|
The
Grounds And Reasons Of Christian Regeneration |
Offered to the
Consideration of Christians
By William Law
L o n d o n : Printed for J.
Richardson, in Pater-noster-row 1739
The Introduction.
I would consider
it a matter of great importance, if I knew how to bring to your attention one
of the greatest subjects of the Christian religion, and of the greatest concern
to you. And though the subject is exacting, and seems only to relate to one
point, yet the things which we will bring under consideration, will extend to
matters of the most general importance, and contain the most important reasons
to awaken and convert the heart both of the deist[1],
pagan, and the professing Christian.
For it is my intent to search and lay open the true grounds and reasons
of the Christian new-birth, that the things said, may equally reach all of
these readers. For the Deists, and the unbelievers, have a great share of my
compassionate affections, and I can never think, or write of the infinite
blessings of the Christian redemption, without feeling in my heart, an
impatient longing to see them become the happy partakers of it. And as one
naturally believes, what one strongly wishes to believe; so I cannot help
hoping, that both professing Christians and Deists will, in this booklet
find truths of such a nature, as will in some degree, touch their hearts, and
this can happen if this little booklet is not read with prejudice and aversion.
Adam was created by God after His own
Image, and in His own Likeness, a living mirror of the Divine Nature; where
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each brought forth their Own nature in a
creaturely manner. As the Son, who is begotten of the Father, is the brightness
of the Father's Glory, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son,
as an amiable, moving Life of both; so it was in this created Image of God. In
this new life, the Father's nature generated the nature of the Son, and the
Holy Ghost and proceeded from both of them, as an amiable, moving Life. This
was the Likeness or Image of God, in which the first man was created, a true
offspring of God, in whom the Divine birth sprung up as in God, where Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost saw themselves in a creaturely manner.
In the Divine Nature the Father cannot possibly be separated
from the Son, nor the Holy Ghost from either of them. But such a separation
could come to pass in Adam having become creaturely, or in the created living image
of God.
If such separation could not have happened, man could not
have fallen out of Paradise; for as long as this Image of the Godhead continued
unbroken, so long it must be in Paradise, Heaven, or the Kingdom of Divine joy.
But that this separation could happen in this created Image of God, i.e., that
the Birth of the Son, and the rising, or proceeding of the Holy Ghost, could be
separated or lost, is also certain; because man is actually fallen out of
paradise into this poor, wretched, perishable world.
While man continued as an unbroken image of the Godhead, he
was in paradise, in the open enjoyment of the Kingdom of God. He stood indeed
upon the earth, with the same outward world about him, as we have now; but
paradise was over all, the cover of all; and therefore he neither saw nor felt
his own outward body, or the things of this outward world, in the manner, as we
now see, and feel them. His own dark, gross, fleshly body, which appeared after
the fall, and the naked grossness, darkness, discord, contrariety, and enmity,
of the elements of this outward world, the strife of heat and cold, of storms
and tempests, were things suppressed in paradise, and as entirely hid from his
eyes, as the darkness of the night is hid from our eyes by the light of day.
This is plainly taught us in the Holy Scripture, where it is
said of our first parents in paradise, before the fall, that "They were
naked, and were not ashamed." and again, after the fall it is said,
"Their eyes were opened," and "They saw they were
naked," and through shame, sought for a covering. It is not said, they
saw their nakedness in paradise, but that though they were naked, that is, had
such bodies as afterwards appeared to be naked, yet they were not ashamed, and
the reason of their not being ashamed, was because that nakedness was not then
visible, it could not show itself, but was concealed and covered from them by
their paradisiacal glory; but as soon as by sin, they died to the paradisiacal
life and glory, then they saw their nakedness, which sight filled them with
shame and confusion. From these two passages of scripture it is most plain,
first, that another sort of seeing, or another sight of things, was opened in
Adam after the fall, than that which he had before it: for he then first saw
his own nakedness, and therefore first also saw the outward world, with such
eyes as he saw his own body, that is, in the same state of nakedness, as he saw
himself, destitute of its paradisiacal glory. Secondly, that before his fall,
his seeing was Divine, by means of a Divine light, shining forth from the
Kingdom of God, that was not hid then, but powerfully opened within him. It was
then with him, as with the heavenly city, of which John says, "It had no
need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did
enlighten it, and the lamb is the light thereof, Rev.21:23. Thirdly, that
after the fall, when the image of the Godhead was broken in him, this Divine
light departed from him, and he was left to the firmamental light of this
world, to the light of beasts, to see himself, and all other outward things, in
no other light and glory, but such as the sun, stars, and elements, cast upon
one another. Thus he stood with regard to this outward world, a poor prisoner
of this earthly life, as much under the power and slavery of the elements, as
his fellow-creatures, the beasts.
Paradise had departed from the earth (which before kept all
in harmony) now discord and contrariety broke forth in all the elements, and
animals upon it. The elementary nature in man, and beasts, was in the same
disorder with the outward elements and stars. From this time storms and
tempests, thunders and lightning, earthquakes, and all sorts of strife and
contrarieties through all temporal nature; and in man, and other animals, began
to have disorder; the elements and man, were of the same nature,
and so, strife and contrarieties acted upon one another. Heat, cold, pain,
sorrow, fear, unrest, diseases, sickness and death, came upon man, because he
had fallen out of paradise into this world. This was the state of the world,
and of the men in it, after paradise was removed from it; instead of the light
and glory of paradise, which made it all peace and unity, and a sweet
habitation of Divine joy, it now had only the light of the sun, which could not
keep the elements in harmony, but in discord, as we now see in the world. Thus
man stood in this outward world; let us now look at the inward state of his
soul, and see what condition he was of, in the inward, and spiritual world.
We have before shown that man was created a living image of
God, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, saw themselves in him, in a
creaturely manner. Now by his transgression this image of God was broken; the
generation of the Son, or Word, and the proceeding of the Holy Ghost in him,
came to an end; on the day that he sinned, he died. And therefore what was he
as far as his soul was concerned? What must be said of it? His soul was now
deprived of that birth, which was the brightness of its glory, and which should
be that in it, which the Son of God is to the Father; it needed that Spirit,
which was its amiable life, and which was meant to be to it, that which the
Holy Ghost is to the Father, and the Son. Yet the soul was still a life, an
imperishable life, that could not be dissolved, or cease to be. Now
understanding that every life, whether spiritual or corporeal, consists in
fire, or rather is fire; therefore we may say of the soul in this state, that
it is a spiritual dark, fire-breath, an anger-fire, that must heat, and torment
itself with its own inward burning strife, and yet be unable to reach, touch,
or obtain any spark of light and love, to make its fire-life sweet and amiable,
or such a flame of fire, as angels are said to be.
This was the state of the soul after the fall, when the
birth of the Son of God, and the proceeding forth of the Holy Ghost, were no
longer to be found, or felt in it. It was in the same state and condition of
the devils, who in their fallen nature, have changed from flames of love, to
dark spiritual raging, that can draw no light of love into itself. And the
reason for this, even the most intelligent person does not fully understand,
they perceive their souls to be in this miserable state, a dark root of
self-tormenting fire, because the soul, though fallen from the Divine life, was
still united to the blood of a human body, and therefore the sweet, and
cheering light of the sun, could reach the soul, and do that for it in some
degree, and for some time, which it does to the darkness, sharpness, sourness,
bitterness, and wrath that is in outward nature, that is, it could enlighten,
sweeten, and cheer it to a certain degree.
But because this is not its own light, that is, does not
arise in the soul itself, but only reaches it by means of the body; so if the
soul in this time does not have any light of its own, then, when the death of
the body breaks off its communion with the light of this world, the soul is
left a mere dark, raging fire, in the same state as the devils. And if all the
light of this world were to be immediately extinguished, all human souls that
were not in some real degree of regeneration, would immediately find themselves
to be nothing but the rage of fire, and the horror of darkness. Now, though the
light and comfort of this outward world, keeps even the worst of men from any
constant, strong sensibility of that wrathful, fiery, dark, and self-tormenting
nature, that is the very essence of every fallen, unregenerate soul; yet every
man in the world has, more or less, frequent and strong indications given him,
that it is so with him, in the innermost part of his soul.
How many inventions are some people forced to have recourse
to, to keep off a certain inward uneasiness, which they are afraid of, and do
not even know where it comes from? Alas, it is because there is a fallen
spirit, a dark aching fire within them, which has never had its proper relief,
and is trying to discover itself, and it calls out for help, every time some
worldly joy ends.
Why are some people, when undergoing heavy disappointments,
or some great worldly shame, are at the very brink of collapse, unable to bear
themselves, and sometimes even desire death? It is because worldly light and comforts,
are no longer acting sweetly upon their soul, the soul is left to its own dark,
fiery raging nature, and sometimes is willing to destroy itself, rather than
continue to undergo the wrathful, self-tormenting fire.
Who has not, at one time or other, felt a wrath,
selfishness, envy, and pride, which he could not tell what to do with, or how
to bear, rising up in him without his consent, casting a blackness over all his
thoughts, and then as suddenly going away again, either by the cheerfulness of the
sun, or some agreeable incident, and again, at times, as suddenly returning
upon him? Sufficient indications are these to every man, that there is a dark
guest within him, concealed under the cover of flesh and blood, often lulled
asleep by worldly light, and amusements, yet such as will, in spite of
everything, show itself, which if it does not have its proper relief in this
life, must be his torment in eternity. And it was for the sake of this hidden
hell within us, that our blessed Lord said when on earth, and says now to every
soul, "Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest." For as the soul has become this self-tormenting fire,
only because the birth of the Son of God was extinguished in it by our first
parents; so there is no other possible remedy for it, either in heaven or
earth, but by its coming to this Son of God, to be born again of Him, and of
His love. Oh, poor unbelievers, that content yourselves with this
foundation of hell in your nature, and either seek for no salvation, or, what
is worse, turn your backs with disregard on the one and only Savior, that God
Himself can help you to!
Do not think of saving yourselves. It is no more in your
power, than to save the fallen spirits that are in hell; you can no more do the
one than the other. Do not talk of the mercy and goodness of God; His mercy is
indeed infinite, and His goodness above all conception; but then the
infiniteness of it consists in this, that He of His own mercy offered this
Savior to all mankind, because in the nature of things, nothing less than this
Savior could redeem them. Therefore to rely upon a mercy of God, that is not
within the Christian scheme of things, is to rely upon a fiction of our own
minds; because all the mercy that God can show to mankind, all that His
omnipotent love can do for them, is done and offered to them in, and through
God’s redemption, Jesus Christ.
If either devils, or lost souls could possibly be
annihilated, neither of them would by the goodness of God, be suffered to exist
in misery. But a man may as well expect that his soul shall be annihilated
through the goodness of God, even though annihilation is impossible, and cannot
be done, as to expect to be saved through the divine goodness, without the
mediation of the Son of God, when the birth of the Son of God in the soul, is
the only salvation, that the omnipotence of God can bestow upon him. Therefore
to choose or rely upon some other goodness of God besides that, which he has
offered to us in Jesus Christ, is the most dreadful mistake that can befall any
man, and must, if persevered in, leave him without any possibility of any kind,
or degree of salvation. For as the Son of God is the brightness and glory of
the Father, so no soul made in the likeness of God is capable of any degree of
brightness and glory, but so far as the birth of the Son of God is in it;
therefore to reject this birth, to refuse this method of redemption, is to
reject all the goodness, that the divine nature itself has for us.
But to return, I have shown in few words the original
dignity and glory of man’s creation and state in paradise, and the lamentable
change, that the fall has brought upon him. From a Divine and heavenly
creature, he is so wretchedly changed, as to have inwardly the nature, and dark
fire of the devils, and outwardly the nature of all the beasts, a slave of this
outward world, living at all uncertainties, amongst the pains, fears, sorrows,
and diseases, until his body is forced to be removed from our sight, and hid in
the earth.
Now from this short view of what man is fallen from, and
what he is fallen into, we may see at once in the strongest light the divine
excellence and absolute necessity of those doctrines of our blessed Lord,
calling us to renounce the world, and to so many ways of denying all the
passions and inclinations of flesh and blood. Were the world, as it now is, and
we, as we now are, in the very first state in which God made it and us, there
would be some foundation for saying, as some do, "What are all these things
for, if they are not to be enjoyed? Why have we these passions and
inclinations, if they may not be gratified?" but all these questions are
fully answered, as soon as it is known, that the first state of things is quite
altered; that we were not created to be in this world in the manner we are now
in it; that paradise was our first state, where we should have stood in divine
strength and ability, insensible of any evil from outward nature; that sin
destroyed this first state of things, destroyed the divine life in the soul,
and removed paradise from the earth; that man, cast out of paradise, came as a
malefactor into this outward world, to be punished and scourged by all its
divided, warring elements; that by his falling into this world, it received the
same power over him, as over the beasts, that are its proper inhabitants, and
of the same nature with itself; that thus fallen under its dominion, it
continually breathes its own corrupt nature into him, feeds him with such husks
as the swine eat, and proposes such pleasures to him, as make him unwilling,
and unable to regain his first divine life. Now, as soon as this is known to be
the condition of man, thus fallen from a divine life under the dominion of this
world, then all the renouncing, self-denying doctrines of the gospel, appear to
have the utmost reason and necessity in them; then it appears to be as much for
our happiness, to deny the tempers and inclinations of this earthly nature, and
to be delivered from the power of its pleasures over us, as to be delivered
from the power of death and hell. And the most sober reason thus acquainted
with the nature of our fall, must be forced to consider this world as having
only the nature of a hospital, where people are only, because they are sick,
and where no happiness is sought for, but that of being healed, and made fit to
leave it.
To proceed: the fact that I have not stated man’s first
dignity too high, is made evidently clear from the scripture account of it. It
is a fundamental truth of our religion, that he was created in paradise for a
life suitable to paradise. But paradise is a divine habitation, still existing
where it was at the first, though not visible to eyes which can only see by the
light of the sun, and it is the habitation of such as have attained their first
paradisiacal nature; it was in this paradise, that our Savior, through a
miracle of love, promised to be with the thief on the cross.
It is also a fundamental truth of scripture, that man was
created to be immortal, incapable of death, and of everything that had any
likeness to it, so long as he continued in the perfection of his state. That it
was sin alone, which brought sorrow, pain, evil, distress, sickness and death
upon him. But if this is a truth that cannot be denied, then it must be equally
true, that before he sinned, he must have stood in a paradise, that kept
everything in the outward world entirely under him, so that neither fire nor
water, nor any other element, could have the least power over him. But if fire,
the fiercest of the elements, did not have the least power of touching his body
in any hurtful manner, or of causing any pain to him; then it must be granted,
that paradise hid, and governed the power of all the elements of this outward
world; that man lived in it as an absolute Lord over it; and therefore it
undeniably follows that the manner, in which he is now under the power of the
elements, capable of receiving pain and evil from them, is a state that he was
not in, until sin took paradise from him, and left him in the same poor
condition, that we are in now, capable of receiving pain and death, from almost
everything that is about us.
That man in paradise lived in this world insensible, and
also incapable of any evil from it, superior to all its elements, is made clear
from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For how could it be more plainly
told us, that outward things, the stars and elements could not affect his
state, or make any impression upon him, than by telling us, that he had no
knowledge of good and evil in this world, until he had eaten of that tree? Is
not this directly telling us, that before he ate of the tree, he was above the
nature of this world, that it did not have power to operate upon him, or give
him any sense or feeling, of what there was of good or evil in it.
Now that he was created to be, and to continue a lord over
all temporal nature, superior to all the influences and the effects of the
elements, is obvious from the prohibition given him, not to eat of this tree of
knowledge. But he was not content with this happy superiority above the evil
and good of outward nature. His imagination, helped on by the devil, longed to
look into it, to know and feel the secret working powers of that outward
nature, which it was his happiness, and paradise to be insensible
of. When God forbade his eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it
was the same thing as if He had said, do not fall into this outward world,
under the dominion of its elements, but keep your state in paradise.
When man disobeyed God, and took the fruit of the tree into
his body, which brought the nature and power of the stars and elements into it;
it is not to be considered, as a single act of eating, but it signifies as much
as if he had said; by eating this fruit, I desire to come within the influences
of the stars and elements, and to be made sensible, and be able to feel the
good and evil that is in them. Therefore, small as the action seems to be at
the first view, and of a very limited nature, it was his refusing to be that,
which God created him to be; it was his express, open, voluntary act and deed,
by which he chose to fall into this outward world, in the manner we now are in
it. Therefore it was not the mere eating of a fruit, that brought Adam's misery
upon him, but it was because of his desire to enter into this world, and for
this reason he ate of the fruit. God was not angry at all, at the small act of
eating a fruit, and then in this supposed anger wanting to turn man out of
paradise, into a world cursed because of that sin. But man freely and
voluntarily chose, against the will, and command of God, to be in
this world in its cursed state, unblessed by paradise; for he chose to enter
into a sensibility and feeling of its good and evil, which is directly choosing
to be, where paradise is not; for nothing that is in paradise, can be touched,
or hurt by anything of the outward world. Therefore the first state of man was
a state of such glory, and heavenly prerogatives, as I have above related; and
his fall, was a fall into, or under the power of this outward world.
If it be also asked, what sufficient proof is there, first,
that the likeness and image of God, in which man was created, signified all of
this, that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each brought forth their own nature in
him, and in him saw themselves in a creaturely manner? And then, secondly, that
by the first sin, this birth of the Son of God, and proceedings of the Holy
Ghost was extinguished and lost in the soul of man? It can be answered, that
these great truths stand attested by the undeniable evidence of scripture.
First, from the means and manner of our redemption. For there is nothing that
can so fully, and justly show us the true nature of our fall, as the nature and
manner of our redemption. And it seems highly suitable to the wisdom of God to
let the first, be only discovered in part, until the latter showed and proved
itself in an undeniable manner. And this, no doubt, is the reason why Moses was
allowed to write no more of the nature of the fall of man, or what it implied,
than that which he has done. Because the time for a plain insight into that
matter had not yet come, and the true nature of it was to lie, a secret, as the
nature and manner of our redemption did then; which was then only obscurely declared,
by an enmity between the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent. But
when the seed of the woman showed itself to be the Son of God, the second
person of the Godhead, united to our human nature; then the nature of our fall,
and what we fell from, and what the seed of the serpent was in us, manifested
themselves in the same degree of certainty. And therefore it is very
unreasonable to hold, that we ought to say no more of our first state before
the fall, of its dignity and perfection, and what was lost by the fall, than
what is openly and expressly declared by Moses. For as it seemed good to the
divine wisdom to conceal the mystery of our redemption and salvation for many
ages, and to let Moses only discover it under a declaration of a serpent-destroyer;
so there was a fitness, and even necessity, that the nature and degree of our
fall should be kept in the same degree of secrecy, then only to be discovered
with a sufficient degree of plainness and certainty, when our redemption and
salvation came plainly to be opened up to us. The religion of the Jews was
suited to that state of things and times in which they lived; neither the
mysteries of the creation, nor redemption, were then discovered; things past,
and things to come, had then only their figures, shadows, and types. But when
the Son of God became incarnate, and showed forth in the plainest manner, the
nature, manner, and necessity of our redemption through His blood, and a life
received from Him, then the nature and degree of our fall became equally plain
and manifest; and everything that He has told us of the nature and necessity of
a new, or second birth from Him, was so much told us of our first birth in
paradise. For the nature and greatness of our redemption, must show the nature
and greatness of our fall. These things have such a necessary correspondence,
as cannot be denied, but by a mind utterly indisposed to receive conviction.
If our redemption proposed to restore to us a divine sight,
would not this be a sufficient proof, that by the fall we had lost the divine
manner of seeing? So, if God Himself takes our nature upon Himself to redeem
us, and it be declared that nothing, but this uniting the divine nature to the
human, can be our redemption, do we need a further proof, that the divine
nature existed in some manner in us, before the fall?
Now it is a plain, manifest doctrine of the Holy Scriptures,
that man by the fall is in such a condition, that there was no help or remedy
for him, either in the height above, or in the depth below, but by the Son of
God becoming incarnate, and taking the fallen nature upon Himself. If this
alone could be the remedy, does this not plainly show us the disease? Does this
not clearly show, what it was that man had lost by his fall, namely, the birth of
the Son of God in his soul; and therefore it was, that only the Son of God in
so mysterious a manner could be his redeemer? If he had lost less, a less power
could have redeemed him. If he had lost something else, the restoration of that
something, would have been his redemption. But since it is an open, undeniable
doctrine of the gospel, that there can be no salvation for mankind but in the
name, and by the power of the Son of God, by His being united to the fallen
nature, and so the raising of His own birth and life in us, sufficiently
declares to us, that what was actually lost by the fall, was the birth of the
Son of God in the soul?
Secondly, this same doctrine is not left to be drawn from
any consequences of things, but it is expressly taught us in words, when it is
said, that we must be born again from above, born of God; for this is expressly
telling us what birth we have lost, and is only saying, that the first birth is
to be restored, or that the divine birth is to arise, or to be brought again into
us, as at the first, when the living image of the Godhead was brought forth in
us. What this new regained birth is, we are plainly told by Peter, that it is a
being born again of an incorruptible seed by the word, that is, the eternal
word, or Son of God. Which divine word being only in the soul as a seed, is to
restore by degrees the first birth of the word, or Son of God in the soul.
Which is proof enough that this was the state of the soul in its creation, that
this birth was then in it, and so was an image of the Godhead; and that the
death which Adam died in the day that he sinned, was this, he lost his holy
birth from his soul. And on this account it was, that nothing could
restore him, but that which was able to restore this birth again to his soul,
and make it again an image of God, as that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, might
see themselves again in a creaturely manner, and dwell in it, and it in them.
Thirdly, the Holy Ghost is in the scriptures declared to be
the sanctifier, or re-newer of holiness in the soul, and this in such a manner,
that all the motions and operations of the soul, so far as they are without it,
and unmoved by it, are so far unholy, and unable even to have a good thought.
Now how could our thoughts or operations be unholy in themselves, and need the
sanctification and renewing of the Holy Ghost, unless this Holy Spirit had
first existed in us, and by our fall had been separated from us? Had not the
birth of the Holy Ghost arisen in us at our creation, we could no more be unholy
for need of it, than the beasts are, nor have needed to be renewed by it, than
the beasts that never had it. But since there is now no sanctification or
redemption for us, but only this, by having the Holy Ghost as a free gift of
God breathed again into us, and it is a demonstration, that we had before we
fell, this holiness by the nature which God gave us at first; and that the
holiness of our creation consisted in this, that the Holy Spirit proceeded, or
rose up in our soul, as the birth of the Son of God did; and that it might for
the same reason be called the holiness of our nature, as it is now, after the
fall, called a holiness by gift or grace. For if we are now to be born again of
the Spirit by grace, does this not tell us, that we had this birth of the
Spirit in us at the first, and that at that time it was the birth of our nature
by creation?
Fourthly, these same great truths are evidently signified to
us in the greatest manner by our baptism, and the form of it. Our baptism is to
signify our seeking and obtaining a new birth. And our being baptized in, or
into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, tells us in the plainest
manner, what birth it is that we seek, namely, such a new birth as may make us
again what we were at first, a living image or offspring of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. Is it not owned by all, that we are baptized into the death of
Christ and receive a renovation of the divine birth that we had lost? And, that
we may not be at a loss to know what that divine birth is, the form in baptism
openly declares to us, that it is to regain that first birth of Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost in our souls, which at the first made us to be truly and really
images of the nature of the Godhead in unity. The form in baptism is very
imperfectly apprehended, until it is understood to have this great meaning in
it. And it must be owned, that the scriptures tend wholly to guide us to this
understanding of it. For since they teach us, a birth of God, a birth of the
Spirit, that we must obtain, and that baptism, is to be done into the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, can there be any doubt, that this is to
signify the death of self and renovation of the birth of the Godhead in our
souls? And that therefore this was the holy image born or created at first,
when God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our own
likeness," that is, so make him, that we may see ourselves, our own nature
in him, in a creaturely manner.
What a harmonious agreement in this suddenly appears,
between our creation and redemption? And how finely, how surprisingly do our
first and our second births answer to, and illustrate one another? At our first
birth it is said, "Let us make man in our image, after our own
likeness", when the divine birth was lost, and man was to receive it
again, it is said, "Be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost": which is saying, let the divine birth, be brought forth again in
you, or be born again in the image of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as you were
at first. These considerations all taken from the plain words, and acknowledged
doctrines of scripture, I think do, sufficiently declare and prove to us, these
great truths, namely, that the image in which man was created, was such, as in
which, the Godhead saw itself, or its own nature in a creaturely manner, in
which the Father's nature generated the nature of the Son, and the Holy Ghost
proceeded from them both, as the amiable moving life of both. That by Adam's
sin, this holy image of the Godhead was broken, and in such a manner, that the
birth of the Son of God, and of the Holy Spirit, was no longer in it, and that
therefore in a stupendous mystery of love, the Son of God united Himself to our
fallen nature, to recover, and restore to it, all that it had lost, and in such
a manner, that it need not be lost again to all eternity, if you will but only
follow the Holy Spirit!
As soon as it is observed and known, that our fall consisted
in losing the birth of the Son of God in our soul, and consequently the life of
the Holy Spirit in it, there appears a surprising agreeableness and fitness, in
the means of our redemption, namely, that we could only be saved by the eternal
Son of God; that He only could save us, by taking our nature upon Himself, and
so uniting it with Him, that His life, or birth might again arise in us, as at
the first, and so that we may again become a perfect living image of the
Godhead.
Now the reason why I have gone this far in inquiring into
the dignity of man’s original state, and searched this deep into his lamentable
fall, is simple, to point out to the reader the true nature of the Christian
religion, and the infinite importance of it; which religion is administered by
God, as our only relief from our sad condition; and that he may at once see the
height and depth of divine love, which has had so great a care of mankind.
I am persuaded that no one can see these truths, in the
manner that I have represented them, without being in some degree inclined to believe
them; and in the same degree stirred up to act in conformity to them. We can
know nothing truly, of the nature of the Christian religion, and our deep
concern in it, but only so far as we see into the nature of our first state in
the creation, and our present state by the fall. And as this knowledge is in
some degree necessary, so is it also in some degree obvious to every man. Every
man has a consciousness within himself, that perfection in all kinds of virtue
becomes him; this consciousness obliges him to set his best foot forward, and
to put on the appearance of all the virtue that he can. Now what else is this,
but an inward strong testimony of his own mind, declaring to him, that
perfection was his first state, and that because his nature once had it, he can
neither lose the agreeable idea of it, nor quit his pretenses to have it; so
that every man carries in his own heart, in the depth of his own frame and
constitution, a strong proof of all those truths, that I have deduced from
scripture. For I have not been speaking of things foreign or strange to us, but
of things sensibly felt within us, and spoken to us, by the whole form of our
nature.
The condition in which I have represented our soul to be by
the fall, a mere dark fire-breath, of an hellish nature, showing itself in
every man more or less by its fruits, by such eruptions and breakings forth of
dark passions, but hiding itself under an outward appearance of good, and a
feigned civility or rectitude[2]
of manners, is what every man must be forced to own to be more or less in
himself. For this is the state of every man’s soul, because it has lost the
birth of the Son of God in it, and so is only as a strong root of a fiery life,
unenlightened, and unblessed by that holy word, which is the brightness of the
Father’s glory.
The four elements of the fallen
soul
This dark root of a fiery, self-tormenting life, which is
the whole nature of the fallen soul, destitute of the birth of the Son of God
in it, is a life that subsists in four elements, as the life of this world has
its four elements. Now the four elements of this dark, fiery soul, or fallen
nature, are,
(1)
A restless
selfishness
(2.) A restless envy
(3.) A restless pride
(4.) A restless wrath or anger
I call them the elements of the fallen soul, because they
are that to it, which the four elements of this world are to the life of the
body. Now these four elements which nourish and keep up the life of the fallen
soul, are also the four elements of hell, in which the devils dwell; devils can
no more depart from, or exist out of these elements, than an earthly life can
depart from, or exist without the four elements of this world, fire, air,
water, and earth. Now, as the soul, by the losing of the birth of the Son of
God in it, has become an aching dark root of fire, that has this restless
selfishness, restless envy, restless pride, and restless wrath in it, which are
the four elements of hell; so by its being in these, or having them in it, it
has come to pass, that evil spirits have communion with it, and so, have great
power over it.
Giving the devil power to infuse
his wretched nature into us. .
Every stirring of the soul in the element of pride, is a
moving in the devil’s element, where he is, and gives him the power to join and
act with it; every motion in the element of envy or wrath, is so far empowering
him to enter into the breath of our life, and settle his fiery kingdom in us.
And it is the same in every one of these four elements, so far as we willingly
are in their sphere of activity, and act and stir according to them, so far we
become members of the devil’s kingdom, and have him for our leader, and guide.
How watchful therefore ought we to be of our hearts, how fearful of consenting
to, or not resisting enough every motion of these elements within us, since
every voluntary yielding to them, is opening the kingdom of darkness in our
souls, and giving the devil power to infuse his wretched nature into us. We
have further reason for this fear and concern, if it is to be considered, that not
one of the elements of this outward world could exist, if the other three did
not exist, because they are the mutual cause of one another; they generate each
other, so it is in these other elements, if we live in one, we live in all;
selfishness cannot be, or subsist without envy, nor pride without wrath and
selfishness, nor any one of the four, without carrying the other three in its
bosom; therefore we must have the same fear of any one, as of all, for the name
of every one is legion. If we could see, as we see outward objects, what a
dreadful misery these four elements bring upon our souls, we would shun and fly
from everything that gives life and strength to them, with more earnestness,
than from the most violent evils that could threaten our bodies; we would
choose to burn in any fire, rather than in that of our own wrath and pride, any
poverty of outward life, rather than that of our own pinching envy, any prison,
rather than to be shut up in our own dark selfishness. For all outward fires,
chains, torments, slaveries, poverties, are but transient shadows, of the
tormenting, fiery, dark slavery of an unredeemed soul, left, and given up to
these four elements of hell. And the reason why they are not a hell to
profligate[3]
men now upon earth, is, as has been said, because we now live in flesh and
blood, under the cheering influences of the sun, and the diversion and
amusement of outward things, and in several forms of happiness, which our
imaginations play with at various times. This wandering of the imagination
through its own inventions of delight, hinders the poor soul from feeling what
it is, in its own nature; and therefore, though ever so much a slave of these
elements, it only feels or perceives the torment of them on certain occasions.
And yet sometimes it is seen, that one or the other of these elements awakens
so violently, as to become intolerable, and to give a true and plain foretaste
of the condition and nature of hell in the soul that feels it. Here again, I
cannot help observing, the wondrous excellence and divine nature of true gospel
religion, which knowing our fall to consist in this darkened fire of the soul,
dwelling in these elements of hell, has set before us such amazing
representations of humility, meekness, and universal love, as the imagination
of man could never have thought of; namely, the humility, meekness, and
lowliness of the Son of God, who left His glory, to take upon Him the form of a
servant for our sakes; the great love of God towards us sinners, in giving His
only begotten Son to redeem us, and the love of God the Son, in laying His life
down for us, that we might imitate this amazing humility, meekness, and divine
love, and love one another as He has loved us. These are mysteries of love and
mercy that are set before us, to quench the fiery wrath of our fallen nature,
and to compel us, if possible, to abhor our own dark passions, and in humility
and meekness become lovers of God, and one another.
Now so far as we, by true resignation to God, die to the
element of selfishness and own will, so far as by universal love, we die to the
element of envy, so far as by humility we die to the element of pride, so far
as by meekness we die to the element of wrath, so far we get away from the
devil, and enter into another kingdom, and leave him to dwell without us in his
own elements. These are not fictions of a visionary imagination, but sober
truths, spoken by the word of God in scripture, and written and engraved in the
book of every man's own nature. No man since the fall has escaped being a
living witness to these truths; to deny them, is to prove them: for we could
not tell a lie, or resist the truth, but because we have this dark enemy to
truth hidden in our bosom.
Repentance is nothing but high
ideas, only idle talk until . . .
Now the greatest good that any man can do to himself, is to
allow this inward deformity to show itself, and not to strive by any craftiness
or management, either of negligence, or amusement to conceal it from himself.
First, because this root of a dark fire-life within us, which is of the nature
of hell, with all its elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath, must be
discovered to us, and felt by us, before we can feel, and groan under the
weight of our disorder. Repentance is nothing but high ideas, only idle talk,
until we see the deformity of our inward nature, so as to be in some degree
frightened and terrified at the sight of it. There must be some kind of an
earthquake within us, something that must rend and shake us to the bottom,
before we can be sensible, either to the state of death we are in, or desirous
enough of that Savior, who alone can raise us from it. A plausible form of an
outward life, that has only learned rules and modes of religion by use and
custom, often keeps the soul for some time at ease, though all its inward root
and ground of sin has never been shaken or molested, though it has never tasted
the bitter waters of repentance, and has only known the need of a Savior by
hearsay. But things cannot pass long this way: sooner or later, repentance must
have a broken, and contrite heart; we must with our blessed Lord go over the
brook Kedron, and with Him sweat great drops of sorrow, before He can say for
us, as He said for Himself, "It is finished."
Now, though this sensibility of the sinfulness of our inward
foundation, is not to be expected to be the same in all, yet the truth and
reality of it must, and will be in all, that give way to the discovery of it;
and our sinfulness will always be in our sight, if we do not conscientiously
turn our eyes from it. If we used only half the pains, to find out the evil
that is hidden in us, as we do to hide the appearance of it from others, we
would soon find, that in the midst of our most orderly life, we are in death,
and in great need of a Savior, to make our most apparent virtues to be
virtuous.
We Believe In A Savior, Not
Because We Feel An Absolute Need Of One, But Because We Have Been Told There Is
One, And That It Would Be A Rebellion Against God To Reject Him.
It is therefore exceeding good and beneficial to us, to
discover this dark, disordered fire of our soul, because when rightly known,
and rightly dealt with, it can be made as well the foundation of heaven, as it
is now, of hell. For when the fire and strength of the soul, is sprinkled with
the blood of the lamb, then its fire, becomes a fire of light, and its strength
is changed into a strength of triumphing love, and will be fitted to have a
place amongst those flames of love, that wait about the throne of God. The
reason why we know so little of Jesus Christ, as our Savior, atonement, and
justification, why we are so destitute of that faith in Him, which alone can
change, rectify, and redeem our souls, why we live starving in the coldness and
deadness of a formal, historical, religion “This Jesus whom Paul knew” type of
religion, is because of this; we are truly strangers to our own inward misery
and needs, we do not know that we lie in the very jaws of death and hell; we
keep all things quiet within us, partly by outward forms, and modes of religion
and morality, and partly by the comforts, cares and delights of this world.
Hence it is that we consent to receive a Savior, as we consent to admit the
four gospels, because only four are received by the Church. We
believe in a Savior, not because we feel an absolute need of one, but because
we have been told there is one, and that it would be a rebellion against God to
reject Him. We believe in Christ as our atonement, just as we believe, that He
cast seven devils out of Mary Magdalene, and so are no more helped, delivered,
and justified by believing that He is our atonement, than we are healed by
believing that He cured Mary Magdalene.
True faith, is coming to Jesus Christ to be saved, and
delivered from a sinful nature, as the Canaanitish woman came to Him, and would
not be denied. It is a faith of love, a faith of hunger, a faith of thirst, a
faith of certainty and firm assurance, that in love and longing, and hunger,
and thirst, and full assurance, we will lay hold on Christ, as our loving,
certain and infallible Savior and atonement. It is this faith, that breaks off
all the bars and chains of death and hell in the soul; it is to this faith,
that Christ always says, "Your faith has saved you, your sins are
forgiven; go in peace." Nothing can be denied to this faith; all things
are possible to it; and he that seeks Christ in this way, must find Him to be
his salvation.
On the other hand, all things will be dull, heavy,
difficult, and impossible to us, we shall toil all night long and take nothing,
we shall be tired with resisting temptations, grow old and stiff in our sins
and infirmities, if we do not with a strong, full, loving, and joyful
assurance, seek and come to Christ for every kind, and degree of strength,
salvation and redemption. We must come unto Christ, as the blind, the sick, and
the leprous came to him, expecting all from Him, and nothing from themselves.
When we have this faith, then it is, that Christ can do all His mighty works in
us.
From the foregoing account anyone may see the nature and
necessity of regeneration, or the new birth. It is as necessary as our
salvation. By our fall, our soul has lost the birth of the Son of God in it; by
this loss it has become a dark, wrathful, self-tormenting root of fire, shut up
in the four hellish elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath; considered
as a fallen soul, it cannot stir one step, or exert one motion but in, and
according to these elements; therefore it is as necessary to have this nature
itself changed, and to be born again from above, as it is necessary to be
delivered from hell, and eternal death.
For these elements are hell, and eternal death itself, and
not without, or standing at a distance from us, but hell and death springing up
in the forms, and essences of our fallen nature; they are the serpent that is
in us, and constitute that gnawing worm which never dies for they mutually give
birth to each other, and mutually torment each other, and so constitute a worm,
or worming pain, that never dies.
Now as this hell, serpent, worm, and death, are all within
us, rising up in the forms and essences of our fallen soul; so our redeemer, or
regenerator, whatever it may be, must also equally be within us, and spring up
from as great a depth in our nature. Now the scripture sufficiently tells us,
that it is only the promised seed of the woman, the eternal word, or Son of God
made man, that can bruise this head, or kill this life of the serpent in us;
therefore this seed of the woman must have its dwelling in the ground and essence
of our nature, because the serpent is there, that a new life or a new nature
may arise from this seed within us; therefore it is clear, that regeneration,
or the new birth, is, and can be no other thing, but the recovering of the
birth of the Son of God in the fallen soul.
And this is what the scripture means by the necessity of our
being born of God, born again from above, born of the Spirit. Hence also we see
in the clearest light, the meaning of all those passages of scripture, where we
are said to be in Christ, that Christ is in us; that we must put on Christ;
that He must be formed in us; that He is our life; that we must eat His flesh
and drink His blood; that He is our atonement, that His blood alone cleans us
from all our sins; that we have life from Him, as the branches have life from
the vine; that He is our justification, or righteousness; that in Him we are
created again to good works; that without Him we can do nothing, and have no
life in ourselves, all these, I say, and sayings of scripture like these, have
a wonderful truth and plainness in them, and fill the mind with excellent and
solid truths, as soon as it is known, that regeneration is absolutely
necessary, and that this regeneration signifies, the recovering of the birth of
the Son of God in the soul. And it does this justice to so great a part of
scripture, it sets the whole scheme of the Christian salvation in the most
agreeable and engaging light, and such as is enough even to compel everyone, to
embrace it with the utmost earnestness. The mystery of this salvation is still
preserved, and yet so unfolded, that every man has as much reason to desire to
be born again, and to believe that only the Son of God can bring forth this
birth in him, as to believe that God made him, and can alone make him happy. A
mediator, an atonement, regenerator, thus understood, must be as agreeable and
desirable to every human mind, and as much according to his own wishes, as to
be delivered from the uneasiness and unrest of a nature, which he finds himself
not master of, nor able to have it be in a better state of enjoyment.
What is it that any thoughtful, serious man could wish for,
but to have a new heart, and a new Spirit, free from the hellish,
self-tormenting elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath? His own
experience has shown him, that nothing human can do this for him; that nothing
human can take away the root of evil that is in him; and it is so natural for
him to think, that God alone can do it, that he has often been tempted to accuse
God, for allowing it to stay this way with himself.
Therefore to have the Son of God come from heaven to redeem
him by a birth of His own divine nature in him, must be a way of salvation, highly
suited to his own sense, wants and experience; because he finds, that his evil
lies deep in the very essence and forms of his nature, and therefore can only
be removed by the arising of a new birth, or life in the first essences of it.
Therefore an inward Savior, a Savior, that is God Himself,
raising His own divine birth in the fallen soul, has such an agreeableness and
fitness in it, to do for him all that he wants, as must make every sober man,
with open arms, ready and willing to receive such a salvation.
Some people have an idea, or notion of the Christian
religion, as if God was thereby declared so full of wrath against fallen man,
that nothing but the blood of His only begotten son could satisfy His
vengeance. No, some have gone to such lengths of wickedness, as to assert that
God had by immutable decrees reprobated, and rejected a great part of the race
of Adam, to an inevitable damnation, to show forth and magnify the glory of His
justice. But these are miserable mistakes of understanding of the divine
nature, and miserable reproaches of His great love, and goodness in the
Christian dispensation. For God is love, yes, all love, and so much all love,
that nothing but love can come from Him; and the Christian religion, is nothing
else but an open, full, manifestation of His universal love towards all
mankind. {Read “Spirit of prayer”}
As the light of the sun has only one common nature towards
all objects that can receive it, so God has only one common nature of goodness
towards all created nature, breaking forth in infinite flames of love, upon
every part of the creation, and calling everything to the highest happiness it
is capable of. God so loved man, when his fall was foreseen, that He chose him
to salvation in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world. When man was
actually fallen, God was completely without wrath towards him, so full of love
for him, that he sent His only begotten son into the world to redeem him.
Therefore God has no nature towards man, but love, and all that He does to man,
is love.
There is no wrath that stands between God and us, but that
which is awakened in the dark fire of our own fallen nature; and to quench this
wrath, and not His own, God gave His only begotten son to be made man. God has
no more wrath in Himself now, than He had before the creation, when He had only
Himself to love. The precious blood of His son was not poured out to pacify
Himself (who in Himself had no nature towards man but love), but it was poured
out, to quench the wrath, and fire of the fallen soul, and kindle in it a birth
of light, and love. {Read Spirit of love, part 2, p. 50.}
As man lives, and moves, and has his being in the divine
nature, and is supported by it, whether his nature is good or bad; so the wrath
of man, which was awakened in the dark fire of his fallen nature, may, in a
certain sense, be called the wrath of God, as hell itself may be said to be in
God, because nothing can be out of His immensity; yet this hell, is not God,
but the dark habitation of the Devil. And this wrath which may be called the
wrath of God, is not God, but the fiery wrath of the fallen soul.
And it was solely to quench this wrath, awakened in the
human soul, that the blood of the Son of God was necessary, because nothing but
a life and a birth, derived from Him into the human soul, could change this
darkened root of a self-tormenting fire, into an amiable image of the Godhead,
as it was at first created.
This was the wrath, vengeance, and vindictive justice that
needed to be satisfied, for our salvation; it was the wrath and fire of nature
and creature kindled only in itself, by its departing from due resignation, and
obedience to God. When Adam and Eve went trembling behind the trees, through
fear and dread of God, it was only this wrath of God awakened in them; it was a
terror, and horror, and shivering of nature, that rose up in themselves,
because the divine life, the birth of the Son of God, which is the brightness
and joy of the soul, had departed from it, and now all it could do, was to feel
its own poor, miserable state, without this divine life. And this may well
enough be called the wrath, and justice of God upon them, because it was a
punishment, or painful state of the soul, that necessarily followed their
revolting from God.
But still there was no wrath, or painful sensation, that
needed to be appeased, or satisfied in God, this wrath was only in nature and
the creature; it was only the wrath of fallen nature, that needed to be changed
again, into its first state of peace and love. When God spoke to them, he spoke
only love; Adam, where are you? And he called him, only to comfort him with a
promised redemption, through a seed of the woman, a spark of the word of life
which should reign in him, and his posterity, until all enemies were under their
feet. God therefore is all love, and nothing but love and goodness can come
from Him. He is as far from anger, in himself, as from pain and darkness. But
when the fallen soul of man, had awakened in itself, apart from God, a
wrathful, self-tormenting fire, which could never be put out by itself, which
could never be relieved by the natural power of any creature whatsoever, then
the son of God, by a love, greater than that which created the world, became
man, and gave His own blood, and life to the fallen soul, that it might through
His life in it, be raised, be made alive again, and born again into its first
state of inward peace and delight, glory and perfection, never to be lost any
more. O inestimable truths! Precious mysteries, of the love of God, enough
to split the hardest rock of the most obstinate heart, that is able to receive
one glimpse of them! Can the world resist such a love as this? Or can
any man doubt, whether he should open all that is within himself, to receive
such a salvation?
O unhappy unbelievers, this mystery of love compels me in
love, to call upon you, to beg you, to look upon the Christian redemption in
this amiable light. All the ideas that your own minds can form of love and
goodness must sink into nothingness, as soon as it is compared with God's love
and goodness in the redemption of mankind.
I appeal to nothing but the state of your own hearts and
consciences, to prove the necessity of your embracing this mystery of divine
love. I will grant you all that you can suppose, of the goodness of God, and
that no creature would have to be lost, because the infinite love of God can
surely save, if they will only allow it to. But still, this is no shadow of
security for infidelity; your refusing to be saved through the Son of God, while
the soul is in the redeemable state of this life, may at the separation of the
body, when you die, leave it in such a hell, as the infinite love of God cannot
deliver it from. For, first, you have no kind, or degree of proof, that your
soul is not that dark, self-tormenting, anguishing and imperishable fire,
mentioned above, which has lost its own proper light, and is only comforted by
the light of the sun, until its redemption be effected. Secondly, you have no
kind, or degree of proof, that God Himself can redeem, or save, or enlighten
this dark fire-soul, any other way than, as the gospel proposes, by the birth
of the Son of God in it. Therefore your own hearts must tell you, that for
whatever reason you may think of, infidelity, or the refusing of this birth of
the Son of God, may, at the end of life, leave you in such a state of
self-torment, that the infinite love of God can no longer deliver you from.
You build much upon certain clear ideas, founded in the
nature and fitness of things; but I beg you to consider, that in this great
point, on which all depends, you have no ideas at all; for you have not one
clear, or even obscure idea, that your souls cannot be in this disordered
state, or that they can be set into a right order, without the birth of the Son
of God brought forth in them.
But now to return, what has been said already of the nature
of regeneration may sufficiently show us, how greatly people err, when they
think it only signifies a moral change of our tempers and inclinations. Tempers
and inclinations are the fruits of the new-born nature, and not the nature
itself; and as fruits and flowers are entirely distinct, and different from the
root and the tree, and necessarily need the root as well as the tree, before
they can be brought forth; so good tempers and inclinations are as distinct
from, that nature, which is to produce them, as its fruits.
And if good tempers rightly purified, could really arise, or
be brought forth in us, without a change first made in the root, or nature,
that is to bring them forth, it would not be an absurdity to say, that men may
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles.
But if our blessed Lord has declared this, to be contrary to
the nature of things, and has further said, that the tree must first be made
good, before it can bring forth good fruit; then we can with sufficient ground
of assurance say, that our nature must first be made good, its root and stock
must be made new, or regenerated again, before it can bring forth good fruits
of moral behavior.
Angels are justly represented to us, as flames of love; now
every flame must have a hidden fire for its root, from which it has its
subsistence; and the Spiritual flaming Angelical nature, must have a Spiritual
fire concealed under it. Now let it be supposed, that in an Angel this flame of
love was extinguished, and that there only remained an inward root of a
Spiritual fire. Let it be supposed, that this Spiritual fire that has lost its
flame of love and cannot cease to be a fiery spirit; that it cannot, by any properties
of its fire kindle itself in its first flame of love; that all its own
stirrings can produce one single thought, motion or desire, but what solely
tends either to selfishness, envy, pride, or wrath; that it can of itself no
longer come out of this state, than fire locked up in a flint, can of itself
become a flame; could it be said, that this Angel had only lost some moral good
dispositions? Must it not be said, to have lost that nature, from which alone,
its good tempers could proceed? Let it be further supposed, that God, by a
miracle of love entered into the fiery root, or essence of this fallen angel,
and by a new birth made it again to be a flame of love; could it now be said,
that it had gained nothing by this new birth, but only a change of some moral
tempers? Must it not be said to have gained a new nature, a flame of love,
instead of a dark fire? And from this new nature, its Angelical and good
tempers can alone proceed. But representing the new-birth as signifying only a
change of moral behavior, is not only false and absurd in itself, but is also
exceedingly prejudicial to true conversion, and undermines the foundation of
our redemption. That it is highly prejudicial to true conversion, it becomes
most evident from this, that it hides and suppresses the real nature of our
fallen state, and the true greatness of the love and mercy of God in our
redemption. Now it inevitably does these two things in a great degree, and
therefore the hurt that it does us, is more than can well be imagined. And it
is owing to this cause more than to any other, that even amongst people of
sober behavior, religion is only a superficial thing, that has no true depth in
them, because they have never understood the true depth of religion, nor
conceived, in how deep a manner, their nature is concerned in it.
The heathen may well say, that by going to such a
neighborhood, or marrying into such a family, or by making the acquaintance of
such a man, he obtained an entire change in his moral behavior. Now if
Christians are told, that this is the true, and the only meaning of their new
birth in Christ Jesus, namely, a great change in their moral behavior, a thing
that happens to heathens, by the ordinary occurrences of human life, it is no
wonder, that they live all their lives, strangers to true humility, and
penitence, and are never truly converted to God, nor have any just sense of His
infinite mercy, in the manner of their salvation.
For if they are to believe, that to be born of God, born
from above, born of the Spirit, born of an incorruptible seed of the word of
God, signifies no more than this that has been mentioned, must not this
naturally lead them, to take everything that is said of God and Christ, in the
mysteries of their redemption, in a sense as much below the expression, as this
of the new birth? Must it not naturally lead them to think, that all
scripture-doctrines, have more of height and mystery in the expression, than in
the thing itself? And that there is no need to fear, or hope, or believe, or
trust, or resign, or love, or seek, or do, or bear, or give, or suffer
according to the apparent language, and plain expression of the gospel? And
thus, the words of Him that spoke, as never man spoke, have all their Spirit
and life taken from them; and we may be said to have the words of Christ, as
though we had them not.
The Greatness Of Our Fall, And The
Greatness Of Our Redemption
The whole nature of the Christian religion stands upon these
two great pillars, namely, the greatness of our fall, and the greatness of our
redemption. In the full and true knowledge of these truths, lie all the reasons
of a deep humility, penitence, and self-denial, and also all the motives and
incitements, to a most hearty, sincere, and total conversion to God. And
everyone is necessarily more or less truly penitent, more or less truly
converted to God, accordingly as he is more or less deeply, and inwardly
sensible of these truths.
And until these two great truths, have awakened, and opened
our minds for the full reception of the divine light, all reformation and
pretence to amendment, is but a dead and superficial thing, a mere garment of
hypocrisy, to hide us from ourselves, and others.
Humility Can Only Be Feigned Or
False, Before This Conviction
Nothing can truly awaken a sinner, but a true sense, of the
deep inward possession, and power that sin has in him. When he sees, that sin
begins with his being, that it rises up in the essences of his nature, and
lives in the very form of his life, and that he lies chained, in the very jaws
of death and hell, as unable to alter his own state, as to create another
creature; when along with this knowledge he sees that the free grace of God,
has provided him a remedy equal to the distress, that He has given him the holy
blood and life of Jesus Christ, the true son of God, to enter as deep into his
soul, as sin has entered, to change the very form, and essences of his life,
and bring forth in them a new birth of a divine nature, which is to be an
immortal image of the Godhead, everlastingly safe, blessed, and enriched in the
bosom of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; when a man once truly knows, and
feels these two truths, he may be said, truly to know, and feel the power of
Christ brought to life in him. And there seems to be nothing more, that you
need to do outwardly for him. The voice of his inward teacher is ever speaking,
so ever heard, and loved within him, that you can say nothing to him outwardly
of any humility, penitence, or self-abasement, but what is much less, than that
which his own wounded heart suggests to him. Humility can only be feigned or
false, before this conviction. He can now, no longer take any degree of good to
himself, than assume any share in the creation of angels; and all pride or
self-esteem of any kind, seems to him to contain as great a lie in it, as if he
was to say, that he helped to create himself.
You need not tell him that he must turn to God with all his
strength, with all his heart, all his soul, and all his spirit; for all
that he can offer to God, seems to him already less than the least of His
mercies towards him. He has seen the exceedingly great love of God, in the
manner and degree of his redemption, in such a way that it would be the
greatest of pain to him, to do anything, but upon a motive of divine love. As
his soul has found God to be all love, so it has but one desire, and that is,
to be itself all love to God. This is the conviction and conversion, that
necessarily arises from an inward sensibility of these truths; the soul is
wholly consecrated to God, and can in no way, like, love, or do anything, but
that which it can in some way or other, turn into a service of love towards
God. But where the weight and power of these truths is not livingly felt in the
heart, there it is not to be wondered about, that religion has no root, that is
able to bring forth its proper fruits. And if the majority of Christians, are
only a number of dead, superficial consenters to the history of
scripture-doctrines, as unwilling to have the Spirit, as they are to part with the
dead form of their religion; unwilling to hear of any kind of self-denial,
being very fond of worldly ease, indulgence, and riches, unwilling to be
called to the perfection of the gospel, professing and practicing religion,
merely as the fashion and custom of the place they are in, require. If some
rest, in the outward forms of religion, and others, in certain orthodoxy of
opinions; if some expect to be saved by the goodness of the denomination they
are in, others by a certain limited change of their outward behavior; if some
content themselves with a lukewarm spirit, and others depend upon their own
works, these are all nothing but delusions, that will happen to those, who do
not know and feel, in some degree, the true nature of their own fallen soul, and
what kind of regeneration it is that can alone, save them.
But all these errors, delusions, and false rests, are
plucked up by the root, as soon as a man knows the true reason and necessity of
his needing so great a Savior. For he that knows the ground and essences of his
soul to be so many concentrations of sin, which form sin, as they form his
life, entirely incapable of producing any good, until a birth from God has
arisen in them; such a one can not place his redemption, where it is not, nor
seek it reluctantly and sometimes negligently. For knowing, that it is the hell
within his own nature, that needs to be destroyed, he is intent only upon
bringing destruction upon hell within his own nature; and this always secures
him from false religion. And knowing, that this inward hell cannot be
destroyed, unless God becomes his redeemer, or regenerator in the foundation of
his soul; this makes him believe all, expect all, and hope all from His Savior
Jesus Christ alone.
And knowing that all this redemption, or salvation, is to be
brought about in the inmost depth of his heart, makes him always apply to God,
as the God of his heart; and therefore what he offers to God is his own heart;
and this keeps him always spiritually alive, wholly employed and intent upon
the true work of religion, the fitting and preparing of his heart for all the
operations of God's Holy Spirit upon it. And so he is a true inward Christian,
who, as our blessed Lord speaks, has the Kingdom of God within him, where the
state and habit of his heart continually, and thankfully, worships the Father,
in Spirit and truth.
Having sufficiently shown the nature and necessity of
regeneration, that it consists solely in the restoration of the birth of the Son
of God in the human soul, it must be clear from this, that it is solely the
work of God, He being alone able to effect it; and that man can have no other
share in it, but that of complying with the terms, on which it is to be
received of God.
It may be proper to inquire, when, and how this great work
is done in the soul? The mercy and infinite goodness of God, has chosen all
mankind to salvation in Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world. Now
this eternal decree of God, took place upon the fall of Adam; and as he was
admitted into the terms of Christian salvation immediately after his
transgression, so all mankind, as being in his loins, were taken into the same
covenant of grace, and what was done then to Adam, was done to him, as the
common parent of mankind.
The bruiser of the serpent given to Adam, as his Savior, was
not a verbal promise of something, that should come to pass in future ages to
redeem him, and which left his soul in the same state of inward darkness,
disorder, and weakness in which it found him; but it was a redeeming power,
which by the mercy of God, was treasured up in his fallen nature, which was to
resist and overcome the wrath and death, and awakened nature of hell, which was
in his soul; and from that time of God's accepting him to a salvation, through
the seed of the woman, he was saved by the power of Christ within him, as
really, as those that lived, and believed in Christ, after he had been
incarnate. As nothing can save the last man, or become his righteousness, or redemption,
but the divine nature of Jesus Christ, derived into his soul, so nothing else
could be righteousness, redemption, or salvation to the first man. All men
therefore that ever were, or shall be descended from Adam, have Jesus Christ
for their Savior, as Adam had, they receive the promise made to him, and
receive by that promise, that which he received by it, they have a seed of the
woman, an incorruptible seed of life, springing up in the essence of their
life, which is to oppose and resist the seed of the serpent, or the diabolical
nature that is in them also. And therefore no son of Adam is without a Savior,
or can be lost, or entirely overcome by the evil, that the fall has brought
upon him, but by his own turning away from this Savior within him, and giving
himself up to the suggestions, and workings of the evil nature, that is in him.
This mystery of an inward power of a salvation hidden in all
men, has had just such degrees of obscurity and manifestation, as the nature,
birth, and person of the Messiah have had; that is, as the nature and person of
Jesus Christ, as an atonement, Savior and redeemer of mankind, were for several
ages of the world only obscurely pointed at, and typified by the religion of
the Jews; so this seed of a new birth, or saving power of Christ hidden in the
souls of all men, was, through those same ages, under the same veil, of
obscurity. But when the Eternal Son of God became incarnate, and manifested to
the world the mysteries of his nature, person, and office, when it was publicly
declared, that He was the life and light of the world, the only source of
goodness in every creature, the "light that lights every man that comes
into the world"; that we must all be born again of Him, be born again from
above, be born of the Spirit, and that everyone was to profess the owning,
seeking and desiring of this divine birth, by a baptism into the name, or
nature, of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; then it became plainly manifest, what
Christianity was from the beginning, and in what manner Jesus Christ was the
Savior of Adam, and what it was that he received, by receiving a bruiser of the
serpent, into the first essences of his life. Therefore when Jesus Christ came
into the world, declaring the necessity of a new birth, to be owned, and sought,
by a baptism into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; this was not a new
kind, or new power of salvation, but only an open declaration of the same
salvation, that had been until then, only typified, and veiled under figures
and shadows, as He Himself had been. And men were called not to a new type of
faith in Him, i.e., Jesus becoming their inward life, and light, but to an open
and plain acknowledgement of Him, who from the beginning, had been the one life
and light, and only salvation of the first man, and all that were to descend
from Him.
Now the things required on our part, towards the raising and
bringing forth this new birth in us, are repentance, and faith. These are to be
the continual support of our regeneration, carrying it on to the end of our
lives. But now though repentance and faith are to bring forth, and carry on our
regeneration, yet they are themselves the effect and fruit of it, of that first
seed or light of life, which God willed to be in Adam. For if God had not of
His own free grace, chosen Adam and Eve to salvation in Jesus Christ, by doing
inwardly in the deep, and darkened essences of their fallen souls, something
like that, which He did to the "darkness which was upon the face of the
deep," when He said, "let there be light" to it; Adam and Eve,
and all their posterity, would have been inwardly, as to their souls, the same
as the devils, as far as their nature is concerned, full of their dark and
fiery dispositions, shut up in their elements, incapable of any thought or motion,
but that which tended to selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath.
Neither they, nor any of their posterity, could have brought
forth any degree of humility, resignation, love, faith, hope, or desire of God;
but would have lived hardened and fixed, in the above named elements of hell,
full of their own perverse will, without any conscience, or instincts of
goodness.
And therefore when the God of free grace, provided that
fallen man should fall into a state of redemption, that is, into a possibility
of being God's creature again; this was effected by God’s treasuring up, or
preserving in him a seed of the woman, a remaining spark of his first divine
life; the very first divine life, which was then, Christ in him, his full birth
of glory, as certainly, as Christ in us, is now our hope of glory.
Paul said, "God has chosen us in Christ Jesus, before
the foundation of the world." now from this eternal, foreseeing goodness
of God towards all mankind, it is, that a root or remains of the first divine
life, called a seed of the woman, the engrafted word, a Kingdom of God, a pearl
of great price, a treasure hid in a field, was fore-ordained to be preserved,
and treasured up, though hidden under that death, which Adam died in Paradise.
And so it was, that the goodness of God, could direct distressed Adam to this
comfort, i.e., "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the
serpent"; not a foreign seed, to be sown into you from without, but a
remaining, preserved seed of your first life of Christ, which through the
divine love for you, is hidden, and securely treasured up under your own fallen
earthly nature, as a pearl hidden in your own field, a principle of holiness, a
touch of love, the pledge of immortality, and fund of everlasting happiness.
For this heavenly pearl called by Peter, "The incorruptible seed of the
word," shall surely come forth again out of its state of death; it shall
be quickened and revived into its first glory, through Christ, who is, and ever
shall be, the resurrection, and life of all that, which was hid and lost in the
death, that Adam died. And here it is, that we see again how "God is
love," universal love towards all mankind, having put all into a state of
redemption. For if all men, as sons of Adam, are by the free grace of God made
sons of the second Adam, and, as such, have a seed of life in them from Him, in
order to be raised up to a perfection of the new man in Christ Jesus; and if
this seed of a new birth, or light of life, is the grace of all men, that
enables them so to act, as to obtain God's assisting grace, in the renewal of
their hearts and minds, then it is a glorious and undeniable truth, that there
is no partiality in God, no election of one people to mercy in Christ Jesus,
and dereliction of another to their own helpless misery, but that all men, have
a general call, and a general capacity to obtain their salvation; and that as
certainly as all fell and died in Adam, so all can be restored in His
restoration.
Because the first power and ability of our having one good
thought, or desire of turning to God in penitence and faith, is the effect of
this first seed of a new birth in all men; so this seed of a new birth is
quickened, strengthened, and brought forth to its full stature or highest
degree of perfection, by acts, or rather habits of repentance and faith.
Faith And Works
So faith and repentance are the life of the new man, or the
acts by which it grows, and is brought forth into its proper state of
perfection. There is no difference between faith and works, in this inward
newborn man. His faith, is his works, and his works are its faith. For faith is
his turning to God, and his turning to God, is his aversion, or turning from
all evil; so that faith and good works, are only two considerations of one and
the same thing, or of one and the same state of mind, in the new-born man.
This seed of the new birth, that is God's free, and
fore-ordained gift to man, as the power that is to redeem him, is the reason
and foundation of that language in scripture, of a new, inward and Spiritual
man, and of an old, natural, and outward rational man, and of the enmity
between the two; in which enmity, the whole warfare, and trial of the Christian
life, consist. The seed of the new birth, is the inward and new man, which is
to grow up into that Spiritual and holy man, which was first created in
Paradise.
This inward man is alone the subject of religion and divine
grace; he only is of God, and hears God's word; he only has eyes to see, and
ears to hear, and a heart to conceive the things of God.
This is he alone, that is born of God, and cannot sin,
because he has no sin in his nature. This is he alone, that overcomes the
world, because he is of a divine nature, and is both contrary to the world, and
above it. This is he alone, that can love his brother as himself, because the
love of God, is alone alive, and abides in him.
The Old, And The New Man
The old, natural man, or the rational man of this world, is
the dark fallen nature, enlightened only, and solely with the light of this
outward world; it is the diabolical nature, only softened with flesh and blood,
quieted and comforted with the light of the sun; by this light, he can see only
the outward images of things, whether divine or human, and can only reason,
dispute, and wrangle about his own shadowy images, but can know, no more of
God, and the things of God, than such dead images can represent to him.
The old or natural man, may be an historian, a poet, an
orator, a critic, a politician, or worldly wise man, all this skill and art
lies within his reach; the fire of his soul, kindled only by the light of the
sun, may do all this. But notwithstanding all these trappings and endowments,
he is wholly shut up in his own dark prison of selfishness, envy, pride, and
wrath; his virtues, piety, and goodness can be only such, as give no
disturbance to these four elements of the fallen nature. He is an animal; full
of earthly, sensual passions and tempers, and can only favor such
things as can gratify their nature. Here, and here only, lies the true, solid,
and immutable[4] distinction,
between the old and the new man, and the reason, why the life of the one, is
the death of the other.
Now in this essential difference, between the old and the
new man, we may at once, see a clear and solid ground of distinction, between
what is called a bare historical, and superficial faith, which cannot save the
soul, but leaves it a slave to sin, and that living and real faith, which
effects our salvation, and sets us in the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
Human reason, or the natural man of this life, can believe
and assent to this truth, that Christ is our Savior, and that we are to be
saved by a righteousness from Him, as easily, as it can assent to any other
relation, or matter of fact. But while it is human reason only, that assents to
this truth, little or nothing is done to the soul by it; the soul is under much
the same power of sin as before, because only the notion, or image, or history
of the truth is taken in by it; and reason by itself can take in no more.
But when the seed of the new birth, called the inward man,
has faith awakened in it, its faith is not a notion, but a real, strong,
essential hunger, an attracting, or desire of Christ, which as it proceeds from
a seed of the divine nature in us, so it attracts and unites, it lays hold on
Christ, puts on the divine nature, and in a living, and real manner, grows
powerful over all sins, and effectually works out our salvation.
And therefore it is justly called a divine faith, not only
because of its divine effects, but chiefly because it arises from that, which
is divine within us, and by its hungering, and thirsting after that fountain of
life, from which it came, becomes essentially united with it; breathes by that
Spirit, and lives by that word which eternally proceeds out of the mouth of
God. Of this faith alone it is, that our Lord speaks, when He says, "Who
so ever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life. When this faith is
awakened, and springs up in the inward man, then we may be said to have a
saving faith, or a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. From these two sorts of
faith here mentioned, we may very plainly see and perceive, why there is such a
misunderstanding between the two sorts of believers, and why they speak a
language so unsatisfactory, and disgustful to one another.
Busy inquisitive reason, learned enough in its own sphere,
grammatically skilled in scripture-knowledge, looking no further, or deeper
into the things of God, than a dictionary can guide it, cannot bear the
language of the regenerate, inward man, but condemns it as fanatical, and
enthusiastic; not considering, that this rational man, which is made the judge
of salvation, is that very individual old man with his deeds, that we are by
the religion of the gospel, to be saved, and delivered from; and that we should
have no occasion for a new seed of a divine life in us, no occasion to be born
again of God, but because this natural man of human reason, can neither see nor
hear, nor feel, nor taste, nor understand the things of God, as they are in
themselves.
From this difference between the new, and the old man, which
is a difference as real, as that between heaven and earth, several lessons of
great instruction may be learned. When religion is in the hands of the mere
natural man, he is always the worse for it; it adds a bad heat to his own dark
fire, and helps to inflame his four elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and
wrath. And so it is, that worse passions, or a worse degree of them, are to be
found in persons of great religious zeal, than in others that make no pretenses
to it. History also furnishes us with instances of persons of great piety and
devotion, who have fallen into great delusions, and deceived both themselves
and others. The occasion of their fall was this; it was, because they tried to
make a saint of the natural man. My meaning is, they considered their whole
nature, as the subject of religion, and divine graces; and therefore their
religion was according to the workings of their whole nature, and the old man
was as busy, and as much delighted in it, as the new. And so it was, that
persons of this type, all inflamed, as they seemed to be, with piety, yet
overlooked in their own lives, such errors of moral behavior, as the first
beginners in religion, would not permit, in themselves.
Meat, not milk, Real Meat!
Others again, perhaps truly awakened by the Spirit of God,
to devote themselves wholly to piety, and the service of God, yet making too much
haste to have the glory of saints, allow the elements of fallen nature,
selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath, to secretly go along with them. For to
seek eminence, and significance, in grace, is like seeking for eminence and
significance in nature. And the old man can take pleasure in glory, and
distinction in religion, as well as in common life, and will be content to
undergo as many labors, pains, and self-denials, for the sake of religious, as
for the sake of secular glory. There is nothing safe in religion, but in such a
course of behavior, as leaves nothing for corrupt nature to feed, or live upon;
which can only be done, when every degree of perfection we aim at, is a degree
of death to the passions of the natural man.
It may now perhaps be said, if regeneration is so great a
matter, if it signifies restoring to the soul its first paradisiacal light, or
the renewing of the birth of the Son of God in it; surely so great a thing,
transacted within us, must not only be known and felt, when it is brought
about, but must be known and felt in some strange, and extraordinary manner.
It may be answered, first, that all mankind may in a certain
and good sense, be said to be in some degree sharers of this regeneration, as having
in them a seed of life, that is contrary to their corrupt nature; which seed
they partake of, as heirs of the first grace, granted to Adam in the engrafted
word. This first seed, or light of life, which lights every man that comes into
the world, this is the first seed of the new birth; and this birth stands in this
life, as a tree or plant in the soil, and is only in a state of growing during
this life. For if the new birth, with regard both to soul and body, ever
totally finished in anyone, he would be as certainly in paradise, as Adam was,
and be as much above the power of the elements of this world, as Adam was at
his creation. Secondly, all Christians are in a higher and further state of
regeneration, by the grace of baptism (dying to self) into the name of the God.
By this baptism, they profess themselves disciples of Jesus Christ, in His
Kingdom of grace, to seek for life, righteousness, and sanctification in Him,
to live by His Spirit, in conformity to His doctrine, life, sufferings and
death, in a continual resistance of the corruptions of their nature, the
temptations of the world and the devil.
This profession faithfully kept, is their progress in the
true way of regeneration. Some only outwardly make this profession, and so only
have the name of Christians. Some make this profession in a much better manner;
yet being very defective in their conformity to the life and doctrines of
Jesus, live and die far short of that purification, or renewal of the inward
man, which the religion of the gospel of Christ proposes.
Regeneration Is Not To Be
Considered As A Thing, Done, But As A State That Is Progressive
Others renouncing all for Christ, and following His
counsels, as well as His precepts, arrive at high degrees of regeneration, and
experience such a life in Christ, or such a manifestation of Christ in them, as
others less faithful to their Master, are strangers to. To ask therefore by
what strange or extraordinary effects, the work of the new birth is to be
known, felt, and done in the soul, is a very improper, and useless question.
Because regeneration is not to be considered as a thing, done, but as a state
that is progressive, or as a thing, that is “a continual process.” If it is
further asked, what then are the certain marks, or effects, of a highly
advanced degree of regeneration, which Christians are to look for? It may be
answered, first of all, this question is not very useful: because there is no
obligation upon anyone, to know and feel the height, or advancement of his
state. Secondly, because the inquiry after such knowledge, and inward feeling
of it, is very dangerous. Thirdly, because it is no hurt to anyone's piety and
holiness, to take it to be lower than it really is. Fourthly, because nothing
keeps up our progress in the way of regeneration, let it be in what degree it
will in us, but our constant fidelity in conforming to the doctrines, life, and
death of Jesus Christ. Fifthly, because this question directs, and turns
people’s minds to the seeking after certain effects, merely from ideas and
descriptions of them, when their minds should only be set upon the causes that
are to produce them.
Supposing it to be true, that an assurance of salvation, or
continuance in grace, was a genuine effect of a certain degree of regeneration;
Christians should not be directed to seek for this assurance, as a certain mark
or effect of such a degree of regeneration, for this is directing them to seek
for this effect from their own selves, and not from the state of their
regeneration.
For their minds and imaginations will be naturally upon the
thought, of how to work themselves up into this pitch of assurance, and so it
will be something, that they have seized upon by their own will, and not
received as the genuine effects of their state in grace. Supposing this
assurance to be the proper effect of a certain degree of the new birth, yet it
is an effect that is not to be sought for beforehand, but only to be received
when its proper cause has produced it. It is a great error, to fix any certain
marks or effects to such a degree of regeneration, for its effects will be
various in different persons, from a variety of causes, both on the part of
God, and man.
The truly pious Christian, in whom the Holy Ghost dwells, as
in His temple, is indeed in a state of high acquiescence in God; but he does
not want nor need to have this acquiescence turned into an assurance of his own
mind, an assurance that he cannot fall from this state of grace, no more than
he wants to have the promises of the eternal God made sure to him, by the
promise of some mortal man.
And if it pleases God to impress strongly and plainly upon
his mind, that his salvation is secured, he receives it, as he does everything
from God, with a grateful mind; yet he will not rest in it, or receive it as a
sign of his own high regeneration, but rather as a sign that God
saw his weakness and stood in need of it; and so he will pass over it, and
return to an humble, total resignation of his whole soul, spirit, and body,
both for time and eternity, into the hands of God, through faith in the merits
of His Savior Jesus Christ. Any other course will only result in Spiritual
pride.
Again, neither can such a one call peremptorily upon others,
for such an assurance as he has had, or condemn their resignation and peace for
the need of it; he will be more afraid of meddling with the things of God, than
of being a busy-body in other men's matters. The only useful question in this
matter, is this, how a man may know that he is in the way of regeneration, that
he is Spiritually alive, and growing in the inward and new man? It may be
answered, just as the state, nature, and life of the natural man makes itself
to be known, and felt. The soul of man, or that which is the subject both of
the old and new nature, is not two, but one soul. The fire of the soul, or that
Spiritual fire which is the soul itself, is kindled or enlightened by the light
of the sun; this makes the natural man, and from this the imagination, will,
desires, thoughts, and inclinations of the natural life arise. The same
individual fire-soul, enlightened by the Son of God, makes the true new man,
from which he is enlightened by the Son of God, the imagination, will, desires,
thoughts, and inclinations of the new man arise. So that the same proofs are to
be expected in both cases, the spiritual man is to know that he is alive in the
same manner, as the natural man knows and feels his life. In these things, in
the imagination, will, desires, thoughts, and inclinations, consists the life
of each natural man; and what is more than this, is to be considered as the
outward fruits and effects of each nature.
Now though the natural life in all men is one and the same,
yet they are under it in a variety of different ways, which makes men of the
same nature, almost infinitely different from one another. Now the matter is
just the same with the Spiritual man, or in the inward world. As many different
complexions arise in the soul, enlightened by the Son of God, as to the soul,
enlightened by the outward light of this world. For the outward world is but a
glass, or representation of the inward, and everything in temporal nature, must
have its root, or hidden cause, in something that is more inward.
It is therefore a well grounded, and undeniable truth, that
the new Spiritual man has his particular features; as sure as the outward and
natural man has his. So it is, that there has been so great a difference, in
the form and character of the most eminent and faithful servants of God; one
could think of nothing but penitence and penitential austerities; another all
inflamed with the love of God, could think or speak of nothing else; some have
been driven into a holy solitude, living as John the Baptist; others have been
wholly taken up in works of charity, loving their neighbor even more than
themselves. A great variety of these types, have always been found amongst
those, who were most truly devoted to God, whose variety, is not only, not
hurtful in itself, nor displeasing to God, but is as much according to His
will, and the designs of His wisdom, as the difference between Cherubims and
Seraphims, or the variety of the stars in the firmament.
Every complexion of the inward man, when sanctified by
humility, and allowing itself to be tuned, and moved by the Holy Spirit of God,
according to its particular frame, helps mightily to increase that harmony of
divine praise, thanksgiving, and adoration, which must arise from the different
instruments, sounds, and voices. To condemn this variety in the servants of
God, or to be angry at those who have not served Him, in the way that we have
chosen for ourselves, is but too plain a sign, that we have not renounced the
elements of selfishness, pride, and anger.
From this variety of complexions both in the inward and
outward man, we may make some useful observations. And the first may be this,
that every man, whose complexion is strong in him, as to one particular kind,
is vehemently inclined to imprint the same upon others, and that others of the
same kind, are naturally disposed to catch and receive it from him. But I shall
consider this matter only with regard to religion. Let it be supposed that men
of certain aspects, have taken upon them to try the religious state of others
by these questions: are you sure that you should be able to die a martyr? Do
you find certain strong resolutions, not in your head, or your brain, but in
your inward man, that you would not refuse a martyrdom of any kind? Have you
the witness of the Spirit within you, bearing witness with your spirit, that
you are in this state?
Now, it is beyond all questions, that an examination of this
kind, or a demand of such a faith, can have no better foundation than aspects.
Who do you think would be most likely to come into this faith? First, it would
be those that were most unlikely to keep it. It would be those who knew the
least about themselves, and whose piety had more of heat than light in it. It
would be those, whose outward man was of the same complexion, that was
sanguine, capable of a false fire, and willing to have the glory of
resolutions, and fine persuasions at so easy a rate. Let it now be supposed,
that people of another complexion should put questions such as these: do you
know and feel that all your sins are forgiven you? Do you know when and where,
or at what time, and in what place, you received this forgiveness? Do you know
when and where you ceased to be one of those sinners called to repentance? And
became one of those who are whole, and do not need a physician? Have you an
absolute assurance of your salvation, and that you cannot possibly fall from
your state of grace? Now who may be thought the most likely to come into this
religion? First, not he who is deeply humble, that abhors self-justification,
and truly knows the free grace of God. Such a one would say, I believe the
forgiveness of sins, with as much assurance, as I believe there is a God; I
believe that Jesus Christ does now to all those who have a true, and full faith
in Him, that which He did to those who so believed in Him, when He was upon
earth. That He forgives their sins, as immediately, as certainly, as fully, as
when He said by an outward voice, "Your sins are forgiven you." I
believe that in this faith lies all our strength, and possibility of growing up
in the inward man, and recovering that image and likeness of God, in which we
were created; that to this faith, all things are possible, and that by this
faith, every enemy we have, whether he is within us, or without us, may, and
must be entirely overcome. I believe, that to repentance and faith in Christ,
salvation is made as secure, and as absolutely assured, as paradise was made
secure to the thief upon the cross, by the express word of our Savior. I
believe that my own sins, were they greater, and more than the sins of the
whole world, would be wholly expiated, and taken away by my faith, in the blood
and life of my blessed Savior.
But if I now want to add something of my own to this faith,
if this great and glorious faith is defective, and does not save me, until I
can add my own sense, and my own feeling to it, at such times, is not this
saying in the plainest manner, that faith alone cannot justify me? Is not this
making the faith in the blood of Christ defective, and insufficient to my
salvation, until some sort of self-satisfaction, an own-pleasure, an own-taste,
are joined with it? Might it not better be said, that faith could not justify
me until it had works, than that it cannot justify me without these inward
workings, feelings, witnessing, of my own mind, sense, and imagination? Is it
not likely to be a more hurtful self-seeking, a more hurtful self-confidence, a
more hurtful self-trust, a more dangerous self-deceit, in making faith to
depend upon these inward workings and feelings, than in making it depend upon
the outward good works of our own, produced by the Spirit of the Living God?
Secondly, no one who was truly resigned to God in all
things, would come into these questions; for to be resigned to God in all
things, and yet seek to be not resigned to Him, in these great matters mentioned
above, is a contradiction.
Such a one would say, I do not seek to have an inward sense
and feeling of the certainty of these things, because that would be departing
from the pure, entire, full, and naked faith in God, and resignation of myself
to Him, which alone can justify me in His sight, and make me capable of the
operations of His Holy Spirit. He can only then, do all His good pleasure in
me, when I have no will of my own, no self-seeking; this total resignation of
myself to Him, is the only immediate disposition, or capability of enjoying God
Himself with all His infinite treasures, particular impressions, sensible
convictions, strong tastes, high satisfactions, though they may be often the
good gifts of God, yet if they are sought for, or rested in, they minister food
to a spiritual self-love, and self-seeking, and lay the foundation of spiritual
pride; and so become a wall of partition between God and the soul. For the soul
may be as fully fixed in selfishness, through a fondness of sensible sweetness,
pious motions, and delightful enjoyments in spiritual things, as by a fondness
for earthly satisfactions.
Thirdly, no one, whose heart was truly touched by a pure and
perfect love of God, could come into these questions. For this love cannot seek
for self-comfort in the answer of such questions as these.
Such a person would say, my religion consists in living
wholly to my beloved, according to His satisfaction, and not my own. What God
wills, that I will; what God loves, that I love; what pleases God, pleases me.
I have no desire to know anything of myself, or to feel anything in myself, but
that I am an instrument in the hands of God, to be, to do, and suffer,
according to His good pleasure. I am content to know that I love and rejoice in
God alone, that He is what He is, and that I am what he pleases to make of me,
and do with me.
Seeing then it appears that the truly humble man, the man
that is wholly resigned to God, and the pure lover of Him, are not likely to
come into the religion of these questions, let us now see who may be ready to
receive it.
First, all young persons, whose passions had not yet been
awakened, or spent their fire; who had but little experience of themselves, and
the deceitfulness of their own hearts; for everything in their nature, would
help them to like, love, and obtain such an assurance, strength of conviction,
inward feeling, as is here required.
Secondly, all restless lovers of self, who were uneasy with
themselves, and everything else, who could find nothing in religion, or common
life, that pleased them enough; these would be easily persuaded to work
themselves up into a belief, that their sins were forgiven them at such a time,
or that Christ took an entire possession of them at such a place. For hearing
that true religion consisted solely in this, and that they only wanted it,
because of their need of faith in it, they would naturally embrace it, as the
shortest way to comfort and rest in themselves, in their own self-convictions.
Thirdly, all persons of a cheerful, tender, and imaginary
nature would be likely to join in with the religion of these questions. For
such persons receiving everything strongly, and having a power of believing and
imagining almost to any degree, as they please, they would not find it hard, to
comply with doctrines so suited to their nature, and which indulged that in
them, which needed most to be indulged, a sanguine[5]
imagination.
Fourthly, all those who so blaspheme God, as to make Him
from all eternity absolutely to elect some to an irresistible salvation, and
absolutely to reprobate others to an unavoidable damnation. For there could be
no subsisting under such an horrid belief as this, but by those, who through a
blind partiality, and strong bias of self-love, and self-esteem, can work themselves
up into a full assurance, inward infallible feeling that they are in the number
of the absolutely elected from all eternity.
Lastly, these questions are a great bait to all kinds of
hypocrites, who must find themselves much inclined to enter into a religion,
where they may pass immediately for saints, upon their own testimony, and stand
in the highest rank of piety, and of interest in Christ, merely by laying claim
to it. Suppose it was to be asked Christians, as necessary to their salvation,
do you believe and know that you have the self-denial and mortification[6]
of John the Baptist? Have you an inward conviction that you have a zeal equal
to that of Paul? Have you an assurance that your love is as high as that of the
Apostle John? That your penitence is equal to that of Mary Magdalene?
If these questions were be asked of all professing
Christians, as a condition of their salvation? You would find that there is as
much foundation in the gospel, for putting such questions as these, and making
the salvation of Christians to depend upon them, as for asking them, on the
same account, when, and where they felt their sins were forgiven of them? When
and where they felt Christ to take an entire possession of them? When and where
they felt sure of their salvation?
For what is all this but calling, hastening, and stirring up
people to seek for self-justification, and compelling them to think highly, and
affirm rashly of themselves, in order to be saved? Why might it not be as well to
call upon them to say, I feel myself to be as good as Paul, as pious as John,
as to say, I feel that my salvation is secure, and that I cannot fall from my
state of grace? Is not this making faith in one's self, as good, as necessary,
and as beneficial to us, as faith in Christ?
Would it not be as well, and no better, to make good works
of our own, necessary to true faith, than to make self-justification, which is
not a good work, to be the very essence and perfection of it?
The matter will not be mended by saying, that this feeling
and assurance is acknowledged to be the pure gift of God, and so cannot be
called our own, or our own justification. For if I do not have this gift of
God, until I pronounce it myself, until my own feeling and assurance confirms
it to me, I am self-justified, because my justification arises, from what I
feel and declare of myself.
How strangely must they have read the gospel, who can take a
naked implicit faith, and a humble total resignation of our spirit, state, and
life, into the mercy and goodness of God, to be not only a poor and imperfect,
but a reprobate state; or that a man has no true and saving faith, until it is
an infallible own-feeling, and self-assurance? What must such people think of
our Savior dying upon the cross, with these words in his mouth, "My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me!" will they say that this is a dangerous
state? Is the Spirit of Christ here to be renounced? Will they say, that no
newborn Christian can die in this manner? Or that if he does, he is not in a
state of salvation?
To know no more, and to seek to know, no more of our
salvation, than we can know by an implicit faith, and absolute resignation of
ourselves to God in Christ Jesus, is the true saving knowledge of Christ, and
such as keeps us in the highest degree of fitness to receive our perfect
salvation.
I hope it will here be observed, that I in no way
depreciate, undervalue, or reject any particular impressions, strong
influences, delightful sensations, or heavenly foretastes in the inward man,
which the Holy Spirit of God may at times bestow upon good souls; I leave them
their just worth, I acknowledge them to be the good gifts of God, as special
calls, and awakenings to forsake our sins, as great incitements to deny
ourselves, and take up our cross, and follow Christ with greater courage, and
resolution. They may be as beneficial, and useful to us in our spiritual life,
as other blessings of God, such as prosperity, health, a happy nature, and the
like. But then, as outward blessings, remarkable providences, religious nature,
and the like, may be very serviceable to awaken us, and excite our conversion
to God, and greatly assist our spiritual life; so they may very easily have a
contrary effect, and serve to fill us with pride, and self-satisfaction, and
make us esteem ourselves, as greater favorites of God, than those that are in
need of them. Who may yet be led to a higher degree of goodness, be in a more
purified state, and stand nearer to God in their poor, naked, and destitute condition,
than we in the midst of our great blessings?
It is just so with regard to those inward blessings of the
spiritual life. They are so many spurs, motives, and incitements to live wholly
unto God; yet they may instead of that, fill us with self-satisfaction and
self-esteem, and prompt us to despise others that need them, as in a poor, and
reprobate state; who yet may be higher advanced, and stand in a nearer degree
of union with God, by humility, faith, resignation, and pure love, in their
inward poverty and emptiness, than we who live high upon spiritual
satisfactions, and can talk of nothing, but our feasts and special blessings
from God.
All that I would say here of these inward delights and
enjoyments, is only this, they are not holiness, they are not piety, they are
not perfection, but they are God's gracious allurements, and calls, to seek
after holiness and spiritual perfection. They are not to be sought for, for
their own sakes; they are not to be prayed for, but with such a perfect
indifference and resignation, as we must pray for any earthly blessings; they
are not to be rested in, as the perfection of our souls, but to be received as
cordials, that suppose us to be sick, faint, and languishing; and ought rather
to convince us, that we are as yet, but babes, than that we are really men of
God. But to demand them in others, and to make people uneasy under the feeling
of needing them, full of searching and endeavor, as to how to acquire them, is
as great a mistake in itself, and as prejudicial to true piety, as to make
outward blessings of providence, marks of salvation, or worldly poverty, pains,
and distress, to be proofs, that we are not born of God. There are indeed
impressions and communications from God, which are more necessary and essential
to the pious life of the soul, than the impressions of the sun are to the
comfortable life of our outward man. And he that prays for nothing else but
these divine communications and impressions, and who thinks of nothing else,
trusts in nothing else, as being able to comfort, strengthen, and enrich his
soul; he that is in this way all prayer, all love, all desire, and all faith,
in these communications and impressions from above, is just in the same state
of sobriety, as he that only prays that God would not leave him to himself. For
he that is without anything of these communications and impressions of God upon
him, is in the same state of death and separation from God, as the devils
are."
These impressions or operations of God upon our souls are of
the essence of religion, which has no goodness in it, but only so far as it
introduces the life, power, and presence of God into the soul. The praying
therefore for impressions of this kind from God, is only praying that we may
not be left to ourselves; to pray always for these with faith, and hunger and
thirst after them, is only praying earnestly, that the Kingdom of God may come,
and His will be done in us. For the soul is only so far cleansed from its
corruption, so far delivered from the power of sin, and so far purified, as it
has renounced all of its own will, and own desire, to have nothing, receive
nothing, and be nothing, but what the will of God chooses for it, and does to
it.
This, and this alone is the true Kingdom of God opened in
the soul, when stripped of all selfishness, it has only one love, and one will
in it, when it has no motion or desire, but what branches from the love of God,
and resigns itself wholly to the will of God.
There is nothing evil, or that can be the cause of evil to
either man, or devil, but his own will, there is nothing good in itself, but
the will of God; he therefore who wholly renounces his own will, turns away
from all evil; and he who gives himself up wholly to the will of God, puts
himself in the possession of all that is good.
It may freely be granted, that conversion to God, is often
very sudden and instantaneous, and unexpectedly raised from many varieties of
occasions. Thus, one by seeing only a withered tree, another by reading the
lives and deaths of the antediluvian fathers, one by hearing of heaven, another
hell, one by reading of the love, or the wrath of God, another of the
sufferings of Christ, may find himself, as it were, melted into penitence all
of a sudden. It may be granted also, that the greatest sinner, may in a moment
be converted to God, and feel himself wounded to such a degree, as perhaps
those never were, who had been turning to God all their lives.
But then it is to be observed, that this suddenness of
change, or flash of conviction is by no means of a greater essence of true
conversion, and is no more to be demanded in ourselves, or others, than such a
light from heaven, as shone round Paul, and cast him to the ground. Secondly,
that no one is to expect, or require, that another should receive his conversion,
or awakening, from the same cause, or in the same manner, as he has received,
that is, that heaven, or hell, or the justice, or love of God, or faith in
Christ, either as our light, or our atonement, must be the first awakening of
the soul, because it happened that way with him. Thirdly, that this stroke of
conversion, is not to be considered, as signifying our high state of a new
birth in Christ, or a proof that we are all of a sudden made new creatures, but
that we are suddenly called, and stirred up to look after a newness of nature.
Fourthly, that this sensibility, or manifest feeling of the operations of God
upon our souls, which we have experienced in these first awakenings, is not to
be expected, or desired, to go along with us, through the course of our
purification. Fifthly, that regeneration, or the renewal of our first birth and
state, is something entirely distinct, from this first sudden conversion, or
call to repentance; that it is not a thing done in an instant, but is a certain
process, a gradual release from our captivity and disorder, consisting of
several stages and degrees, both of death and life, which the soul must go
through before it can thoroughly put off the old man. I will not say that this
must be in the same degree in all, or that there cannot be any exception to
this. But so much is true and certain, that Jesus Christ is our pattern, that
what He did for us, that we are also to do for ourselves, or, in other words,
we must follow Him in the regeneration. For what He did, He did, both as our
atonement, and example; His process, or course of life, temptations,
sufferings, denying His own will, death and resurrection, all done, and gone
through, on our account, because the human soul needed such a process of
regeneration and redemption; because, only in such a gradual process, all that
was lost in Adam, could be restored to us again. And therefore it is beyond all
doubt, that this process is to be looked upon, as the stated method of our
purification.
It is well worth observing, that our Savior's greatest
trials, were near the end of His life on this earth, that He then experienced
the sharpest part of our redemption. This might sufficiently show us, that our
first awakenings have carried us but a little way; that we should not then
begin to be self-assured of our own salvation, but remember, that we stand at a
great distance from, and in great ignorance of our severest trials.
To Sum Up All In A Few Words
Nothing has separated us from God but our own will, or more
correctly our own will is our separation from God. All the disorder, and
corruption, and difficulty of our nature, lies in a certain fixedness of our
own will (stubbornness), imaginations, and desire, in which we live to
ourselves, are our own center and circumference, and act wholly from ourselves,
according to our own will, imagination, and desires. There is not the smallest
degree of evil in us, but what arises from this selfishness, because we are all
in all to ourselves.
It is this self, that our Savior calls us to deny; it is
this life of self, that we are to hate and to lose, that the Kingdom of God may
arise in us, that is, that God's will may be done in us. All other sacrifices
that we make, whether of worldly goods, honors, or pleasures, are but small
matters, compared to that sacrifice and destruction of all selfishness, as well
spiritual, as natural, that must be made, before our regeneration has its
perfect work.
There is a denial of our own will, and certain degrees even
of self-denying virtues, which yet are no disturbance to this selfishness. To
be humble, mortified[7],
devout, and patient to a degree, and to be persecuted for our virtues, is no
hurt to this selfishness; his life consists, in seeing, knowing, and feeling
the bulk, strength, and reality of them. But still in all this show, and
glitter of virtue, there is an unpurified bottom on which they stand, there is
a selfishness, which can no more enter into the Kingdom of heaven, than the
grossness of flesh and blood can enter into it.
What we are to feel, and undergo in these last
purifications, when the deepest root of all selfishness, spiritual as well as
natural, is plucked up, and torn from us, or how we shall be able to stand in
that trial, are both equally impossible to be known by us beforehand.
It is enough for us to know, that we hunger and thirst after
the righteousness which is in Christ Jesus; that by faith we desire, and hope
to be in Him a creature; to know, that the greatest humility, the most absolute
resignation of our whole selves unto God, is our greatest and highest fitness,
to receive our greatest and highest purification, from the hands of God. FINIS.
It must be
remembered that the proof that Jesus Christ is reigning in our lives is this,
the steady growth of “patience, meekness, humility and total
resignation to the will of God.” And
equally important is the absences of the elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath, in any of it’s various forms!
We of the “Old
Time Publishing Co.” have put this book back in print because of
the conviction that the world we live in, needs to hear this message, again!
Bro. Law had an insight, rare in his day, and rarer still today. We have tried to bring William Law’s
writings into a colloquial tongue, so that you, the reader, can understand the
message. When he wrote this book, it was “colloquial,” over time the English
language has changed so much that many people have difficulty understanding
books and letters that were written in the seventeen hundreds. We have done our
best to see that the message has not been changed, and we hope that his message
will be “understandable” to you, the
modern reader. The editor.
For a printed
copy of this book please write to,
Old Time
Publishing Co.
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