Inf. 4. How honourable are Christians by their new birth ! " They are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the " will of man, but of God," John i. 13. i e. not in an impure, or mere natural way, but in a most spiritual and supernatural man- ner : they are the offspring of God, the children of the Most High, as well by regeneration as by adoption ; which is the great- est advancement of the human nature, next to its hypostatical union with the second person. Oh, what honour is this for a poor sinful creature, to have the very life of God breathed into his soul ! All other dignities of nature are trifles compared with this ; this makes a Christian a sacred hallowed thing, the living temple of God, 1 Cor. vi. 19. The special object of his delight.
Inf. 4. How deplorable is the condition of the unregenerate worlds in no better case than dead men f Now to affect our hearts with the misery of such conditions, let us consider and compare it in the fol- lowing particulars,
First, There is no beauty in the dead, all their loveliness goes away at death ; there is no spiritual beauty or loveliness in any that are unregenerate : It is true, many of them have excellent moral honiiUtical virtues, which adorn their conversations in the eyes of men ; but what are all these, but so many sweet flowers strewed over a dead corpse ?
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Secondly, The dead have no pleasure nor delight; even so the unregenerate are incapable of the delights of the Christian life ; " to be spiritually minded is life and peace," Rom. viii. 6. i. e. this is the only serene, placid, and pleasant life: when the prodigal, who was once dead, was alive, then he began to be merry, Luke xv. 24. They live in sensual pleasures, but this is to be dead while alive, in scripture-reckoning.
Thirdly, The dead have no heat, they are as cold as clay ; so are all the unregenerate towards God and things above : their lusts are hot, but their affections to God cold and. frozen : that which makes a gracious heart melt, will not make an unregenerate heart move.
Fourthly, The dead must be buried, Gen. xxiii. 4. " Bury my " dead out of my sight :* So must the unregenerate be buried out of God's sight for ever : buried in the lowest hell, in the place of darkness, for ever, John iii. 3. Wo to the unregenerate, good had it been for them had they never been born !
Infer. 5. How greatly are all men concerned to examine their condition with respect to spiritual life and death ! It is very common for men to * presume upon their union with, and interest in Christ. This privilege is, by common mistake, extended generally to all that profess the Christian religion, and practise the external duties of it, when, in truth, no more are or can be united to Christ, than are quickened by the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus, Rom. viii. 1, 2. O try your interest in Christ by this rule, if I am quicken- ed by Christ, I have union with Christ. And,
First, If there be spiritual sense in your souls, there is spiritual life in them : there are a/<£b?r?j£/a, senses belonging to the spiritual as well as to the animal life, Heb. v. 14. They can feel and sensibly groan under soul pressures and burdens of sin, Rom. vii. 24. The dead feel not, moan not under the burdens of sin, but the living do : they may be sensible indeed of the evil of sin, with respect to themselves, but not as against God ; damnation may scare them, but pollution doth not ; hell may fright them, but not the offend- ing of God.
Secondly, If there be spiritual hunger and thirst, it is a sweet sign of spiritual life ; this sign agrees to Christians of a day old, 1 Pet. ii. 2. Even " new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word :n If spiritual life be in you, you know how to expound that scrip- ture, Psal. xlii. 1. without any other interpreter than your own experience : you will feel somewhat like the gnawing of an empty stomach making you restless during the interruption of your daily communion with the Lord.
Thirdly, If there be spiritual conflicts with sin, there is spiritual
■ By presuming thev hope, and by hoping thev perish. Ames.
102 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. VI.
life in your souls, Gal. v. 17. Not only a combat betwixt light in the higher, and lust in the lower faculties ; not only opposition to more gross external corruptions, that carry more infamy and hor- ror with them than other sins do : but the same faculty will be the seat of war ; and the more inward and secret any lust is, by so much the more will it be opposed and mourned over.
In a word, the weakest Christian may, upon impartial observa- tion, find such signs of spiritual life in himself (if he will allow himself time to reflect upon the bent and frame of his own heart) as desires after God ; conscience of duties ; fears, cares, and sor- rows, about sin ; delight in the society of heavenly and spiritual men; and a loathing and burden in the company of vain and carnal persons.
Object. O but I have a very dead heart to spiritual things !
Sol. It is a sign of life that you feel, and are sensible of that deadness ; and besides, there is a great deal of difference betwixt spiritual deadness and death ; the one is the state of the unregene- rate, the other is the disease of regenerate men.
Object. Some signs of spiritual life are clear to me, but I cannot close with others.
Sol. If vou can really close with any, it may satisfy you, though you be dark in others ; for if a child cannot go, yet if it can suck ; but if it cannot suck, yet if it can cry ; yea, if it cannot cry, yet if it breathe, it is alive.
Of that Act on our Part, by which we do actually and effec- tually apply Christ to our own Souls.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God ; even to them that believe on his name.
J^l O sooner is the soul quickened by the Spirit of God, but it answers, in some measure, the end of God in that work, by its active reception of Jesus Christ, in the way of believing : What this vital act of faith is upon which so great a weight depends, as our interest in Christ and everlasting blessedness, this scripture before us will give you the best account of; wherein (omitting the consideration of the coherence and context of the words) we have three things to ponder.
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First, The high and glorious privilege conferred, viz. 6( Power " to become the sons of God."
Secondly, The subject of this privilege described, " As many as " received him."
Thirdly, The description explained, by way of opposition, " Even " as many as believe on his name."