Chapter 46.
THE NATURE OF
REGENERATION
BY
THOMAS
I.
For the better understanding of the nature of regeneration,
take this along
with you, in the first place, that as there are false conceptions in nature,
so there are also in grace: by these many are deluded, mistaking some
partial changes made upon them for this great and thorough change. To
remove such mistakes, let these few things be considered:
1.
Many call the Church their mother, whom God will not own to
be His children.
"My mother’s children," that
is, false brethren, "were angry with me" (Song of Solomon 1:6). All that
are baptized, are not born again. Simon was baptized, yet still "in
the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" (Acts 8:13-23). Where
Christianity is the religion of the country, many are called by the name of
Christ, who have no more of Him than the name: and no wonder, for the devil had
his goats among Christ’s sheep,
in those places where but few professed the Christian religion. "They
went out from us, but they were not of us" (1 John 2:19).
2.
Good education is not regeneration. Education may chain up
men’s lusts, but cannot change their hearts. A
wolf is still a ravenous beast, though it be in chains. Joash was very devout
during the life of his good tutor Jehoiada; but afterwards he quickly showed
what spirit he was of, by his sudden apostasy (2 Chronicles 24:2-18). Good
example is of mighty influence to change the outward man; but that
change often goes off when a man changes his company; of which the world
affords many sad
instances.
3.
A turning from open profanity to civility and sobriety falls
short of this saving
change. Some are, for a while, very loose, especially in their younger
years; but at length they reform, and leave their profane courses. Here
is a change, yet only such as may be found in men utterly void of the grace
of God, and whose righteousness is so far from exceeding, that it does
not come up to the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
4.
One may engage in all the outward duties of religion, and
yet not be born
again. Though lead be cast into various shapes, it remains still but a base
metal. Men may escape the pollutions of the world, and yet be but dogs
and swine (2 Peter 2:20-22). All the external acts of religion are within
the compass of natural abilities. Yea, hypocrites may have the counterfeit
of all the graces of the Spirit: for we read of "true holiness" (Ephesians
4:23); and "faith unfeigned" (1 Timothy 1:15); which shows
us that there is a counterfeit holiness, and a reigned faith.
5.
Men may advance to a great deal of strictness in their own
way of religion,
and yet be strangers to the new birth. "After the most straitest sect of
our religion I lived a Pharisee" (Acts 26:5). Nature has its own unsanctified
strictness in religion. The Pharisees had so much of it that they looked
on Christ as little better than a mere libertine. A man whose conscience
has been awakened, and who lives under the felt influence of the
covenant of works, what will he not do that is within the compass of natural
abilities? It is a truth, though it came out of a hellish mouth, that "skin
for skin, all that a man hath will he give for his life" (Job 2:4).
6.
A person may have, sharp soul-exercises and pangs, and yet
die in the birth.
Many "have been in pain," that have but, as it were, "brought
forth wind."
There may be sore pangs and throes of conscience, which turn to nothing
at last. Pharaoh and Simon Magus had such convictions as made them
desire the prayers of others for them. Judas repented himself; and under
terrors of conscience, gave back his ill-gotten pieces of silver. All is not
gold that glitters. Trees may blossom fairly in the spring, on which no fruit
is to be found in the harvest: and some have sharp soul exercises, which
are nothing but foretastes of hell.
The
new birth, however in appearance hopefully begun, may be marred two
ways: First, Some, like Zarah (Genesis 38:28,29), are brought to the
birth, but go back again. They have sharp convictions for a while; but these
go off, and they become as careless about their salvation, and as profane
as ever and usually worse than ever; "their last state is worse than their
first" (Matthew 12:45). They get awakening grace, but not converting
grace and that goes off by degrees as the light of the declining day,
fill it issue in midnight darkness.
Secondly,
Some, like Ishmael, come forth too soon; they are born before the
time of the promise. (Genesis 16:2; compare Galatians 4:22, etc.)
They take up with a mere law-work, and stay not till the time of the promise
of the Gospel. They snatch at consolation, not waiting till it be given
them; and foolishly draw their comfort from the law that wounded them.
They apply the healing plaster to themselves, before their wound is sufficiently
searched, The law, that rigorous husband, severely beats them, and
throws in curses and vengeance upon their souls; then they fall to reforming,
praying, mourning, promising, and vowing, till this ghost be laid;
which done, they fall asleep again in the arms of the law: but they are never
shaken out of themselves and their own righteousness, nor brought forward
to Jesus Christ.
Lastly,
There may be a wonderful moving of the affections, in souls that are
not at all touched with regenerating grace. Where there is no grace, there
may, notwithstanding, be a flood of tears, as in Esau, "who found no place
of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears" (Hebrews 12:17).
There may be great flashes of joy; as in the hearers of the Word, represented
in the parable by the stony ground, who "anon with joy receive it"
(Matthew 13:20). There may also be great desires after good things, and
great delight in them too; as in those hypocrites described in Isaiah 58:2:
"Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways: they take delight
in approaching to God." See how high they may sometimes stand, who
yet fall away (Hebrews 6:4-6). They may be "enlightened, taste of the
heavenly gift," be "partakers of the Holy Ghost, taste the good Word of
God, and the powers of the world to come." Common operations of the Divine
Spirit, like a land flood, make a strange turning of things upside down:
but when they are over, all runs again in the ordinary channel. All these
things may be, where the sanctifying Spirit of Christ never rests upon the
soul, but the stony heart still remains; and in that case these affections cannot
but wither, because they have no root.
But
regeneration is a real thorough change, whereby the man is made a new
creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Lord God makes the creature a new
creature, as the goldsmith melts down the vessel of dishonor, and makes
it a vessel of honor. Man is, in respect of his spiritual state, altogether
disjointed by the fall; every faculty of the soul is, as it were, dislocated:
in regeneration the Lord loosens every joint, and sets it right again.
Now this change made in regeneration, is:
1.
A change of qualities or dispositions: it is not a change of
the substance, but
of the qualities of the soul. Vicious qualities are removed, and the contrary
dispositions are brought in, in their room. "The old man is put off"
(Ephesians 4:22); "the new man put on" (ver. 24). Man lost none of
the rational faculties of his soul by sin: he had an understanding still, but it
was darkened; he had still a will, but it was contrary to the will of God. So
in regeneration, there is not a new substance created, but new qualities are
infused; light instead of darkness, righteousness instead of unrighteousness.
2.
It is a supernatural change; he that is born again, is born
of the Spirit. (John
3:5). Great changes may be made by the power of nature, especially
when assisted by external revelation. Nature may be so elevated by
the common influences of the Spirit, that a person may thereby be turned
into another man, as Saul was, (1 Samuel 10:6), who yet never becomes
a new man. But in regeneration, nature itself is changed, and we become
partakers of the Divine nature; and this must needs be a supernatural
change. How can we, that are dead in trespasses and sins, renew
ourselves, more than a dead man can raise himself out of his grave?
Who
but the sanctifying Spirit of Christ can form Christ in a soul, changing it
into the same image? Who but the Spirit of sanctification can give the new
heart? Well may we say, when we see a man thus changed: "This is the
finger of God."
3.
It is a change into the likeness of God. "We,
beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Everything that generates, generates its
like; the child bears the image of the parent; and they that are born of God
bear God’s image. Man aspiring to
be as God, made himself like the devil. In his natural state he resembles the
devil, as a child doth his father. "Ye are of your father the devil" (John
8:44). But when this happy change comes, that image of Satan is defaced,
and the image of God is restored. Christ Himself, who is the brightness
of His Father’s glory, is the pattern
after which the new creature is made. "For whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans
8:29). Hence
He is said to be formed in the regenerate (Galatians 4:19).
4.
It is a universal change; "all things become new,"
(2 Corinthians 5:17).
Original sin infects the whole man; and regenerating grace, which is the
salve, goes as far as the sore. This fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness; goodness
of the mind, goodness of the will, goodness of the affections, goodness
of the whole man. He gets not only a new head, to know religion,
or a new tongue to talk of it; but a new heart, to love and embrace it
in the whole of his conversation.