Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 46 - The New Birth - Sermons on Several Occasions

Transcript

46 - The New Birth - Sermons on Several Occasions · Philosophy and Faith

0:00
Speaker 1: The new birth, Ye must be born again, John chapter three,
0:09
Speaker 1: verse seven. If any doctrines within the whole compass of
0:13
Speaker 1: Christianity may be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless these two,
0:20
Speaker 1: the doctrine of justification and that of the new birth,
0:25
Speaker 1: the former relating to that great work which God does
0:28
Speaker 1: for us in forgiving our sins, the latter to the
0:32
Speaker 1: great work which God does in us in renewing our
0:36
Speaker 1: fallen nature. In order of time, neither of these is
0:40
Speaker 1: before the other. In the moment we are justified by
0:44
Speaker 1: the grace of God through the redemption that is in Jesus.
0:48
Speaker 1: We are also born of the spirit. But in order
0:51
Speaker 1: of thinking, as it is termed, justification precedes the new birth.
0:57
Speaker 1: We first conceive his wrath to be turned away, and
1:01
Speaker 1: then his spirit to work in our hearts. How great importance,
1:05
Speaker 1: then must it be of to every child of men
1:08
Speaker 1: truly to understand these fundamental doctrines. From a full conviction
1:13
Speaker 1: of this, Many excellent men have wrote very largely concerning justification,
1:19
Speaker 1: explaining every point relating there too, and opening the scriptures
1:23
Speaker 1: which treat upon it. Many likewise have wrote on the
1:27
Speaker 1: new birth, and some of them largely enough, but yet
1:30
Speaker 1: not so clearly as might have been desired, nor so
1:34
Speaker 1: deeply and accurately. Having either given a dark, abstruse account
1:39
Speaker 1: of it or a slight and superficial one. Therefore, a
1:43
Speaker 1: full and at the same time a clearer account of
1:46
Speaker 1: the new birth seems to be wanting still such as
1:50
Speaker 1: may enable us to give a satisfactory answer to these
1:53
Speaker 1: three questions. First, why must we be born again? What
1:58
Speaker 1: is the foundation of this doctrine of the new birth? Secondly,
2:03
Speaker 1: how must we be born again? What is the nature
2:06
Speaker 1: of the new birth? And thirdly, wherefore must we be
2:10
Speaker 1: born again? To what end is it necessary these questions?
2:15
Speaker 1: By assistance of God, I shall briefly and plainly answer,
2:19
Speaker 1: and then subjoin a few inferences which will naturally follow.
2:24
Speaker 1: And First, why must we be born again? What is
2:28
Speaker 1: the foundation of this doctrine? The foundation of it lies
2:32
Speaker 1: near as deep as the creation of the world. In
2:36
Speaker 1: the scriptural account, whereof we read and God the three one,
2:41
Speaker 1: God said, let us make man in our image after
2:45
Speaker 1: our likeness. So God created man in his own image
2:50
Speaker 1: in the image of God created he him GENUSI is
2:54
Speaker 1: one Verses twenty six and twenty seven. Not barely in
2:58
Speaker 1: his natural image, a picture of his own immortality, a
3:02
Speaker 1: spiritual being endued with understanding, freedom of will, and various affections,
3:08
Speaker 1: nor merely in his political image, the governor of this
3:12
Speaker 1: lower world, having dominion over the fishes of the sea
3:15
Speaker 1: and over all the earth, but chiefly in his moral image, which,
3:20
Speaker 1: according to the apostle, is righteousness and true holiness Ephesians four,
3:25
Speaker 1: verse twenty four. In this image of God was Man made.
3:29
Speaker 1: God is love. Accordingly, Man at his creation was full
3:33
Speaker 1: of love, which was the sole principle of all his tempers, thoughts, words,
3:38
Speaker 1: and actions. God is full of justice, mercy, and truth.
3:42
Speaker 1: So was Man as he came from the hands of
3:45
Speaker 1: his creator. God is spotless purity, and so man was
3:49
Speaker 1: in the beginning pure from every sinful blot. Otherwise God
3:53
Speaker 1: could not have pronounced him, as well as all the
3:55
Speaker 1: other work of his hands very good Genesis one thirty one.
4:00
Speaker 1: This he could not have been had he not been
4:03
Speaker 1: pure from sin and filled with righteousness and true holiness.
4:07
Speaker 1: For there is no medium. If we suppose an intelligent
4:11
Speaker 1: creature not to love God, not to be righteous and holy,
4:15
Speaker 1: we necessarily suppose him not to be good at all,
4:18
Speaker 1: much less to be very good. But although man was
4:21
Speaker 1: made in the image of God, yet he was not
4:24
Speaker 1: made immutable. This would have been inconsistent with the state
4:28
Speaker 1: of trial in which God was pleased to place him.
4:31
Speaker 1: He was therefore created able to stand and yet liable
4:34
Speaker 1: to fall. And this God himself apprised him of and
4:38
Speaker 1: gave him a solemn warning against it. Nevertheless, man did
4:42
Speaker 1: not abide in honor. He fell from his high estate.
4:46
Speaker 1: He ate of the tree, whereof the Lord had commanded him,
4:50
Speaker 1: thou shalt not eat thereof. By this wilful act of
4:53
Speaker 1: disobedience to his creator, this flat rebellion against his sovereign,
4:58
Speaker 1: he openly declared that he would know no longer have
5:00
Speaker 1: God to rule over him, that he would be governed
5:03
Speaker 1: by his own will and not the will of Him
5:06
Speaker 1: that created him, and that he would not seek his
5:09
Speaker 1: happiness in God, but in the world in the works
5:12
Speaker 1: of his hands. Now God had told him before in
5:15
Speaker 1: the day that thou eatest of that fruit, thou shalt
5:19
Speaker 1: surely die, And the word of the Lord cannot be broken. Accordingly,
5:23
Speaker 1: in that day he did die. He died to God,
5:27
Speaker 1: the most dreadful of all deaths. He lost the life
5:30
Speaker 1: of God. He was separated from him in union with
5:33
Speaker 1: whom his spiritual life consisted. The body dies when it
5:37
Speaker 1: is separated from the soul, the soul when it is
5:40
Speaker 1: separated from God. But this separation from God Adams sustained
5:45
Speaker 1: in the day the hour he ate of the forbidden fruit,
5:50
Speaker 1: and of this he gave immediate proof, presently showing by
5:53
Speaker 1: his behavior that the love of God was extinguished in
5:56
Speaker 1: his soul, which was now alienated from the life of God.
6:01
Speaker 1: Instead of this, he was now under the power of
6:04
Speaker 1: servile fear, so that he fled from the presence of
6:07
Speaker 1: the Lord. Yea, so little did he retain even of
6:10
Speaker 1: the knowledge of Him who feeleth heaven and earth, that
6:13
Speaker 1: he endeavored to hide himself from the Lord God among
6:16
Speaker 1: the trees of the garden Genesis three and eight. So
6:21
Speaker 1: had he lost both the knowledge and the love of God,
6:24
Speaker 1: without which the image of God could not subsist. Of this,
6:28
Speaker 1: therefore he was deprived at the same time, and became
6:32
Speaker 1: unholy as well as unhappy. In the room of this
6:36
Speaker 1: he had sunk into pride and self will, the very
6:39
Speaker 1: image of the devil, and into sensual appetites and desires
6:43
Speaker 1: the image of the beasts that perish. If it be said, nay,
6:47
Speaker 1: but that threatening in the day that thou eatest thereof
6:51
Speaker 1: thou shalt surely die, refers to temporal death, and that
6:54
Speaker 1: alone to the death of the body. Only the answer
6:57
Speaker 1: is plain. To affirm this is flatly and palpably to
7:01
Speaker 1: make God a liar to a error, that God of
7:04
Speaker 1: truth positively affirmed a thing contrary to truth. For it
7:09
Speaker 1: is evident Adam did not die in this sense in
7:12
Speaker 1: the day that he ate thereof, he lived in the
7:15
Speaker 1: sense opposite to this death, above nine hundred years after,
7:20
Speaker 1: so that this cannot possibly be understood of the death
7:23
Speaker 1: of the body without impeaching the veracity of God. It
7:27
Speaker 1: must therefore be understood of spiritual death, the loss of
7:30
Speaker 1: the life and image of God. And in Adam all died,
7:34
Speaker 1: all humankind, all the children of men who were then
7:38
Speaker 1: in Adam's loins. The natural consequence of this is that
7:42
Speaker 1: everyone descendeth from Him comes into the world spiritually dead,
7:47
Speaker 1: dead to God, wholy dead in sin, entirely void of
7:50
Speaker 1: the life of God, void of the image of God,
7:53
Speaker 1: of all that righteousness and holiness. Wherein Adam was created
7:57
Speaker 1: instead of this, every man born born into the world
8:01
Speaker 1: now bears the image of the devil in pride and
8:03
Speaker 1: self will the image of the beast in sensual appetites
8:07
Speaker 1: and desires. This, then, is the foundation of the new birth,
8:12
Speaker 1: the entire corruption of our nature. Hence it is that,
8:15
Speaker 1: being born in sin, we must be born again. Hence
8:19
Speaker 1: everyone that is born of a woman must be born
8:22
Speaker 1: of the spirit of God. But how must a man
8:25
Speaker 1: be born again? What is the nature of the new birth?
8:29
Speaker 1: This is the second question, and a question it is
8:32
Speaker 1: of the highest moment that can be conceived. We ought not, therefore,
8:36
Speaker 1: in so wity a concern, to be content with a
8:39
Speaker 1: slight inquiry, but to examine it with all possible care,
8:43
Speaker 1: and to ponder it in our hearts, till we fully
8:46
Speaker 1: understand this important point and clearly see how we are
8:51
Speaker 1: to be born again. Not that we are to expect
8:53
Speaker 1: any minute philosophical account of the manner how this is done.
8:58
Speaker 1: Our lords sufficiently guard us against any such expectation by
9:02
Speaker 1: the words immediately following the text, wherein he reminds Nicodemus
9:07
Speaker 1: of as indisputable a fact as any in the whole
9:10
Speaker 1: compass of nature, which Notwithstanding, the wisest man under the
9:15
Speaker 1: sun is not able fully to explain. The wind bloweth
9:19
Speaker 1: where it listeth, not by thy power or wisdom. And
9:23
Speaker 1: thou hearest the sound thereof Thou art absolutely assured beyond
9:28
Speaker 1: all doubt, that it doth blow. But thou canst not
9:31
Speaker 1: tell whence it cometh, nor whether it goeth. The precise
9:35
Speaker 1: manner how it begins and ends, rises and falls, no
9:39
Speaker 1: man can tell. So is everyone that is born of
9:42
Speaker 1: the spirit. Thou mayest be as absolutely assured of the
9:46
Speaker 1: fact as of the blowing of the wind, But the
9:49
Speaker 1: precise manner, how it is done, how the Holy Spirit
9:52
Speaker 1: works this in the soul, neither thou nor the wisest
9:56
Speaker 1: of the children of men is able to explain. However,
10:00
Speaker 1: it suffices for every rational and Christian purpose, that, without
10:04
Speaker 1: descending into curious, critical inquiries, we can give a plain
10:09
Speaker 1: scriptural account of the nature of the new birth. This
10:12
Speaker 1: will satisfy every reasonable man who desires only the salvation
10:16
Speaker 1: of his soul. The expression being born again was not
10:20
Speaker 1: first used by our Lord in his conversation with Nicodemus.
10:24
Speaker 1: It was well known before that time, and was in
10:27
Speaker 1: common use among the Jews when Our Savior appeared among them.
10:31
Speaker 1: When an adult heathen was convinced that the Jewish religion
10:34
Speaker 1: was of God and desired to join therein, it was
10:37
Speaker 1: the custom to baptize him first before he was admitted
10:40
Speaker 1: to circumcision, And when he was baptized, he was said
10:44
Speaker 1: to be born again, by which they meant that he
10:48
Speaker 1: who was before a child of the devil, was now
10:50
Speaker 1: adopted into the family of God and accounted one of
10:54
Speaker 1: his children. This expression, therefore, which Nicodemus, being a teacher
10:59
Speaker 1: in Israel, ought to have understood well, our Lord uses
11:02
Speaker 1: in conversing with him, only in a stronger sense than
11:05
Speaker 1: he was accustomed to, And this might be the reason
11:08
Speaker 1: of his asking, how can these things be? They cannot
11:13
Speaker 1: be literally. A man cannot enter a second time into
11:16
Speaker 1: his mother's womb and be born, but they may spiritually.
11:21
Speaker 1: A man may be born from above, born of God,
11:24
Speaker 1: born of the Spirit, in a manner which bears a
11:27
Speaker 1: very near analogy to the natural birth. Before a child
11:31
Speaker 1: is born into the world. He has eyes but sees not,
11:35
Speaker 1: he has ears but does not hear. He has a
11:38
Speaker 1: very imperfect use of any other sense. He has no
11:42
Speaker 1: knowledge of any of the things of the world, or
11:44
Speaker 1: any natural understanding to that manner of existence which he
11:49
Speaker 1: then has, we do not even give the name of life.
11:52
Speaker 1: It is then only when a man is born that
11:55
Speaker 1: we say he begins to live. For as soon as
11:58
Speaker 1: he is born, he begins to see the light and
12:01
Speaker 1: the various objects with which he is encompassed. His ears
12:05
Speaker 1: are then opened, and he hears the sounds which successively
12:09
Speaker 1: strike upon them. At the same time, all the other
12:12
Speaker 1: organs of sense begin to be exercised upon their proper objects.
12:16
Speaker 1: He likewise breathes and lives in a manner wholly different
12:20
Speaker 1: from what he did before. How exactly doth the parallel
12:24
Speaker 1: hold in all these instances? While a man is in
12:27
Speaker 1: a mere natural state before he is born of God,
12:31
Speaker 1: he has in a spiritual sense eyes and sees not
12:35
Speaker 1: a thick, impenetrable veil lies upon them. He has ears,
12:40
Speaker 1: but hears not. He is utterly deaf to what he
12:43
Speaker 1: is most of all concerned to hear. His other spiritual
12:47
Speaker 1: senses are all locked up. He is in the same
12:50
Speaker 1: condition as if he had them not. Hence he has
12:53
Speaker 1: no knowledge of God, no intercourse with him. He is
12:57
Speaker 1: not at all acquainted with him. He has no true
13:00
Speaker 1: knowledge of the things of God, either of spiritual or
13:03
Speaker 1: eternal things. Therefore, though he is a living man, he
13:07
Speaker 1: is a dead Christian. But as soon as he is
13:10
Speaker 1: born of God, there is a total change in all
13:13
Speaker 1: these particulars. The eyes of his understanding are opened, such
13:18
Speaker 1: as the language of the Great Apostle, and he who
13:22
Speaker 1: of old commanded light to shine out of darkness. Shining
13:25
Speaker 1: on his heart. He sees the light of the glory
13:28
Speaker 1: of God, his glorious love, in the face of Jesus Christ.
13:32
Speaker 1: His ears being opened, he is now capable of hearing
13:36
Speaker 1: the inward voice of God saying, be of good, cheer
13:40
Speaker 1: Thy sins are forgiven, thee go and sin no more.
13:45
Speaker 1: This is the purport of what God speaks to his heart,
13:49
Speaker 1: although perhaps not in these very words. He is now
13:52
Speaker 1: ready to hear whatsoever He that teacheth man knowledge is
13:57
Speaker 1: pleased from time to time to reveal to him. He
14:00
Speaker 1: feels in his heart to use the language of our Church,
14:04
Speaker 1: the mighty working of the Spirit of God, not in
14:07
Speaker 1: a gross carnal sense, as the men of the world
14:10
Speaker 1: stupidly and wilfully misunderstand the expression. Though they have been
14:14
Speaker 1: told again and again we mean thereby neither more nor
14:17
Speaker 1: less than this. He feels is inwardly sensible of the
14:23
Speaker 1: graces which the Spirit of God works in his heart.
14:26
Speaker 1: He feels he is conscious of a peace which passeth
14:30
Speaker 1: all understanding. He many times feels such a joy in
14:34
Speaker 1: God as is unspeakable and full of glory. He feels
14:38
Speaker 1: the love of God shed abroad in his heart by
14:41
Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost, which is given unto him, and all
14:44
Speaker 1: his spiritual senses are then exercised to discern spiritual good
14:49
Speaker 1: and evil. By the use of these, he is daily
14:52
Speaker 1: increasing in the knowledge of God, of Jesus Christ, whom
14:56
Speaker 1: he hath sent, and to all the things pertaining to
14:58
Speaker 1: his inward kingdom. And now he may be properly said
15:03
Speaker 1: to live God having quickened him by his spirit. He
15:07
Speaker 1: is alive to God through Jesus Christ. He lives a
15:11
Speaker 1: life which the world knoweth not, of, a life which
15:14
Speaker 1: is hid with Christ. In God. God is continually breathing,
15:19
Speaker 1: as it were upon the soul, and his soul is
15:22
Speaker 1: breathing unto God. Grace is descending into his heart, and
15:26
Speaker 1: prayer and praise ascending to Heaven. And by this intercourse
15:30
Speaker 1: between God and man this fellowship with the Father and
15:34
Speaker 1: the Son, as by a kind of spiritual respiration, the
15:38
Speaker 1: life of God in the soul is sustained, and the
15:41
Speaker 1: child of God grows up until he comes to the
15:43
Speaker 1: full measure of the stature of Christ. From hence it
15:48
Speaker 1: manifestly appears. What is the nature of the new birth.
15:52
Speaker 1: It is that great change which God works in the
15:54
Speaker 1: soul when he brings it into life, when he raises
15:58
Speaker 1: it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness.
16:01
Speaker 1: It is the change wrought in the whole soul by
16:04
Speaker 1: the almighty Spirit of God, when it is created ane
16:07
Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus, when it is renewed after the image
16:11
Speaker 1: of God in righteousness and true holiness, when the love
16:15
Speaker 1: of the world is changed into the love of God,
16:18
Speaker 1: Pride into humility, passion into meekness, hatred, envy, malice into
16:24
Speaker 1: a sincere, tender, disinterested love for all mankind. In a word,
16:29
Speaker 1: it is that change whereby the earthly, sensual, devilish mind
16:33
Speaker 1: is turned into the mind which was in Christ Jesus.
16:37
Speaker 1: This is the nature of the new birth. So is
16:39
Speaker 1: everyone that is born of the spirit. It is not
16:43
Speaker 1: difficult for any who has considered these things to see
16:46
Speaker 1: the necessity of the new birth, and to answer the
16:49
Speaker 1: third question, wherefore, to what end is it necessary that
16:54
Speaker 1: we should be born again? It is very easily discerned
16:58
Speaker 1: that this is necessary first in order to holiness. For
17:02
Speaker 1: what is holiness, according to the oracles of God, not
17:06
Speaker 1: a bare external religion, a roundabout word duties, how many
17:11
Speaker 1: soever they be, and how exactlysoever performed. No Gospel holiness
17:17
Speaker 1: is no less than the image of God stamped upon
17:19
Speaker 1: the heart. It is no other than the whole mind
17:22
Speaker 1: which was in Christ Jesus. It consists of all heavenly
17:26
Speaker 1: affections and tempers mingled together in one. It implies such
17:31
Speaker 1: a continual, thankful love to Him who hath not withheld
17:34
Speaker 1: from us his son, his only son, as makes it
17:38
Speaker 1: natural and in a manner necessary to us to love
17:41
Speaker 1: every child of Man, as fills us with bowels of mercies, kindness, gentleness,
17:47
Speaker 1: long suffering. It is such a love of God as
17:51
Speaker 1: teaches us to be blameless in all manner of conversation,
17:54
Speaker 1: as enables us to present our souls and bodies, all
17:58
Speaker 1: we are and all we have, all our thoughts, words,
18:01
Speaker 1: and actions, a continual sacrifice to God, acceptable through Christ Jesus. Now,
18:08
Speaker 1: this holiness can have no existence till we are renewed
18:11
Speaker 1: in the image of our mind. It cannot commence in
18:14
Speaker 1: the soul till that change be wrought, till by the
18:17
Speaker 1: power of the Highest overshadowing us, we are brought from
18:21
Speaker 1: darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God.
18:25
Speaker 1: That is, till we are born again, which therefore is
18:28
Speaker 1: absolutely necessary in order to holiness. But without holiness, no
18:33
Speaker 1: man shall see the Lord shall see the face of
18:37
Speaker 1: God in glory of consequence, the new birth is absolutely
18:41
Speaker 1: necessary in order to eternal salvation. Men may indeed flatter themselves.
18:47
Speaker 1: So desperately wicked and so deceitful is the heart of man,
18:51
Speaker 1: that they may live in their sins till they come
18:54
Speaker 1: to the last gasp, and yet afterwards live with God.
18:58
Speaker 1: And thousands do really believe believe that they have found
19:01
Speaker 1: a broadway which leadeth not to destruction? What danger, say
19:05
Speaker 1: they can a woman be and that is so harmless
19:09
Speaker 1: and so virtuous? What fear is there that so honest
19:12
Speaker 1: a man, one of so strict morality, should miss of heaven,
19:16
Speaker 1: especially if over and above all this they constantly attend
19:20
Speaker 1: on church and sacrament. One of these will ask with
19:24
Speaker 1: all assurance, what shall not I do, as well as
19:27
Speaker 1: my neighbors. Yes, as well as your unholy neighbors, as
19:31
Speaker 1: well as your neighbors that die in their sins. For
19:34
Speaker 1: you will all drop into the pit together, into the
19:37
Speaker 1: nethermost hell. You will all lie together in the lake
19:41
Speaker 1: of fire, the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Then
19:45
Speaker 1: at length you will see, But God grant you may
19:49
Speaker 1: see it before the necessity of holiness, in order to
19:52
Speaker 1: glory and consequently of the new birth. Since none can
19:57
Speaker 1: be holy except he be born again. For that same reason,
20:01
Speaker 1: except to be born again, none can be happy, even
20:04
Speaker 1: in this world. For it is not possible in the
20:07
Speaker 1: nature of things that a man should be happy who
20:10
Speaker 1: is not holy. Even the poor, ungodly poet could tell
20:14
Speaker 1: us Nemo malice felix, no wicked man is happy. The
20:20
Speaker 1: reason is plain. All unholy tempers are uneasy tempers. Not
20:25
Speaker 1: only malice, hatred, envy, jealousy, revenge create a present hell
20:31
Speaker 1: in the breast. But even the softer passions, if not
20:34
Speaker 1: kept within due bounds, give a thousand times more pain
20:38
Speaker 1: than pleasure. Even hope when deferred, And how often must
20:42
Speaker 1: this be the case, maketh the heart sick. And every
20:46
Speaker 1: desire which is not according to the will of God
20:48
Speaker 1: is liable to pierce us through with many sorrows. And
20:52
Speaker 1: all those general sources of sin, pride, self, will, and
20:56
Speaker 1: idolatry are in the same proportion as they prevail general
21:00
Speaker 1: sources of misery. Therefore, as long as these reign in
21:05
Speaker 1: any soul, happiness has no place there. But they must
21:08
Speaker 1: reign till the bent of our nature is changed, that is,
21:12
Speaker 1: till we are born again. Consequently, the new birth is
21:15
Speaker 1: absolutely necessary in order to happiness in this world as
21:19
Speaker 1: well as in the world to come. I proposed in
21:23
Speaker 1: the last place to subjoin a few inferences which naturally
21:27
Speaker 1: follow from the preceding observations. And first, it follows that
21:31
Speaker 1: baptism is not the new birth. They are not one
21:36
Speaker 1: and the same thing. Many indeed seem to imagine that
21:40
Speaker 1: they are just the same, at least they speak as
21:43
Speaker 1: if they thought so. But I do not know that
21:45
Speaker 1: this opinion is publicly avowed by any denomination of Christians whatever.
21:50
Speaker 1: Certainly it is not by any within these kingdoms, whether
21:54
Speaker 1: of the established Church or dissenting from it. The judgment
21:58
Speaker 1: of The latter is clearly declared in a large catechism.
22:02
Speaker 1: Question what are the parts of a sacrament? Answer? The
22:07
Speaker 1: parts of a sacrament are two, the one an outward
22:10
Speaker 1: and sensible sign, the other an inward and spiritual grace
22:15
Speaker 1: thereby signified. Question what is baptism? Baptism is a sacrament
22:21
Speaker 1: wherein Christ hath ordained the washing with water to be
22:25
Speaker 1: a sign and seal of regeneration by his spirit. Here
22:29
Speaker 1: it is manifest baptism. The sign is spoken of as
22:33
Speaker 1: a distinct from regeneration, the thing signified in the Church catechism. Likewise,
22:39
Speaker 1: the judgment of our church is declared with the utmost clearness.
22:43
Speaker 1: What meanest thou by this word sacrament? I mean an
22:49
Speaker 1: outward invisible sign of an inward in spiritual grace. Question
22:54
Speaker 1: what is the outward part or form in baptism? Answer?
23:00
Speaker 1: Wherein the person is baptized in the name of the Father,
23:04
Speaker 1: Son and Holy Ghost. Question what is the inward part
23:09
Speaker 1: or thing signified? Answer? A death onto sin and a
23:14
Speaker 1: new birth onto righteousness. Nothing therefore is plainer than that.
23:19
Speaker 1: According to the Church of England, baptism is not the
23:23
Speaker 1: new birth, but indeed the reason of the thing is
23:26
Speaker 1: so clear and evident, is not to need any other authority.
23:30
Speaker 1: For what can be more plain than the one is
23:33
Speaker 1: a visible and the other an invisible thing, and therefore
23:37
Speaker 1: wholly different from each other, the one being an act
23:40
Speaker 1: of man purifying the body, the other a change wrought
23:44
Speaker 1: by God in the soul, so that the former is
23:47
Speaker 1: just as distinguishable from the latter as the soul from
23:51
Speaker 1: the body, or water from the Holy Ghost. From the
23:55
Speaker 1: preceding reflections. We may secondly observe that, as the new
23:59
Speaker 1: birth is not the same thing with baptism, so it
24:03
Speaker 1: does not always accompany baptism. They do not constantly go together.
24:08
Speaker 1: A man may possibly be born of water and yet
24:11
Speaker 1: not be born of the spirit. There may sometimes be
24:15
Speaker 1: the outward sign where there is not the inward grace.
24:19
Speaker 1: I do not now speak with regard to infants. It
24:22
Speaker 1: is certain our Church supposes that all who are baptized
24:25
Speaker 1: in their infancy are at the same time born again,
24:28
Speaker 1: And it is allowed that the whole office for the
24:31
Speaker 1: baptism of infants proceeds upon this supposition. Nor is it
24:36
Speaker 1: an objection of any weight against this that we cannot
24:39
Speaker 1: comprehend how this work can be wrought in infants, for
24:42
Speaker 1: neither can we comprehend how it is wrought in a
24:45
Speaker 1: person of riper years. But whatever be the case with infants,
24:50
Speaker 1: it is sure all of riper years who are baptized
24:53
Speaker 1: are not at the same time born again. The tree
24:56
Speaker 1: is known by its fruits, and hereby it appears too
25:00
Speaker 1: plain to be denied that diverse of those who were
25:03
Speaker 1: children of the devil before they were baptized continue the
25:06
Speaker 1: same after baptism. For the works of their father they do.
25:10
Speaker 1: They continue servants of sin, without any pretense either to
25:14
Speaker 1: inward or outward holiness. A third inference, which we may
25:19
Speaker 1: draw from what has been observed, is that the new
25:22
Speaker 1: birth is not the same with sanctification. This is indeed
25:26
Speaker 1: taken for granted by many, particularly by an imminent writer
25:30
Speaker 1: in his late treatise on the Nature and Grounds of
25:33
Speaker 1: Christian Regeneration. To waive several other weighty objections which might
25:38
Speaker 1: be made to the tract, this is a palpable one.
25:41
Speaker 1: It all along speaks of regeneration as a progressive work
25:45
Speaker 1: carried on in the soul by slow degrees from the
25:48
Speaker 1: time of our first turning to God. This is undeniably
25:52
Speaker 1: true of sanctification, but of regeneration, the new birth. It
25:56
Speaker 1: is not true. This is a part of sanctification, not
26:00
Speaker 1: the whole. It is the gait to it, the entrance
26:03
Speaker 1: into it. When we are born again, then our sanctification,
26:07
Speaker 1: our inward and outward holiness, begins, and thenceforward we are
26:12
Speaker 1: gradually to grow up in Him who is our head.
26:16
Speaker 1: This expression of the Apostle admirably illustrates the difference between
26:20
Speaker 1: one and the other, and further points out the exact
26:23
Speaker 1: anology there is between natural and spiritual things. A child
26:28
Speaker 1: is born of a woman in a moment, or at
26:30
Speaker 1: least in a very short time. Afterward he gradually and
26:34
Speaker 1: slowly grows till he attains to the stature of a man.
26:38
Speaker 1: In like manner, a child is born of God in
26:40
Speaker 1: a short time, if not in a moment, but it
26:43
Speaker 1: is by slow degrees that he afterward grows up to
26:47
Speaker 1: the measure of the full stature of Christ. The same relation, therefore,
26:51
Speaker 1: which there is between our natural birth and our growth,
26:55
Speaker 1: there is also between our new birth and our sanctification.
26:58
Speaker 1: One point more we may learn from the preceding observations,
27:02
Speaker 1: but it is a point of so great importance as
27:05
Speaker 1: my excuse the considering it the more carefully and prosecuting
27:08
Speaker 1: it at some length. What must one who loves the
27:12
Speaker 1: souls of men and is grieved that any of them
27:14
Speaker 1: should perish? Say to one whom he sees living in sabbath, breaking, drunkenness,
27:21
Speaker 1: or any other wilful sin? What can he say, if
27:24
Speaker 1: the foregoing observations are true? But ye must be born again? No,
27:29
Speaker 1: says a zealous man, that cannot be. How can you
27:33
Speaker 1: talk so uncharitably to the man. Has he not been
27:36
Speaker 1: baptized already? He cannot be born again? Now can he
27:40
Speaker 1: not be born again? Do you affirm this? Then he
27:44
Speaker 1: cannot be saved, though he be as old as Nicodemus was.
27:49
Speaker 1: Yet except he be born again, he cannot see the
27:52
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. Therefore, in saying he cannot be born again,
27:56
Speaker 1: you in in fact deliver him over to damnation. And
27:59
Speaker 1: where lies the uncharitableness? Now on my side or on yours?
28:04
Speaker 1: I say he may be born again and so become
28:07
Speaker 1: an heir of salvation. You say he cannot be born again,
28:12
Speaker 1: and if so, he must inevitably perish. So you utterly
28:15
Speaker 1: block up his way to salvation and send him to
28:19
Speaker 1: Hell out of mere charity. But perhaps the sinner himself,
28:23
Speaker 1: to whom, in real charity we say you must be
28:25
Speaker 1: born again, has been taught to say, I defy your
28:29
Speaker 1: new doctrine. I need not be born again. I was
28:32
Speaker 1: born again when I was baptized. What would you have
28:36
Speaker 1: me deny my baptism? I answer first, there is nothing
28:40
Speaker 1: under heaven which can excuse a lie. Otherwise I should
28:44
Speaker 1: say to an open sinner, if you have been baptized,
28:47
Speaker 1: do not own it? For how highly does this aggravate
28:51
Speaker 1: your guilt? How will it increase your damnation? Was you
28:55
Speaker 1: devoted to God at eight days old? And have you
28:59
Speaker 1: been all these years voting yourself to the devil? Was you,
29:03
Speaker 1: even before you had the use of reason, consecrated to God,
29:06
Speaker 1: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? And have you,
29:10
Speaker 1: ever since you had the use of it been flying
29:13
Speaker 1: in the face of God and consecrating yourself to Satan?
29:17
Speaker 1: Does the abomination of desolation, the love of the world, pride, anger, lust,
29:23
Speaker 1: foolish desire, and a whole train of vile affections stand
29:26
Speaker 1: where it ought not? Have you set up all the
29:29
Speaker 1: accursed things in that soul which was once a temple
29:32
Speaker 1: of the Holy Ghost set apart for an inhabitation of
29:35
Speaker 1: God through the Spirit. YEA, solemnly given up to Him.
29:38
Speaker 1: And do you glory in this that you once belong
29:41
Speaker 1: to God? Oh, be ashamed, blush, hide yourself in the earth,
29:46
Speaker 1: never boast more of what ought to fill you with confusion,
29:49
Speaker 1: to make you a shamed before God and Man. I answer. Secondly,
29:53
Speaker 1: you have already denied your baptism, and that in the
29:56
Speaker 1: most effectual manner you have denied it a thousand and
29:59
Speaker 1: a th thousand times, and you do so still day
30:02
Speaker 1: by day. For in your baptism you renounce the devil
30:06
Speaker 1: and all his works. Whenever therefore you give place to
30:10
Speaker 1: him again. Whenever you do any of the works of
30:13
Speaker 1: the devil, then you deny your baptism. Therefore you deny
30:16
Speaker 1: it by every wilful sin, by every act of uncleanness, drunkenness,
30:21
Speaker 1: or revenge, by every obscene or profane word, by every
30:26
Speaker 1: oath that comes out of your mouth. Every time you
30:29
Speaker 1: profane the day of the Lord, you thereby deny your baptism. YEA.
30:33
Speaker 1: Every time you do anything to another which you would
30:35
Speaker 1: not he should do to you. I answer. Thirdly, be
30:40
Speaker 1: you baptized or unbaptized, you must be born again. Otherwise
30:44
Speaker 1: it is not possible. You should be inwardly holy, and
30:48
Speaker 1: without inward as well as outward holiness, you cannot be
30:51
Speaker 1: happy even in this world, much less in the world
30:54
Speaker 1: to come. Do you say nay, But I do no
30:58
Speaker 1: harm to any man. I am honest and just in
31:01
Speaker 1: all my dealings. I do not curse or take the
31:04
Speaker 1: Lord's name in vain. I do not profane the Lord's day.
31:08
Speaker 1: I am no drunkard. I do not slander my neighbor,
31:11
Speaker 1: nor live in any wilful sin. If this be so,
31:14
Speaker 1: it were much to be wished that all men went
31:17
Speaker 1: as far as you do. But you must go further yet,
31:20
Speaker 1: or you cannot be saved. Still you must be born again.
31:25
Speaker 1: Do you add, I do go further yet, for I
31:28
Speaker 1: not only do no harm, but do all the good
31:30
Speaker 1: I can I doubt that fact. I fear you have
31:34
Speaker 1: had a thousand opportunities of doing good, which you have
31:37
Speaker 1: suffered to pass by unimproved, or for which therefore you
31:41
Speaker 1: are accountable to God. But if you had improved them all,
31:45
Speaker 1: if you really had done all the good you possibly
31:47
Speaker 1: could to all men. Yet this does not at all
31:50
Speaker 1: alter the case. Still you must be born again. Without this,
31:56
Speaker 1: nothing will do any good to your poor, sinful, polluted soul. Nay,
32:00
Speaker 1: but I constantly attend all the ordinances of God. I
32:04
Speaker 1: keep to my church and sacrament. It is well you do.
32:08
Speaker 1: But all this will not keep you from hell except
32:11
Speaker 1: you be born again. Go to church twice a day,
32:14
Speaker 1: go to the Lord's table every week, say ever so
32:18
Speaker 1: many prayers in private, hear ever so many good sermons,
32:21
Speaker 1: read ever so many good books. Still you must be
32:25
Speaker 1: born again. None of these things will stand in the
32:28
Speaker 1: place of the new birth, no nor anything under heaven.
32:32
Speaker 1: Let this, therefore, if you have not already experienced this
32:36
Speaker 1: inward work of God, be your continual prayer. Lord, add
32:41
Speaker 1: this to all thy blessings. Let me be born again.
32:44
Speaker 1: Deny whatever thou pleasest, but deny not this. Let me
32:48
Speaker 1: be born from above. Take away whatsoever seemeth thee good, reputation, fortune, friends, health.
32:55
Speaker 1: Only give me this to be born of the spirit,
32:58
Speaker 1: to be received among the children of God. Let me
33:01
Speaker 1: be born not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the
33:05
Speaker 1: Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And then
33:09
Speaker 1: Let me daily grow in grace and in the knowledge
33:12
Speaker 1: of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. End of Section
33:19
Speaker 1: forty six