat, apart for such an end: though God could, by his Almighty power, bless air to this.end, yet in an ordinary way he has fixed his blessing on these natural causes of his own ordaining. God has appointed second causes for natural operations; if we would be warm, God has appointed fire and-sun to warm us; he could do it immediately, by spreading a lively heat in every member, as well as he gave at first a power to fire to burn; but he uses natural instruments in natural effects, and likewise spiritual instruments in spiritual productions. God may flow in an extraordinary way upon the soul by a divine breath, with- + out any instrument: as he did immediately upon the — prophets, or as he gave light to the world the three
first days of the creation without a sun, but since
only by the sun and stars; but God seems here to
have fixed his power. “The Gospel is the power of God to salvation.”” Rom. i. 16. Not that his power shall always attend it, but that he will exert his power, at least ordinarily, only by it; no other organ through which the wind of the Spirit shall blow, no other sword which the Spirit shall manage, but this, Eph. vi. 13.. Though our Saviour prayed upon the cross for some of his greatest enemies who had their hands imbrued in his precious blood, though he was heard, yet his prayer was not answered but through Peter’s ministry, to grace the first spiritual discovery of the Gospel. Nothing else can have that efficacy. Had every man in Israel made a brazen serpent, and looked upon it when they had been stung, they might have looked till they had groaned their last, before they had met with any cure, because only one was of God’s appointing: to a cast of an eye upon that, he had alone promised his healing virtue; in that only then he had lodged his power. It is therefore a necessary instrument. Tn regard of the reasonable creature there must be some declaration. God doth not ordinarily work but by means, and doth not produce any thing without them which may be done with them. God doth not maintain the creatures by a daily creation, but by generation; he maintains that faculty of generation in them by the means of health and nourishment, and that by the means of the fruits ‘of the earth, and doth all this according to the ordinance he fixed at the creation, when he appointed every kind of creatures their proper food, and bestowed his blessing upon them, “increase and multiply.? So according to the method God hath set of men’s actions, it is necessary that this regeneration should-be by some word as an instrument: for God hath given understanding and will to man; we cannot understand any thing, or will any thing, but what is proposed to us by some external object; as our eye can see nothing but what is
without us; our hand take nothing but what is with-, out us: So it is necessary that God by the word should set before us those things which our understandings
may apprehend, and our wills embrace. Now we believe things as we conceive them true, or disbelieve them as we conceive them false: we love, desire, delight in things, as we conceive them honest or profitable; we hate, we refuse, or grieve, as we conceive them dishonest, or troublesome, or hurtful to us:
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whatever we are changed by in our understandings,
wills and affections, is represented to us under some
of these considerations. To make an alteration in us according to our nature of understanding, will and affection, it is necessary there should be some declaration of things under those considerations of true,
sood, delightful, &c. in the highest manner, to make
a choice change in every faculty of the soul; and
without this a man cannot be changed as a rational creature; he will otherwise have a change he knows not why, nor to what end, nor upon what consideration, which is an inconceivable change in a rational creature.
It is necessary the revelation of this Gospel we have, should be made. There is a necessity of some revelation; for no man can see that which is not visible, or hear that which has no sound, or know that which is not declared. There is also a necessity
of the revelation of this Gospel; since faith is a great part of this work. How can any man believe that God is good in Christ, without knowing that he has so declared himself? Since the Spirit takes of Christ’s
and shows it to us; there must be a revelation of Christ, and the goodness of God in Christ, before we can believe. Though the manner of this revelation may be different, and the Spirit may renew in an extraordinary manner; yet this is the instrument whereby all spiritual begettings are wrought; the manner may be by visions, dreams, by reading or hearing, yet-still. it is the Gospel which is revealed; the matter revealed is the same, though the formal revelation, or manner, may be different. Paul’s regeneration was by a vision; for at that vision of the light, and that voice of Christ, I suppose him to be renewed, because of that full resignation of his will to Christ, Acts ix. 6; yet the matter of the revelation was the same, that Christ was the Messiah; for so Paul understands it, in giving him the title of Lord. Though God may communicate himself without the written word, to some that have it not, yet according to his appointment not without a revelation of what is in that word..
This necessity will further appear, if we consider that it always was so.. Adam and Eve were the first after the fall, wherein God constituted his church, whose regeneration and conversion were wrought by that promise of the seed of the woman, made to them in paradise, God surely putting an enmity in the heart of those to whom his first promise was made; upon which promise a sacrifice followed. What regeneration Adam had, was by this word of the Gospel; had not Adam believed it, he would not have delivered it to Abel; and Abel had not sacrificed, unless he had been taught so by his father, or immediately by God; but most likely by his father, because God does not use extraordinary means, when ordinary will serve. And Abel was regenerated; for it is said, by faith he offered this sacrifice, Heb.
xi. 4; and it was faith in Christ, faith in the promised — seed; for all of them in that catalogue, Heb. xi., did behold Christ by faith, as well as Moses, of whom it pls particularly expressed, verse 26; that he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the trea- - sures of Egypt. Considering all this, it is evident, ‘ s that the’ancient restoration was by the revelation of Christ and the Gospel, as the only necessary means. Abraham, it is likely, had: some external word in his Father Terah’s family, by tradition from the patriarchs; and had the revelation of the promise made to him by God, Gen. xviii. 19. And it was wrought then in an ordinary way, by instruction; for that Abraham is commended, and no doubt but Isaac and Jacob did the same; so that all along this change of the heart was wrought by declaration of the word of the Gospel.
It is necessary by God’s. appointment, for all the degrees of the new birth, and all the appendages to it. When God shows his own glory for a further change, he represents the species of it in the glass of the Gospel; “beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to - glory,’? 2 Cor. iii, 18, It is the ministration of the Spirit in all the acts of the Spirit. If the Spirit quicken, it is by some Gospel precept; if it comforts, it is by some Gospel promise; if it startles, it is by some threatening in the word; whatsoever working there is in a Christian’s heart, it is by some word or other dropping upon it. If any temptation which assaults us, be baffled, it is by the word, which is the sword of the Spirit. The life of a Christian is made up of increasing light, refreshing comforts, choicer inclinations of the heart towards God; by the same law whereby the soul is converted, the heart is rejoiced, and the eyes further enlightened. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart, enlightening the
eyes,’ Psal. xix. 7,8. The Spirit makes the word
not only the fire to kindle the soul, but the bellows to
blow; it is first life, then liveliness to the soul, it is.
through the word he begets us, and through the word
he quickens us, “thy word hath quickened me,’
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Psal. cxix. 50, 93. It is by the word God gathers a church in the world, by the same word he sanctifies it to greater degrees, Eph. v. 26. It is the seed whereby we are born, the dew whereby we are refreshed. As it is the seed of our birth, so it is the milk of our growth, 1 Pet. ii. 2. Faith comes by hearing, and salvation after faith by the foolishness of preaching, 1 Cor. i. 21. It helps us after we have believed through grace, Acts xviii. 27. Our fruitfulness depends upon our plantation by this river’s side. The influence of other ordinances depends upon it. Sacraments that nourish and increase, are not efficacious, but by virtue of the word; they have their dependence on the word, as seals upon the covenant; the word is operative without sacraments, sacraments are not operative without the influence of the word, they are only assistants to it. This quickens and increases habitual grace, as well as it was the instrument first to usher it into the heart, “that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,’’ Eph. v. 26. As God will have the mediation of his Son honoured in the whole progress and perfection of grace as the meritorious cause, the efficacy of the Spirit as the efficient cause, so he will have the word in every step to heaven honoured as
the instrumental cause; that as Jesus Christ is all in
all, as the chief, so the word may be all in all as the means. As God created the world by the word of his power, and by the word of his providence bid the creatures increase and multiply, so by the word of the Gospel he lays the foundation and rears the building of his spiritual house. “AS it is nota natural instrument, but the only instrument appointed by God, and therefore, upon these, and upon other accounts a necessary instrument; so it is an instrument, which makes mightily for God’s glory. The meaner the appearance of the instrument, 26*
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wo the more evident the power and skill of the workman. It would be miraculous for a man to raise up another from death, by a composition of medicines syringed
down the throat, but a greater miracle to raise him by speaking a word. In the new birth there is nothing sensible to man but the word, the other causes are secret, like the wind, you know not whence it comes, nor whither it goes. The instrument being weak in itself, none can claim any share with God in the glory of the work. But were there a natural strength in the means, much of the honour would be taken from God, and assumed by the creature. It is like the trumpet in the right hand of Gideon’s soldiers, and a pitcher with a lamp in the left, upon the blowing of the trumpet and the breaking the pitcher, the enemies fled, and God would have the means but small, but three hundred of thirty-two thousand, that Israel might not vaunt, and say, mine own arm hath saved me, Judg. vii. 2. It had not been so admirable for Sampson to have killed so many with a sword or spear, or if the walls of Jerico had fallen flat by the force of some battering engine;/but it was wonderful to see them tumble at the blast of rams’ horns. {Is it not the same to see strong holds, high thoughts, Goliah-like corruptions, and spiritual death itself fly before the voice of the word? To see a man like the Babel builders, swelling, and rearing up his own confidences against God, to have all the former language of his soul confounded by a word; to think of other objects, speak in another strain, descend from self to dust,
deny pleasure, embrace a crucified Christ: that carnal reason should be silenced, legions of devils driven out,
a massive dagon fall before an ark of wood, that hath nothing. init. but the rod of Aaron, and the pot of Manna;.in such weak means is the power of God exalted, and no other cry can. reasonably be heard, but this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. So it was more glorious for our Saviour to turn many of the Jews to him after his death, than in his life, to bring them to believe by a word, upon a person they had crucified as a malefactor, than if he had brought them to believe, while he was attended with a train of miracles: the power of his miracles might seem in their eyes to be extinct with his death, since he that delivered others, did not deliver himself from the hands of his murderers: he now honours both his own word, and their faith, in bringing them to believe by the preaching of men, who did not believe by the word from his lips attended with the seals of so many glorious miracles. As it is an instrument, so it is but an instrument.
God begets by the word, the chief operation depends upon the Spirit of God. No sword can cut without a
hand to manage it, no engine batter without a force
to drive it. The word is objective in itself, operative —
by the power of the Spirit; instrumental in itself, effi-. eacious by the Holy Ghost. The word of Christ is
first Spirit, and then life, “The words that I speak, unto you they are Spirit, and they are life,’’? John vi. 63. The word is the chariot of the Spirit, the Spirit, the guider of the word; there is a Gospel comes in word, and there is a Gospel comes in power, 1 Thes.
i. 5. There is a publishing of the Gospel, and there is the “fulness of the blessing of the Gospel,’? Rom.
xv. 29. There was the truth of God spoken by Peter, and Paul, and God in that truth, working in the heart, “He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the gentiles.”” Gal. ii. 8. The Gospel in itself is like Christ’s voice; the Gospel with the Spirit is like Christ’s power raising Lazarus; other men might have spoken the same words, but the power of rising must come from above. It is then successful when -an inward unction drops with the outward dew, when
a the vail is taken from the heart, and the curtain from the word, and both meet together, both word, and heart; when Christ kisses with the kisses of his mouth, and the man embraces it with the affections of his heart. The light in the air is the instrument by which we read, but the principle of that light is in the sun in the heavens. The word is a rod, a breath, but efficacious in smiting and slaying the old man, as it is the rod of Christ’s mouth, the breath of his lips, Isa. xi. 3. A rod like that of Moses, to charm us, but as it is the rod of his strength, Psal. cx. 2.. A weapon, but only mighty through God, 2 Cor. x. 4. <A seed, but brings not forth a plant, but. by the influence of the sun. The word hath this efficacy from the bleeding wounds and dying groans of Christ; it is by his making his soul an offering for sin, that he sees the travail of his soul in his new born creatures; by his blood:are all the promises of grace confirmed; by his blood they are operative. The word whereby we are begotten, was appointed by God, confirmed by Christ, and the Spirit which begets us, was purchased by the same blood. To conclude, the word declares Christ, and the Spirit excites the heart to accept him. The word ’ shows his excellency, and the Spirit stirs up strong cries after him. The word declares the promises, and the Spirit helps us to plead them. The word administers reasons against our reasonings, and the Spirit edgeth them. The word shows the way, and the Spirit enables to walk in it. The word is the seed of the Spirit, and the Spirit the quickener of the word.
The word is the graft, and the Spirit the engrafter;
the word is the pool of water, and the Ugo stirs it to make it healing.
How doth the word work? Objectively; as it is a declaration of God’s will.
As it doth propose to the understanding what is to be known in order.to salvation hereafter, and practice here; as it declares the purpose of God to save. only by Jesus Christ the Mediator, and by him to deliver us from sin, Satan, and whatsoever is contrary to everlasting happiness; and thus is significative of something to our minds and understandings. The Spirit gives us an eye to see, and the word is the light which discovers the object to the eye. The Spirit. gives us an organ, but something must be proposed for that organ to exercise itself about, otherwise there is no use of the understanding in any rational operation, which certainly there is; for though the object is supernatural, and the inward work upon the mind supernatural, yet the proposal of the object to the mind 1s made in a rational manner. The word doth objectively propose life and death, in a way suitable to the nature of man, that he may rationally choose life. “Ihave set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life.’? Deut. xxx. 19. Both the blessings of the Gos- — pel, and the curses of the law are presented in the word, that the one may be chosen, the other avoided. The word is proposed under various notions; as true, and so it is the object of the speculative understanding; as good, so it is the object of the practical understanding and will; as profitable, so it is the object of the appetite and affections. When it is received into the speculative understanding, it is a preparation to the new birth; when it is received into the practical understanding and will, it is the new birth. It discovers the wonders in God’s own heart, his Son, and his promise; the Spirit demonstrates it, and gives power to embrace it;; it first presents the promise, and then answers the pleas the stubborn heart makes against it, yet by the same Gospel; it fetches demonstrative arguments from that quiver to satisfy a caviljing understanding, and motives from thence to over- - come a resisting will; it silences the fears, points to the way, excites the soul to an acceptance of Christ, all by this Gospel; and so draws us, as a man draws a child, by presenting some alluring object to him: the Spirit immediately himself, touches the soul, but by the word, as an instrument proposing the object, and drawing out the soul into an actual believing.
The two chief parts of the work are,
The discovery of our misery by nature. The heart is laid open, our putrified condition in our own blood evidenced, our deplorable state unfolded, and thereby the conscience awakened to sensible reflections; it dissects the heart, discovers the secret reserves, unravels the thoughts, pursues sin to its recesses, and pulls and brings it out, as Joshua the kings to execution. And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth. It opens sin to the very secrets, discovers the inward impurity, takes off its beautiful disguise, its silken covering, and shows the odiousness under it. It discovers the forlorn estate by nature, and the insufficiency of flesh and blood to inherit the kingdom of God. Let the word be whispered by the Spirit in the ears of a rebel sinner, and the curtains which obscured his sin from his eye, drawn open, that he may see what a nest of devils he has, what astonishment will it raise in him! how will he stand amazed at his own folly? how will he loathe that self, which before he so vehemently loved!
A second discovery is of the necessity and existence of another foundation. It discovers our misery by nature, and our remedy by Christ, the plague brought upon the world by the first Adam, the cure brought to the world by the second. It proclaims a peace concluded between God and the humbled sinner by his Son the great ambassador, confirmed by his blood,
assured by his resurrection. It shows him the foun- », tain of death in his sin, the fountain of life in Christ, the free streams and gracious communications of it. The promise discovers the gracious nature of God, his kindness to man, the openness of his arms to receive him; and thus brings the soul off from itself to the foot of God, and the bottom of the cross. When the word like fire, and the heart like tinder come close together, the heart catches the spark and burns. From the word reconciliation and peace step out, and meet the soul, it finds the kisses of Christ’s mouth inspiring it with life, the box of the Gospel promises broken open, the window of the Gospel ark opened, and the dove flying out of it into the desert heart. The word proposes things as they are in reality, and the soul knows things as it ought to know, 1 Cor. vii. 2. It understands the unavoidable necessity, and the infallible excellency of the things proposed. It sees the rocks and shelves wherein the danger lies, and a compass whereby to steer, a road wherein to lie safe at anchor; whereupon he relents for his sin, is astonished at divine kindness, rejoices at the promise, as before he trembled at the threatening, and has far other thoughts of God than he had before: in which act, divine life is breathed into the soul.
The word seems to have an active force upon the will, though the manner of it be very hard to conceive. It is operative in the hand of God for sanctification: the petition of our Saviour, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth,”’ John xvii. 17, seems to intimate more than a bare objective relation to this work; it both shows us our spots and cleanses them. It is a seed; seed though small, is active; no part of the plant retains a greater efficacy; all the glory and strength of the plant in its buds, blossoms, and fruit, are hidden in it: the word is this seed, which being settled in the heart, by the power of the Spirit, brings forth this new creature. It is a glass that not only represents the image of God, but by the Spirit changes us in it, 2 Cor. iii. 18. A sword that pierceth the heart, Heb. iv. 12, yea, sharper than a two edged sword, dividing asunder the soul and spirit; it is a fire to burn. The Spirit does so edge the word, that it cuts to the quick, discerns the very thoughts, insinuates into the depths of the heart, and rakes up the small sands from the bottom, as a fierce wind does from the bowels of the sea. It is God’s ordnance to batter down strong holds; though it be not a natural instrument to work necessarily, yet it is likened. to natural instruments, which are active under the efficiency of the agent which manages them; and this also, in the hand of the Spirit, works mighty effects. The sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, are joined together, one subordinate to
another, 2 Thes. ii. 13. The Spirit efficiently infusing ’ holy habits; the word objectively and actively: ob-
jectively as outwardly proposed; actively as inwardly engrafted: it at least excites the new infused gracious principle, and produces our actual conversion and believing. As the pronouncing excommunication, in the primitive times, filled the person with terror; and no question, but upon the same account, the authoritative pronouncing the pardon of sin by the apostles, though only declarative, might have a mighty operation upon the soul in filling it with joy; yet both, as managed by the Spirit, concurring with his own ordinance. So that the word is mighty in operation, as well as clear in representation; for an activity seems to be ascribed to it by the Scripture metaphors. The chief activity of it is seen in the likeness which it produces in the soul to itself. Seeds have an efficacious virtue to produce plants of the same kind with that whose
seeds they are: so the word produces qualities in the
heart like itself. The law in the heart, is the law in
the word transcribed in the soul; a graft which changes a crabbed stock into a sweet tree, James i, 21; like a seal, it leaves a likeness and impression of itself; it works a likeness to God. as he is revealed in the Gospel; for we are changed into the same image ; — what image? The same image which we behold in that glass, 2 Cor. iii. 18, not his essential
image, but the image of his glory represented in the
Gospel for our imitation. The word is the glory of God in a glass, and imprints the image of the glory of God in the heart. It is a softening word, and produces a mollified heart; an enlightening word, and causes an enlightened soul; a divine word, and engenders a divine nature; it is a spiritual word, and produces a spiritual frame; as it is God’s will, it subdues our will; it is a sanctifying truth, and so makes a sink of sin to become the habitation of Christ. To conclude, this is certain, the promise in the word breeds principles in the heart suitable to itself; it shows God a father, and raises up principles of love and reverence; it shows Christ a mediator, and raises up principles of faith and desire. Christ in the word conceives Christ in the heart; Christ in word, the beginning of grace, conceives Christ in the soul, the hope of glory.
Use of information.
How admirable then is the power of the Gospel! It is a quickening word, not a dead; a powerful word, not a weak; a sharp-edged word, not. a dull; a piercing word, not cutting only skin-deep, Heb. iv. 12. What welcome work doth it make, when a door of utterance and a door of entrance are both opened together! It hath a mighty power to outwrestle the principalities of hell, and demolish the strong holds of sin in the heart. It is a word of which it may be said, as the Psalmist of the sun, “his circuit is to the ends of the earth, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”’? Psalm xix. 6. No part of the soul is
27
hidden from a new birth by the warm beams of it, when directed by God to the soul. What a powerful breath is that which can make a dead man stand upon his feet, and walk! If you should find your faces, by looking in a glass, transformed into angelic beauty, would you not imagine some strange and secret virtue in that glass? How powerful is this Gospel word, which changes a beast into a man, a devil into an angel, a clod of earth into a star of heaven!
It is above the power of all moral philosophy. The wisdom of the heathen never equalled the Gospel in such miracles: the political government of the best states never made such alterations in the hearts of men. How excellent is that Gospel, which has done. that for the renewing of millions of souls, which all the wit and wisdom of the choicest philosophers could never effect upon one heart! All other lectures can do no more than allay the passions, not change them; bring them into an order fit for human society, not beget them for a divine fellowship: not draw them forth out of a principle of love to God, and fix them upon so high an end as the glory of God that is invisible. This is the glorious begetting by the Gospel, which enables not only to moral actions, but inspires with divine principles and ends, and makes men highly delight in the ways they formerly abhorred. What are a few sprinklings of changes moral philosophy has wrought in the lives of men, to the innumerable ones the Gospel has wrought, which were such undeniable realities, that they were never openly contradicted by any of the most violent persecutors of the Christian religion, and were always the most urged argument for the truth of the Gospel in the ancient apologies for it? How long may we read and hear mere moral discourses, and arrive no higher than some reformation of life, with unchanged hearts; have sin beaten from the outworks, yet retain the great fort, the heart?
It is above the power of the law. The natural law sees not Christ; the Mosaic law dimly shows him afar off: the Gospel brings him near, to be embraced by us, and us to be divinely changed by him. The natural law makes the model and frame of a man; the. Mosaic adds some colours and preparations; and the Gospel conveys spirit into them. The natural law begets us for the world; the Mosaic kills us for God; and the Gospel raises up to life. The natural law makes us serve God by reason; the Mosaic by fear; and the Gospel by love. It is by this, and not by the law, those three Graces, which are the main evidences of life, are settled in the soul: it begets faith, whereby we are taken off from the stock of Adam, and inserted in Christ; hope, whereby we flourish, and Jove, whereby we fructify. By faith, we have life; by hope, strength; by love, liveliness and activity: all these are the fruits of the Gospel administration.
Its power appears in the subjects it has been instrumental in changing. Souls defiled by sin, have been made miraculously clean: it has changed the hands of rapine into instruments of charity: hearts full of filth, into vessels of purity; it has brought down proud reason to the obedience of faith, and made active lusts to die at the foot of the cross: it has struck off Satan’s chains, and snatched away his captives into the liberty of God’s service. It has changed the most stubborn hearts. The conversion of a great company of those Jewish priests that were most violent against it and the author of it, is ascribed to the power of the word, “And the word of God increased, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Acts vi. 7. How many were raised to life by Peter’s sermon! More souls turned than words spoken upon record. It subdues the will, which cannot be conquered but by its own consent. Light can dart in upon the understanding whether a man will or no, and flash in his face, though he keep it in unrighteousness: conscience will awaken and rouse them, though men use all the arts they can to still it. The will cannot be forced to any submission against its own consent; the power of the Gospel is in the conquest of the will and putting new inelinations into that.
The power of it is seen in the suddenness of its operation. Ina moment, in the twinkling of an eye, like the change at the last resurrection. How have troops of unmastered lusts fled at the voice of the Gospel trumpet, like a flock of frightened birds, and left their long possessed mansion! How have the affections, which have sheltered so many enemies against God, been on the sudden weary of their residence, and abhorred what they loved, and loved what the moment before they abhorred! How have welcomed temptations been upon this sudden change rejected, a despised Saviour dearly embraced, a furious soul tamed, a darling self crucified, and a soul open to every temptation strongly fortified against it! How frequent are the examples, in the first times of Christianity, of men that have been almost as bad as devils one day, one hour, and joyful martyrs the next; and as soon as ever they have been begotten by it, asserted the power of it in another new birth by flames?
And this has been done many times by one part, one particle of the word. One word of the Gospel, a single sentence, has erected a heavenly trophy in a soul, which all the volumes of the choicest mere reason could never erect; one plain scripture has turned a face to heaven, that never looked that way before, and made a man fix his eye there against his carnal interest. One plain scripture has killed a man’s sins, and quickened his heart with eternal life; one word of Christ, remembered by Peter, made him weep bitterly; and two or three scriptures pressed by the same Peter upon his hearers, pricked their hearts to the quick. How has hell flashed in the face of a sinner,. out of a small cloud of a threatening, and heaven shot into the soul from one little diamond spark of a promise; a little seed of the word, like a grainof mustard seed, changed the soul from a dwarfish to a tall stature! This the experience of every age can testify.
And this power appears in the simplicity of it. Savanarola observes, that when he neglected the preaching of the scripture, and applied himself to discourses of philosophy, he gained little upon the hearts of the people; but when he came to illustrate and explain the scripture, the minds of people were wonderfully inflamed and excited to a serious frame. And that when he discoursed in a philosophical manner, there was inattention, not only of the more ignorant, but the more learned sort too. But when he preached scripture truths, he found the minds of men mightily delighted, stung with divine truth, brought to compunction, and a reformation. of their lives; which. shows, says he, the power of the word, acting more vigorously than all human reason in the world. And indeed, scripture and scripture reason is the wisdom of God; all other reason is the wisdom of man. God will depress man’s wisdom, and advance his own. It works as it is “the word of God, which lives and abides for ever,’’? 1 Pet. i. 23. To wrap a fine piece of silk about a sword, or gild a diamond, is to hinder the edge of the one, and the lustre of the other.
The Gospel is then certainly of divine authority. Since in this God hath set a tabernacle for the sun of righteousness to move in; as the heavens are the tabernacle for the material sun, Psal. xix. 4. That word that raises the dead, must needs be the word of no less than God. Our Saviour’s discovery of men’s
27” thoughts argued his deity: the word’s discovery of the inward workings of the heart, and the alteration it makes there, evidences a divine stamp upon it.
God would never have made a lie so successful in the
world, or blessed it in making those alterations in men, so comely in the eye of moral nature, so advantageous to human society as the principles it instils into the minds of men are. A lie would never have been blessed to be an instrument of so much virtue and truth; it would not consist with the righteousness of God’s government, or his goodness and truth as governor, to bring the hearts of men into so beautiful an order by a deceitful Gospel. What word ever had such trophies? What engine ever battered so many strong holds? If the lame walk by the strength of it, if the dead are raised by the power of it, if lepers are cleansed by the virtue of it, if impure souls are sanctified, dead souls enlivened, are we to question its divine authority? Should a word work such
wonderful effects for so many ages, that had no stamp
of divine authority upon it? Would all those witnesses be given by God to a mere imposture? Let the victories it has gained, evidence the arm that wields it: what sword was used at the first conquest of the world through grace, but this of the Spirit? How -soon was the devil, with all his heap of idols, fain to
fly before it! How soon was the devil, with all his
pack of lusts, forced to leave his habitation in the hearts of men! Is not that of divine authority that so routs the enemies of God, puts sin to flight, expels spiritual death, breaking the bands of that worst king of terrors? That had skill to find out sin in its lurking holes, and power to dispossess that, and introduce spiritual life into the soul? Can that be a thing less than divine, that restores man to his due place as a creature respecting his Creator, referring all things to his glory? that implants the love, fear, hope of God
7 = in the mind? that makes man of a miserable corrupt creature to become divine? that roots out the vices of hell, and stores the soul with the virtues of heaven? Can such a Gospel be termed less than a divine word of truth? If there be any word, that can so change the nature, and transform wolves into lambs, let it have the honour and due praise when it is found out; but whatsoever the atheism of the world is, that never felt the powerful efficacy of it, you surely that have felt it a mighty weapon to conquer the devils that once possessed you, and an instrument to new beget you when you lay in your blood, should entertain no whisper against the divine authority of it, but count it the power and wisdom of God, as, indeed, it is in itself, and in its effects upen souls, Rom. 1.16. It is said there, to be “the power of God to salvation;’” upon that account the apostle was not ashamed of it, neither should we; but conclude as the same apostle says, if I be not an apostle, yet to you I am an apostle; so if the Gospel be not in itself the Gospel of God, surely it. is so to you who have been renewed.
It shows us the reason why the Gospel is so much opposed by Satan in the world. It begets those for heaven, whom he had begotten for hell. It pulls down his image and sets up God’s: it pulls the crown off his head, the sceptre from his hand, snatches subjects from his empire, straitens his territories, and demolishes his forts, breaks his engines, outwits his subtlety, makes his captives his conquerors, and himself, the conqueror, a captive; it pulls men out of the kingdom of darkness, and translates them into a kingdom of light, Col. i. 13. And all this, as it is a word. of truth, opposed to his word of deceit, whereby he has cheated mankind, and deceived the nations: that we may well say of him, as the apostle of death, “OQ death, where is thy sting?’”? 1 Cor. xv. 55. O hell, where is thy power? O Satan, where is thy victory? This slays Satan, and revives the soul. 7
We see then how injurious they are to God, who would obstruct the progress of the Gospel in the world. That, as the papists, would hinder the reading and preaching of the word. Whose seed are they, but the seed of that dragon, that would as well hinder the new birth, as devour a divinely-begotten babe as soon as it ever were born? Rev. xii. 4.. Such would hinder the greatest and most excellent work of God upon the souls of men, would have no spiritual generations for God in the world. Such envy Christ a seed, and Goda family, they would despoil him of a family on earth, though they cannot of a family in heaven. In banishing the word, they would banish the grace of God out of the world, and leave no place, in a world drowned with ignorance, where this dove should set her foot. Those that would take away the seed would not have a spiritual harvest, but reduce souls to a deplorable famine, lock them up in the grave, and keep them under the bands of a spiritual death.
It informs us, that the Gospel shall then endure in the world, as long as God has any to beget. Men may puff at it, but they cannot extinguish it; itisa word of truth; and truth is mighty, and will prevail. It was a mighty wind wherein the Spirit came upon the apostles, to show not only the quick and speedy progress of the Gospel, as upon the winds of the wind, but the mighty force of it, that men can no. more
silence the sound of the Gospel than they can the
blustering of the wind. It shall prevail in all places where God has a seed to bring in, a people to beget. Those given to Christ shall come from far: from the east, Isa. xlix. 12, and from the west, and from the land of Sinim. The word, being the instrument, shall sound every where, where he hath sons and daughters to beget for Christ. As long as Christ doth retain his royalty, his mouth shall be a sharp sword, Isa. xlix. 2. That is the first thing concluded on between God and Christ, before they come to any further treaty; which is expressed in that chapter. As Christ shall be his salvation to the ends of the earth, so shall the word be the instrument of it to the end of the world, the polished shaft is hid in his quiver. As he is a light to the Gentiles, so the golden candlestick of this Gospel wherein this light is set, shall endure in spite of men and devils. Since his promise of a seed to Christ stands sure, the word, whereby he begets a generation for him, is as sure as the promise, and shall not return void, “but it shall accomplish that which he pleases, and it shall prosper in the things whereto he sent it.”” Isa. lv. 11. Never fear then the removal of the Gospel out of the world, though it be removed out of a particular place; since it is a word of truth, and an instrument ordained to so glorious an end.
It is a sign then God has some to regenerate, when he brings his Gospel to any place. He has a pleasure to accomplish, and it shall not return unto him void. Prosperity is entailed upon it for the doing the work whereto he sent it. Since then it is appointed an instrument, in the hand of the Spirit, for a new begetting, it will be efficacious upon some souls where it comes; for the wise God would not send it, but to attain its main end upon some hearts. God never sends his word to any place, but it is received and relished by some as the savour of life. It looseth the bands of spiritual death in some, and binds them harder upon obstinate sinners: to them that perish it is the savour of death. In every place the Gospel was savoury to some. “God made manifest the savour of his knowledge,’ by the apostles, “in every place.’ 2 Cor. ii. 14,15. Wherever this seed is sown, the harvest has been reaped, either more or less. It is fruitful at Corinth, for there God has much people, Acts xviii. 10. It is not fruitless at Athens, though the harvest was less; most mocked, but some believed, and but one man of learning, and worldly wisdom, Acts xvii. 32, 34. When God sends John ina way of righteousness, if the pharisees believe not, God will make a conquest of publicans and harlots. -“John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you believed not: but the publicans and harlots believed him.’’ Matt. xxi. 32. The net of the Gospel is not cast in vain.
Prize the word of truth, which works such great effects in the soul. Value that as long as you live, which is the cord whereby God has drawn any of you out of the dungeon of death. Never count that foolishness by which God has inspired you with the choicest wisdom; and never count that weakness, which has made any of you dead, living; of darkness, light; and of miserable, happy by grace. If a soul be worth a world, and therefore to be prized, how precious ought that to be which is an instrument to beget a soul for the felicity of another world! How should the law of God’s mouth be better to us, than thousands of gold and silver! Psal. exix. 72. How should we prize that word whereby any of us have seen the glory of God in his sanctuary, the glory of God in our souls! When corruptions are strong, it is an engine to batter them. When our hearts are hard, it is a hammer to break them. When our hearts are cold, it is a fire to inflame them. When our souls are faint, it is a cordial to refresh them; it beginsa new. birth, and maintains it. It is the seed from whence we spring, 1 Pet. i. 23, the glass, wherein we see the glory of God, 2 Cor. iii. 18. By the waters of the sanctuary we have both meat for nourishment, and medicines for cure, from the tree that grows by its streams. The fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf for medicine. Ezek. xlvii. 12. Have a great regard to it, keep it in the midst of your hearts, for it is life, Prov. iv. 21, 22.
Wait upon God in the word. When there is a revelation on God’s part, there must be a hearing on ours. Sit down therefore at the feet of God, and receive of his words, Deut. xxxill..3. Despise it not: he that contemns it, never intends to be new begotten, since he slights the means of God’s appointment; he that intends an end, will use all means proportionably to his desires for that end. He that contemns it never was renewed; habitual grace being wrought by it, cannot but in its own nature have a great affection to it. He that loves Christ, cannot but love all the methods of his operations. Despise it not because it is but an instrument. Say not, because God is the chief agent, therefore you need not come to.the word. Our Saviour knew that “man did not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,”’ Matt. iv. 4. Did he therefore neglect means for preserving this life? Because God gives the increase, should not the husbandman plough and sow? If God does not work upon you by the means, you can have no rational hopes he will do it any other way: What though ministers can only speak to the ear? John Baptist could do no more, whose ministry was notwithstanding glorious in being the forerunner of Christ. Jo neglect it therefore is to double-bar your hearts against the entrance of grace, and slight the truth which Christ brought down from the bosom of God.
How shall we wait upon the word, so as that we may be new begotten by it?
Wait upon the word frequently. Be often in reading and hearing, and meditating on it. Men set upon these works, as if they were afraid they should be new born too soon, or prejudiced in their concerns and contentments in the world; as if they feared the mighty wind of the Spirit should blow away their beloved dross too fast: as if it were a matter of indifference to be like their Maker. If you had gold not thoroughly refined, would you not cast it again and again into the fire? If the filth be not wholly purged, would you not use the fountain again and again? Those that are in the sun are coloured and heated by it,and have things more visible: those that are much in the word, see more of the wonders, feel more of
-. the warmth, receive deeper impressions, are endued
with the grace and holiness of truth, have a purer
flame in their affections for heaven. How’do you
know but an opportunity missed might have been the best market? How do you know but the Spirit might have joined himself to the word, as Philip to the eunuch’s chariot while he was reading? “While Peter yet spake those words, (it is said) the Haly Ghost fell upon all them which heard the word,’’ Acts x. 44. What words? Even the marrow of the Gospel; “that through his name, whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins,’’ v. 43. God I may have a portion ready for us, and we go without it, because we are not ready to receive it. We must not expect a raven to bring us food upon a bed of sluggishness. Do it the rather, because you may live to see such times, wherein Bibles may be as much shut as they are now open, wherein (as in former time) you may be willing to give a large parcel of your goods for one chapter of it. We read — of some that have given a load of hay for one chapter — of St. James. Be frequent in waiting upon the word Let your hearts be fixed upon that which is the great end of the word. New begettings are the end — of the Gospel; come then with minds fixed upon this end, and desires for it. Regard it not as a mere sound of words, but as an instrument of the noblest
operations in the soul. If this be the great work of the Gospel, we ought to read and hear it with desires to be enlivened where we are dead, quickened where we are dull; be made new creatures, where we are
yet but old; taller creatures where we are yet.
but of a low stature; not only to have our understandings instructed, but our hearts changed. To “inquire after God, to behold the beauty of the Lord,”’ Psal xxvii. 4; that we may be transformed into it: to look for God who is in the word of the truth; for the kingdom of God comes nigh to you in
the Gospel; that was the word, that Christ when he sent his disciples out first. to preach, bid them speak
unto men, Luke xii. 9, -Men usually get no more than they come to seek. He that, goes to market, intending only to lay out his money upon some trifle, returns for the most part with no better commodity. Zaccheus got upon the tree to meet Christ, and so noble an end wanted not an excellent success; that day came salvation into his house, Luke xix. 9. When the Jews did not mind the end of sacrifices, and regarded not the things God principally looked for in them, God slighted them, and they went without any divine operations upon their souls by them, Isa. i. 11, 13,14. When our ends suit the Gospel, then we are like to feel Gospel influences. We come with wrong ends, and therefore return with unchanged hearts; we come for a sound, and go away with no more. Our end therefore in coming should be to gain this new begetting, or increase the growth of the new creature; our ends are not else conformable to the ends of God in it; therefore, as the earth sucks in the rain, and the roots in the earth attract it unto themselves that they may bring forth fruit; so should we open our hearts to receive the showers of the word with an aim at a new birth, or a further growth. Mind the word in the simplicity of it, and that in 28 ‘
% it, which tends to that end. Some men are more taken with colours, than truth; more enamoured with words than matter, fill themselves only with air, and neglect the substance. Such are like those that are pleased with the colours of the rainbow, more than with the light reflected, or the covenant of God represented by it. No man is renewed by phrases and fancies, those are only as the oil to make the nails of the sanctuary drive in the easier, in Eccles. xii. 11, acceptable words joined with words of truth, are as
the fastening of the nails, both given by one shepherd.
Words then must be to make things intelligible; illustrations to make things delightfully intelligible, but
the seminal virtue lies not in the husk and skin, but.
in the kernel, the rest dies, but the substance of the seed lives, and brings forth fruit; separate therefore between the husk and the seed. The word does not work as it is elegant, but as it is divine, as it isa word of truth. Illustrations are but the ornaments of the temple, the glory of it is in the ark and mercy-seat. It is not the engraving upon the sword cuts, but the edge; nor the key, as it is gilt, opens, but as fitted to the wards. Your “faith must not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God,’’ 1 Cor. iil. 5; it is the juice of the meat, and not the garnishings of the dish, that nourishes. Was it the word as a pleasant song, or as a divine seed that changed the
souls of old, made martyrs smile in the midst of flames? It was the knowledge of the excellency of
the promise, and not worldly eloquence, made them with so much courage slight gibbets, stakes, and executioners; they had learned the truth as it is in Jesus.
Before you wait upon God in any ordinance, plead with him as Moses did in another case, to what purpose should I go, unless thy presence go with me? What can the letter do without the Spirit, or words
without that powerful wind to blow them into my heart? None can have life by the bread of the word, without the blessing of God; as man brings the graft, desire God to insert it. And may we receive the truth with cordial affection, and live under its divine influence to the praise and glory of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.