4. The necessity of this new creation to all that are in Christ.
5. How this new creation evidences our interest in Christ.
6. And then apply the whole in the proper uses of it.
First, Why the regenerating work of the Spirit is called a new creation. This must be our first enquiry. And, doubtless, the reason of this appellation is the analogy, proportion, and simili- tude which is found betwixt the work of regeneration, and God\s work in the first creation. And their agreement and proportion will be found in the following particulars.
First, The same almighty Author who created the world.
348 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. XXV.
createth also this work of grace in the soul of man, 2 Cor. iv. 6. " God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath " shined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of " the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.1' The same power- ful word which created the natural, createth also the spiritual light. * It is equally absurd for any man to say, I make myself to repent, or to believe, as it is to say, I made myself to exist, and be.
Secondly, The first thing that God created in the natural world, was light, Gen. i. 3. and the first thing which God createth in the new creation, is the light of spiritual knowledge, Col. iii. J 0. " And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge " after the image of him that created him."
Thirdly, Creation is out of nothing ; it requires no pre-existent matter ; it doth not bring one thing out of another, but something out of nothing ; it gives a being to that which before had no being : So it is also in the new creation, 1 Pet. ii. 9, 10. " Who hath " called you out of darkness into his marvellous light ; which in " time past were not a people, but are now the people of God ; " which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." The work of grace is not educed out of the power and principles of nature, but it is a pure work of creation. The Heathen philo- sophers could neither understand, nor acknowledge the creation of the world, because that notion was repugnant to this maxim of reason, ex nihilo nihil Jit, out of nothing, nothing can be made. Thus did they insanire cum ratione, befool themselves with their own reasonings ; and after the same manner some great pretenders to reason among us, voting it an absurdity to affirm, that the work of grace is not virtually and potentially contained in nature, the new creation in the old.
Fourthly, It was the virtue and efficacy of the Spirit of God, which gave the natural world its being by creation ; Gen. i. 2. the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters; it hovered over the chaos, as the wings of a bird do over her eggs, as the same word is rendered, Deut. xxxii. 11. cherishing, as it were by incubation, that rude mass by a secret quickening influence, by which it drew all creatures into their several forms, and particular natures : So it is in the new creation ; a quickening influence must come from the Spirit of God, or else the new creation can never be formed in us ; John iii. 8. " So is every one that is born of the " Spirit." And ver. 6. " That which is born of the Spirit, is " spirit."
* Minus est, tejecisse hominem, quam sanctum, i. e. We may sooner make ourselves, men, than saints,.
SERM. XXV. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 349
Fifthly, The word of God was the instrument of the first crea- tion ; Psal. xxxiii. 6, 9- " By the word of the Lord were the " heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his " mouth : For he spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and " it stood fast" The word of God is also the instrument of the new creation, or work of grace in man ; 1 Pet. i. 23. " Being " bom again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible ; by " the word of God, which liveth, and abideth for ever." So James i. 18. " Of his own will begat he us, with the word of " truth." Of his own Kill; that was the impulsive cause; with the word of truth ; that was the instrumental cause. Great respect and honour, love, and delight, is due to the word upon this ac- count, that it is the instrument of our regeneration, or new cre- ation.
Sixthly, The same power which created the world, still under- props and supports it in its being : the world owes its conservation, as well as its existence, to the power of God, without which it could not subsist one moment. Just so it is with the new creation, which entirely depends upon the preserving power, which first formed it; Jude ver. 1. "Preserved in Christ Jesus," and 1 Pet. i. 5. " Who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto si salvation." As in a natural way " we live, move, and have our " being in God," Acts xvii. 28. so in a spiritual way, we continue believing, repenting, loving, and delighting in God ; without whose continued influence upon our souls, we could do neither.
Seventhly, In a word, God surveyed the first creation with com- placence and great delight ; he beheld the works of his hands, and approved them as very good, Gen. i. 31. So this also in the second creation ; nothing pleaseth and delights God more than the works of grace in the souls of his people. It is not an outward privilege of nature, or gift of providence, which commends any man to God ; " Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but a new " creature," Gal. vi. 15. And thus you see upon what grounds the work of regeneration in man is stiled a new creature ; which was the first thing to be opened.
Secondly, Next we must enquire, in what respects every soul that is in Christ is renewed, or made a new creature : and here we shall find a threefold renovation of every man that is in Christ, viz.
1. In his state and condition.
2. In his frame and constitution.
3. In his practice and conversation.
First, He is renewed in his state and condition : for he passeth from death to life in his justification, 1 John iii. 14. He was con- demned by the law, he is now justified freely by grace, through the redemption which is in Christ : he was under the curse of the first
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covenant ; he is under the blessing of the new covenant : he was afar off, but is now made nigh unto God ; an alien, a stranger once, now of the household of God, Eph. ii. 12, 13. O blessed change, from a sad to a sweet and comfortable condition ! " There " is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1.