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047 - The New Birth · Sermons on Several Occasions, First Series

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  Speaker 1: Section forty six of Sermons on Several Occasions First Series.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Rene Lacroix. Sermons on
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  Speaker 1: Several Occasions, First Series by John Wesley. The New Birth,
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  Speaker 1: Ye must be born again, John Chapter three, verse seven.
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  Speaker 1: If any doctrines within the whole compass of Christianity may
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  Speaker 1: be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless these two, the
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  Speaker 1: doctrine of justification and that of the new birth, the
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  Speaker 1: former relating to that great work which God does for
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  Speaker 1: us in forgiving our sins, the latter to the great
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  Speaker 1: work which God does in us in renewing our fallen nature.
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  Speaker 1: In order of time, neither of these is before the other.
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  Speaker 1: In the moment we are justified by the grace of
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  Speaker 1: God through the redemption that is in Jesus. We are
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  Speaker 1: also born of the Spirit. But in order of thinking,
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  Speaker 1: as it is termed, justification precedes the new birth. We
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  Speaker 1: first conceive his wrath to be turned away, and then
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  Speaker 1: his spirit to work in our hearts. How great importance,
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  Speaker 1: then must it be of to every child of man
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  Speaker 1: truly to understand these fundamental doctrines. From a full conviction
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  Speaker 1: of this, many excellent men have wrote very largely concerning justification,
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  Speaker 1: explaining every point, relating there too, and opening the scriptures
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  Speaker 1: which treat upon it. Many likewise have wrote on the
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  Speaker 1: new birth, and some of them largely enough, but yet
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  Speaker 1: not so clearly as might have been desired, nor so
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  Speaker 1: deeply and accurately, having either given a dark, abstruse account
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  Speaker 1: of it or a slight and superficial one. Therefore, a
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  Speaker 1: full and at the same time a clearer account of
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  Speaker 1: the new birth seems to be wanting still such as
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  Speaker 1: may enable us to give a satisfactory answer to these
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  Speaker 1: three questions. First, why must we be born again? What
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  Speaker 1: is the foundation of this doctrine of the new birth? Secondly,
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  Speaker 1: how must we be born again? What is the nature
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  Speaker 1: of the new birth? And thirdly, wherefore must we be
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  Speaker 1: born again? To what end is it necessary? These questions?
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  Speaker 1: By assistance of God, I shall briefly and plainly answer,
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  Speaker 1: and then subjoin a few inferences which will naturally follow.
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  Speaker 1: And First, why must we be born again? What is
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  Speaker 1: the foundation of this doctrine? The foundation of it lies
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  Speaker 1: near as deep as the creation of the world. In
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  Speaker 1: the scriptural account whereof we read and God the three one,
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  Speaker 1: God said, let us make man in our image after
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  Speaker 1: our likeness. So God created Man in his own image.
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  Speaker 1: In the image of God created he him Genus is
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  Speaker 1: one Verses twenty six and twenty seven. Not barely in
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  Speaker 1: his natural image, a picture of his own immortality, a
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  Speaker 1: spiritual being endued with understanding, freedom of will and various affections,
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  Speaker 1: nor merely in his political image, the governor of this
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  Speaker 1: lower world, having dominion over the fishes of the sea
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  Speaker 1: and over all the earth, but chiefly in his moral image, which,
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  Speaker 1: according to the apostle is righteousness and true holiness Ephesians four,
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty four. This image of God was man made.
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  Speaker 1: God is love. Accordingly, Man at his creation was full
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  Speaker 1: of love, which was the sole principle of all his tempers, thoughts, words,
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  Speaker 1: and actions. God is full of justice, mercy, and truth.
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  Speaker 1: So was Man as he came from the hands of
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  Speaker 1: his creator. God is spotless purity, and so Man was
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  Speaker 1: in the beginning pure from every sinful blot. Otherwise God
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  Speaker 1: could not have pronounced him as well as all the
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  Speaker 1: other work of his hands very good Genesis one thirty one.
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  Speaker 1: This he could not have been had he not been
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  Speaker 1: pure from sin and filled with righteousness and true holiness.
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  Speaker 1: For there is no medium. If we suppose an intelligent
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  Speaker 1: creature not to love God, not to be righteous and holy,
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  Speaker 1: we necessarily suppose him not to be good at all,
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  Speaker 1: much less to be very good. But although man was
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  Speaker 1: made in the image of God, yet he was not
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  Speaker 1: made immutable. This would have been inconsistent with the state
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  Speaker 1: of trial in which God was pleased to place him.
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  Speaker 1: He was therefore able to stand and yet liable to fall.
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  Speaker 1: And this God himself apprised him of and gave him
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  Speaker 1: a solemn warning against it. Nevertheless, man did not abide
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  Speaker 1: in honor. He fell from his high estate he ate
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  Speaker 1: of the tree whereof the Lord had commanded him, thou
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  Speaker 1: shalt not eat thereof. By this wilful act of disobedience
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  Speaker 1: to his creator, this flat rebellion against his sovereign, he
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  Speaker 1: openly declared that he would no longer have God to
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  Speaker 1: rule over him, that he would be governed by his
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  Speaker 1: own will and not the will of Him that created him,
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  Speaker 1: and that he would not seek his happiness in God.
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  Speaker 1: But in the world in the works of his hands.
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  Speaker 1: Now God had told him before in the day that
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  Speaker 1: thou eatest of that fruit, thou shalt surely die, And
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  Speaker 1: the word of the Lord cannot be broken. Accordingly, in
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  Speaker 1: that day he did die. He died to God, the
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  Speaker 1: dreadful of all deaths. He lost the life of God.
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  Speaker 1: He was separated from him in union with whom his
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  Speaker 1: spiritual life consisted. The body dies when it is separated
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  Speaker 1: from the soul, the soul when it is separated from God.
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  Speaker 1: But this separation from God Adams sustained in the day
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  Speaker 1: the hour he ate of the forbidden fruit, and of
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  Speaker 1: this he gave immediate proof, presently showing by his behavior
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  Speaker 1: that the love of God was extinguished in his soul,
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  Speaker 1: which was now alienated from the life of God. Instead
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  Speaker 1: of this, he was now under the power of servile fear,
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  Speaker 1: so that he fled from the presence of the Lord. Yea,
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  Speaker 1: so little did he retain even of the knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: Him who feeleth heaven and Earth, that he endeavored to
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  Speaker 1: hide himself from the Lord God among the trees of
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  Speaker 1: the garden Genesis three and eight. So had he lost
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  Speaker 1: both the knowledge and the love of God, without which
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  Speaker 1: the image of God could not subsist. Of this, therefore
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  Speaker 1: he was deprived at the same time and became unholy
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  Speaker 1: as well as unhappy. In the room of this he
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  Speaker 1: had sunk into pride and self will, the very image
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  Speaker 1: of the devil, and into sensual appetites and desires, the
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  Speaker 1: image of the beasts that perish. If it be said, nay,
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  Speaker 1: but that threatening in the day that thou eatest thereof,
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  Speaker 1: thou shalt surely die, refers to temporal death, and that
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  Speaker 1: alone to the death of the body. Only the answer
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  Speaker 1: is plain. To affirm this is flatly and palpably to
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  Speaker 1: make God a liar to a error, that God of
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  Speaker 1: truth positively affirmed a thing contrary to truth. For it
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  Speaker 1: is evident Adam did not die in this sense in
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  Speaker 1: the day that he ate thereof. He lived in the
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  Speaker 1: sense opposite to this death above nine hundred years after,
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  Speaker 1: so that this cannot possibly be understood of the death
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  Speaker 1: of the body without impeaching the veracity of God. It
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  Speaker 1: must therefore be understood of spiritual death, the loss of
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  Speaker 1: the life and image of God. And in Adam all died,
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  Speaker 1: all humankind, all the children of men who were then
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  Speaker 1: in Adam's loins. The natural consequence of this is that
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  Speaker 1: everyone descendeth from him comes into the world spiritually dead,
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  Speaker 1: dead to God, wholly dead in sin, entirely void of
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  Speaker 1: the life of God, void of the image of God,
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  Speaker 1: of all that righteousness and holiness, wherein Adam was created.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of this, every man born into the world now
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  Speaker 1: bears the image of the devil in pride and self
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  Speaker 1: will the image of the beast in sensual appetites and desires. This, then,
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  Speaker 1: is the foundation of the new birth, the entire corruption
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  Speaker 1: of our nature. Hence it is that, being born in sin,
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  Speaker 1: we must be born again. Hence everyone that is born
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  Speaker 1: of a woman must be born of the spirit of God.
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  Speaker 1: But how must a man be born again? What is
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  Speaker 1: the nature of the new birth? This is the second question,
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  Speaker 1: and a question it is of the highest moment that
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  Speaker 1: can be conceived. We ought not. Therefore, it is so
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  Speaker 1: weighty a concern to be content with a slight inquiry,
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  Speaker 1: but to examine it with all possible care, and to
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  Speaker 1: ponder it in our hearts till we fully understand this
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  Speaker 1: important point and clearly see how we are to be
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  Speaker 1: born again, Not that we are to expect any minute
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  Speaker 1: philosophical account of the manner how this is done. Our
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  Speaker 1: Lord sufficiently guards us against any such expectation by the
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  Speaker 1: words immediately following the text, wherein he reminds Nicodemus of
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  Speaker 1: as indisputable a fact as any in the whole compass
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  Speaker 1: of nature, which, notwithstanding the wisest man under the sun,
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  Speaker 1: is not able fully to explain. The wind bloweth where
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  Speaker 1: it listeth not by Thy power or wisdom, And thou
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  Speaker 1: hearest the sound thereof Thou art absolutely assured beyond all
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  Speaker 1: doubt that it doth blow. But thou canst not tell
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  Speaker 1: whence it cometh, nor whether it goeth. The precise manner
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  Speaker 1: how it begins and ends, rises and falls, no man
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  Speaker 1: can tell. So is everyone that is born of the spirit.
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  Speaker 1: Thou mayest be as absolutely assured of the fact as
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  Speaker 1: of the blowing of the wind, But the precise manner,
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  Speaker 1: how it is done, how the Holy Spirit works this
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  Speaker 1: in the soul, neither thou nor the wisest of the
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  Speaker 1: children of men is able to explain. However, it suffices
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  Speaker 1: for every rational and Christian purpose, that, without descending into
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  Speaker 1: curious critical inquiries, we can give a plain scriptural account
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  Speaker 1: of the nature of the new birth. This will satisfy
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  Speaker 1: every reasonable man who desires only the salvation of his soul.
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  Speaker 1: The expression being born again was not first used by
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  Speaker 1: Our Lord in his conversation with Nicodemus. It was well
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  Speaker 1: known before that time, and was in common use among
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  Speaker 1: the Jews when Our Savior appeared among them. When an
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  Speaker 1: adult heathen was convinced that the Jewish religion was of
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  Speaker 1: God and desired to join therein, it was the custom
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  Speaker 1: to baptize him first before he was admitted to circumcision,
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  Speaker 1: And when he was baptized, he was said to be
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  Speaker 1: born again, by which they meant that he who was
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  Speaker 1: before a child of the devil, was now adopted into
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  Speaker 1: the family of God and accounted one of his children.
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  Speaker 1: This expression, therefore, which Nicodemus, being a teacher in Israel,
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  Speaker 1: ought to have understood well, Our Lord uses in conversing
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  Speaker 1: with him, only in a stronger sense than he was
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  Speaker 1: accustomed to, And this might be the reason of his asking,
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  Speaker 1: how can these things be? They cannot be literally, a
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  Speaker 1: man cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb
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  Speaker 1: and be born, but they may spiritually. A man may
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  Speaker 1: be born from above, born of God born of the spirit,
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  Speaker 1: in a manner which bears a very near analogy to
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  Speaker 1: the natural birth. Before a child is born into the world,
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  Speaker 1: he has eyes, but sees not. He has ears but
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  Speaker 1: does not hear. He has a very imperfect use of
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  Speaker 1: any other sense. He has no knowledge of any of
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  Speaker 1: the things of the world, or any natural understanding. To
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  Speaker 1: that manner of existence which he then has, we do
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  Speaker 1: not even give the name of life. It is then
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  Speaker 1: only when a man is born that we say he
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  Speaker 1: begins to live. For as soon as he is born,
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  Speaker 1: he begins to see the light and the various objects
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  Speaker 1: with which he is encompassed. His ears are then opened,
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  Speaker 1: and he hears the sounds which successively strike upon them.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, all the other organs of sense
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  Speaker 1: begin to be exercised upon their proper objects. He likewise
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  Speaker 1: breathes and lives in a manner wholly different from what
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  Speaker 1: he did before. How exactly doth the parallel hold in
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  Speaker 1: all these instances. While a man is in a mere
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  Speaker 1: natural state before he is born of God, he has
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  Speaker 1: in a spiritual sense eyes and sees not. A thick,
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  Speaker 1: impenetrable veil lies upon them. He has ears, but hears not.
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  Speaker 1: He is utterly deaf to what he is most of
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  Speaker 1: all concerned to hear. His other spiritual senses are all
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  Speaker 1: locked up. He is in the same condition as if
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  Speaker 1: he had them not. Hence he has no knowledge of God,
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  Speaker 1: no intercourse with him. He is not at all acquainted
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  Speaker 1: with him. He has no true knowledge of the things
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  Speaker 1: of God, either of spiritual or eternal things. Therefore, though
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  Speaker 1: he is a living man, he is a dead Christian.
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  Speaker 1: But as soon as he is born of God, there
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  Speaker 1: is a total change in all these particulars. The eyes
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  Speaker 1: of his understanding are opened, such as the language of
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  Speaker 1: the Great Apostle, and he who of old commanded light
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  Speaker 1: to shine out of darkness. Shining on his heart, he
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  Speaker 1: sees the lawe ight of the glory of God, his
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  Speaker 1: glorious love, in the face of Jesus Christ. His ears
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  Speaker 1: being opened, he is now capable of hearing the inward
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  Speaker 1: voice of God saying, be of good, cheer thy sins
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  Speaker 1: have forgiven thee go and sin no more. This is
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  Speaker 1: the purport of what God speaks to his heart, although
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  Speaker 1: perhaps not in these very words. He is now ready
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  Speaker 1: to hear whatsoever He that teacheth man. Knowledge is pleased
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  Speaker 1: from time to time to reveal to him. He feels
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  Speaker 1: in his heart to use the language of our Church
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  Speaker 1: the mighty working of the Spirit of God, not in
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  Speaker 1: a gross carnal sense, as the men of the world
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  Speaker 1: stupidly and wilfully misunderstand the expression, though they have been
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  Speaker 1: told again and again, we mean thereby neither more nor
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  Speaker 1: less than this. He feels is inwardly sensible of the
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  Speaker 1: graces which the Spirit of God works in his heart.
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  Speaker 1: He feels he is conscious of a peace which passeth
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  Speaker 1: all understanding. He many times feels such a joy in
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  Speaker 1: God as is unspeakable and full of glory. He feels
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  Speaker 1: the love of God shed abroad in his heart by
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost which is given unto him, and all
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  Speaker 1: his spiritual senses are then exercised to discern spiritual good
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  Speaker 1: and evil. By the use of these he is daily
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  Speaker 1: increasing in the knowledge of God, of Jesus Christ, whom
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  Speaker 1: he hath sent, and to all the things pertaining to
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  Speaker 1: his inward kingdom. And now he may be properly said
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  Speaker 1: to live God having quickened him by his spirit, he
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  Speaker 1: is alive to God through Jesus Christ. He lives a
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  Speaker 1: life which the world knoweth not of a life which
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  Speaker 1: is hid with Christ. In God. God is continually breathing,
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  Speaker 1: as it were, upon the soul, and his soul is
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  Speaker 1: breathing onto God. Grace is descending into his heart, and
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  Speaker 1: prayer and praise ascending to Heaven. And by this intercourse
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  Speaker 1: between God and Man, this fellowship with the Father and
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  Speaker 1: the Son, as by a kind of spiritual respiration, the
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  Speaker 1: life of God in the soul is sustained, and the
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  Speaker 1: child of God grows up until he comes to the
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  Speaker 1: full measure of the stature of Christ. From hence it
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  Speaker 1: manifestly appears. What is the nature of the new birth.
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  Speaker 1: It is that great change which God works in the
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  Speaker 1: soul when he brings it into life, when he raises
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  Speaker 1: it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: It is the change wrought in the whole soul by
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  Speaker 1: the almighty Spirit of God when it is created ane
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  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus, when it is renewed after the image
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  Speaker 1: of God in righteousness and true holiness, when the love
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  Speaker 1: of the world is changed into the love of God,
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  Speaker 1: pride into humility, passion into meekness, hatred, envy, malice into
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  Speaker 1: a sincere, tender, disinterested love for all man God. In
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  Speaker 1: a word, it is that change, whereby the earthly, sensual,
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  Speaker 1: devilish mind is turned into the mind which was in
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. This is the nature of the new birth.
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  Speaker 1: So is everyone that is born of the spirit. It
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  Speaker 1: is not difficult for any who has considered these things
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  Speaker 1: to see the necessity of the new birth and to
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  Speaker 1: answer the third question, wherefore, to what end is it
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  Speaker 1: necessary that we should be born again? It is very
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  Speaker 1: easily discerned that this is necessary first in order to holiness.
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  Speaker 1: For what is holiness, according to the oracles of God,
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  Speaker 1: not a bare external religion around about word duties, how
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  Speaker 1: many soever they be, and how exactlysoever performed. No Gospel
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  Speaker 1: holiness is no less than the image of God stamped
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  Speaker 1: upon the heart. It is no other than the whole
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  Speaker 1: mind which was in Christ Jesus. It consists of all
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  Speaker 1: heavenly affections and tempers mingled together in one. It implies
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  Speaker 1: such a continual, thankful love to Him who hath not
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  Speaker 1: withheld from us his son, his only son, as makes
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  Speaker 1: it natural and in a manner necessary to us to
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  Speaker 1: love every child of Man, as fills us with bowels
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  Speaker 1: of mercies kindness, gentleness, long suffering. It is such a
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  Speaker 1: love of God as teaches us to be blameless in
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  Speaker 1: all manner of conversation, as enables us to present our
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  Speaker 1: souls and bodies, all we are and all we have,
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  Speaker 1: all our thoughts, words, and actions a continual sacrifice to
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  Speaker 1: God acceptable through Christ Jesus. Now, this holiness can have
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  Speaker 1: no existence till we are renewed in the image of
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  Speaker 1: our mind. It cannot commence in the soul till that
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  Speaker 1: change be wrought till, by the power of the Highest
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  Speaker 1: overshadowing us, we are brought from darkness to light, from
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  Speaker 1: the power of Satan unto God. That is, till we
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  Speaker 1: are born again, which therefore is absolutely necessary in order
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  Speaker 1: to holiness. But without holiness, no man shall see the
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  Speaker 1: Lord shall see the face of God in glory of consequence,
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  Speaker 1: the new birth is absolutely necessary in order to eternal salvation.
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  Speaker 1: Men may indeed flatter themselves. So desperately wicked and so
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  Speaker 1: deceitful is the heart of man that they may live
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  Speaker 1: in their sins till they come to the last gasp,
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  Speaker 1: and yet afterwards live with God. And thousands do really
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  Speaker 1: believe that they have found a broadway which leadeth not
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  Speaker 1: to destruction? What danger, say they can a woman be
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  Speaker 1: and that is so harmless and so virtuous? What fear
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  Speaker 1: is there that so honest a man, one of so
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  Speaker 1: strict morality, should miss of heaven, especially if over and
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  Speaker 1: above all this they constantly attend on church and sacrament.
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  Speaker 1: One of these will ask, with all assurance, what shall
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  Speaker 1: not I do as well as my neighbors. Yes, as
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  Speaker 1: well as your unholy neighbors, as well as your neighbors
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  Speaker 1: that die in their sins. For you will all drop
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  Speaker 1: into the pit together, into the nethermost hell. You will
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  Speaker 1: all lie together in the lake of fire, the lake
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  Speaker 1: of fire burning with brimstone. Then at length you will see,
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  Speaker 1: But God grant you may see it before the necessity
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  Speaker 1: of holiness, in order to glory and consequently of the
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  Speaker 1: new birth. Since none can be holy except he be
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  Speaker 1: born again. For that same reason, except he be born again,
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  Speaker 1: none can be happy, even in this world. For it
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  Speaker 1: is not possible in the nature of things that a
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  Speaker 1: man should be happy who is not holy. Even the poor,
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  Speaker 1: ungodly poet could tell us Nemo malice felix, no wicked
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  Speaker 1: man is happy. The reason is plain all unholy tempers
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: are uneasy tempers. Not only malice, hatred, envy, jealousy, revenge
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: create a present hell in the breast. But even the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: softer passions, if not kept within due bounds, give a
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: thousand times more pain than pleasure even hope when deferred,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: And how often must this be the case? Maketh the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: heart sick? And every desire which is not according to
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the will of God is liable to pierce us through
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: with many sorrows. And all those general sources of sin, pride,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: self will, and idolatry are in the same proportion as
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: they prevail general sources of misery. Therefore, as long as
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: these reign in any soul, happiness has no place there.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: But they must reign till the bent of our nature
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: is changed, that is, till we are born again. Consequently,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: the new birth is absolutely necessary in order to happiness
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: in this world as well as in the world to come.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: I proposed in the last place to subjoin a few
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: inferences which naturally follow from the preceding observations. And first,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: it follows that baptism is not the new birth. They
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: are not one and the same thing. Many indeed seem
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: to imagine that they are just the same. At least
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: they speak as if they thought so. But I do
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: not know that this opinion is publicly avowed by any
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: denomination of Christians whatever. Certainly it is not by any
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: within these kingdoms, whether of the established Church or dissenting
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: from it. The judgment of the latter is clearly declared
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: in the Large Catechism. Question what are the parts of
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: a sacrament? Answer? The parts of a sacrament are two,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: the one an outward and sensible sign, the other an
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: inward and spiritual grace, thereby signified. Question what is baptism?
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Baptism is a sacrament wherein Christ hath ordained the washing
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: with water to be a sign and seal of regeneration
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: by His spirit. Here it is manifest baptism. The sign
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: is spoken of as a distinct from regeneration, the thing
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: signified in the Church Catechism. Likewise, the judgment of our
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: church is declared with the utmost clearness. What meanest thou
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: by this word sacrament? I mean an outward and visible
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: sign of an inward and spiritual grace. Question what is
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the outward part or form in baptism? Answer? Water? Wherein
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: the person is baptized in the name of the Father,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Son and Holy Ghost. Question, what is the inward part
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: or thing signified? Answer? A death onto sin and a
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: new birth onto righteousness. Nothing therefore is plainer than that,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: according to the Church of England, baptism is not the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: new birth. But indeed the reason of the thing is
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: so clear and evident, is not to need any other authority.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: For what can be more plain than the one is
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: a visible and the other an invisible thing, and therefore
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: wholly different from each other, the one being an act
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: of Man purifying the body, the other a change wrought
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: by God in the soul, so that the former is
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: just as distinguishable from the latter as the soul from
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the body, or water from the Holy Ghost. From the
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: preceding reflections, we may secondly observe that, as the new
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: birth is not the same thing with baptism, so it
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: does not always accompany baptism. They do not constantly go together.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: A man may possibly be born of water and yet
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: not be born of the spirit. There may sometimes be
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the outward sign where there is not the inward grace.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I do not now speak with regard to infants. It
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: is certain our church supposes that all who are baptized
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: in their infancy are at the same time born again.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: And it is allowed that the whole office for the
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: baptism of infants proceeds upon this supposition. Nor is it
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: an objection of any weight against this, that we cannot
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: comprehend how this work can be wrought in infants, For
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: neither can we comprehend how it is wrought in a
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: person of riper years. But whatever be the case with infants,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: it is sure all of riper years who are baptized
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: are not at the same time born again. The tree
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: is known by its fruits, and hereby it appears too
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: plain to be denied that diverse of those who were
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: children of the devil before they were baptized continued the
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: same after baptism for the works of their father. They
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: do they continue servants of sin, without any pretense either
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: to inward or outward holiness. A third inference, which we
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: may draw from what has been observed, is that the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: new birth is not the same with sanctification. This is
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: indeed taken for granted by many, particularly by an imminent
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: writer in his late treatise on the Nature and Grounds
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: of Christian Regeneration, to waive several other weighty objections which
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: might be made to the tract. This is a palpable one.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: It all along speaks of regeneration as a progressive work
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: carried on in the soul by slow degrees from the
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: time of our first turning to God. This is undeniably
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: true of sanctification, But of regeneration the new birth, it
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: is not true. This is a part of sanctification, not
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: the whole. It is the gate to it, the entrance
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: into it. When we are born again, then our sanctification,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: our inward and outward holiness begins, and thenceforward we are
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: gradually to grow up in Him who is our head.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: This expression of the Apostle admirably illustrates the difference between
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: one and the other, and further points out the exact
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: anology there is between natural and spiritual things. A child
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: is born of a woman in a moment, or at
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: least in a very short time. Afterward, he gradually and
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: slowly grows till he attains to the stature of a man.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: In like manner, a child is born of God in
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: a short time, if not in a moment, but it
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: is by slow degrees that he afterward grows up to
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: the measure of the full stature of Christ. The same relation, therefore,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: which there is between our natural birth and our growth,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: there is also between our new birth and our sanctification.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: One point more we may learn from the preceding observations.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: But it is a point of so great importance as
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: my excuse the considering it the more carefully and prosecuting
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: it at some length. What must one who loves the
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: souls of men and is grieved that any of them
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: should perish? Say to one whom he sees living in sabbath,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: breaking drunkenness, or any other wilful sin? What can he say,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: if the foregoing observations are true? But ye must be
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: born again? No, says a zealous man, that cannot be
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: How can you talk so uncharitably to the man? Has
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: he not been baptized already? He cannot be born again?
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Now can he not be born again? Do you affirm this?
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Then he cannot be saved, though he be as old
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: as Nicodemus was. Yet except he be born again, he
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: cannot see the Kingdom of God. Therefore, in saying he
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: cannot be born again, you in effact deliver him over
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: to damnation. And where lies the uncharitableness? Now on my
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: side or on yours? I say he may be born again,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: and so become an heir of salvation. You say he
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: cannot be born again, and if so, he must inevitably perish.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: So you utterly block up his way to salvation and
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: send him to Hell out of mere charity. But perhaps
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: the sinner himself to whom in real charity we say
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: you must be born again, has been taught to say,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: I defy your new doctrine. I need not be born again.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: I was born again when I was baptized. What would
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: you have me deny my baptism? I answer first, there
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: is nothing under heaven which can excuse a lie. Otherwise
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: I should say to an open sinner, if you have
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: been baptized, do not own it. For how highly does
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: this aggravate your guilt? How will it increase your damnation?
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Was you devoted to God at eight days old? And
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: have you been all these years devoting yourself to the devil?
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Was you even before you had the use of reason
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: consecrated to God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost?
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: And have you, ever since you had the use of
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: it been flying in the face of God, and consecrating
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: yourself to Satan. Does the abomination of desolation, the love
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: of the world, pride, anger, lust, foolish desire, and a
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: whole train of vile affections stand where it ought to have?
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: You set up all the accursed things in that soul,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: which was once a temple of the holy ghosts, set
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: apart for an inhabitation of God through the spirit. Yea
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: solemnly given up to Him. And do you glory in
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: this that you once belong to God? Oh, be ashamed, blush,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: hide yourself in the earth, never boast more of what
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: ought to fill you with confusion, to make you a
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: shamed before God. And man I answer. Secondly, you have
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: already denied your baptism, and that in the most effectual
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: manner you have denied it a thousand and a thousand times,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: and you do so still day by day. For in
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: your baptism you renounce the devil and all his works.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Whenever therefore you give place to him again, whenever you
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: do any of the works of the devil, then you
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: deny your baptism. Therefore you deny it by every wilful sin,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: by every act of uncleanness, drunkenness, or revenge, by every
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: obscene or profane word, by every oath that comes out
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: of your mind. Health every time you profane the day
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: of the Lord, you thereby deny your baptism. YEA, every
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: time you do anything to another which you would not
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: he should do to you. I answer. Thirdly, be you
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: baptized or unbaptized, you must be born again. Otherwise it
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: is not possible. You should be inwardly holy, and without
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: inward as well as outward holiness, you cannot be happy
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: even in this world, much less in the world to come.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Do you say nay, But I do no harm to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: any man. I am honest and just in all my dealings.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: I do not curse or take the Lord's name in vain.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I do not profane the Lord's day. I am no drunkard.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: I do not slander my neighbor, nor live in any
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: wilful sin. If this be so, it were much to
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: be wished that all men went as far as you do.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: But you must go further yet, or you cannot be saved. Still,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: you must be born again. Do you add, I do
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: go further yet, for I not only do no harm,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: but do all the good I can I doubt that fact.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: I fear you have had a thousand opportunities of doing good,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: which you have suffered to pass by unimproved, or for
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: which therefore you are accountable to God. But if you
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: had improved them all, if you really had done all
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: the good you possibly could to all men. Yet this
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: does not at all alter the case. Still you must
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: be born again. Without this, nothing will do any good
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: to your poor, sinful, polluted soul. Nay, but I constantly
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: attend all the ordinances of God. I keep to my
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: church and sacrament. It is well you do. But all
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: this will not keep you from hell except you be
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: born again. Go to church twice a day, go to
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: the Lord's table every week, say ever so many prayers
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: in private, hear ever so many good sermons, read ever
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: so many good books. Still you must be born again.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: None of these things stand in the place of the
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: new birth, no nor anything under heaven. Let this. Therefore,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: if you have not already experienced this inward work of God,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: be your continual prayer. Lord, add this to all thy blessings.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Let me be born again. Deny whatever thou pleasest, but
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: deny not this. Let me be born from above, take
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: away whatsoever seemeth thee good, reputation, fortune, friends, health. Only
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: give me this to be born of the spirit, to
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: be received among the children of God. Let me be
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: born not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And then let
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: me daily grow in grace and in the knowledge of
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. End of section forty six.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Recording by Ranelaquah Woodstock, Ontario, Canada,