Seventhly, The new creature is an heavenly creature ; " It is not " born of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of " God," John i. 13. its descent and original is heavenly, it is spi- rit born of spirit, John iii. 6. its centre is heaven, and thither are all its tendencies, Psal. lxiii. 8. its proper food, on which it lives, are heavenly things, Psal. iv. 6, 7. It cannot feed, as other crea- tures do, upon earthly things ; the object of all its delight and love is in heaven, Psal. lxxiii. 26. " Whom have I in heaven but thee ?" The hopes and expectations of the new creature are all from hea- ven ; it looks for little in this world, but waits for the coming of the Lord. The life of the new creature upon earth, is a life of patient waiting for Christ ; his desires and longings are after hea- ven, Phil. i. 93. The flesh indeed lingers, and would delay, but the new creature hastens, and would fain be gone, 2 Cor. v. 2. It is not at home whilst it is here ; it came from heaven, and cannot be quiet, nor suffer the soul, in which it dwells, to be so, until it comes thither again.
Eighthly, The new creature is an active and laborious creature ; no sooner is it born, but it is acting in the soul. Acts ix. 6. Be- hold he praycth ! Activity is its very nature. Gal. v. 25. " If we " live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit." Nor is it to be
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admired, that it should be always active and stirring in the soul, seeino- activity in obedience was the very end for which it was created. " For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus " unto good works," Eph. ii. 10. and he that is acted in the duties of religion, by this principle of the new creature, or nature, will (so far as that principle acts him) delight to do the will of God ; rejoice in the way of his commandment, and find the sweetest pleasure in the paths of duty.
Ninthly, The new creature is a thriving creature, growing from strength to strength, 1 Pet. ii. 2. and changing the soul in which it is subjected, from glory unto glory, 2 Cor. iii. 18. The vigor- ous tendencies, and constant striving of this new creature, are to attain its just perfection and maturity, Phil. iii. 11. It can endure no stints and limits to its desire, short of perfection ; every de- gree of strength it attains, doth but whet and sharpen its desires after higher degrees : Upon this account, it greatly delights in the ordinances of God, duties of religion, and society of the saints ; as they are helps and improvements to it, in order to its great design.
Tenthly, The new creature, is a creature of wonderful preserva- tions* : There are many wonders of divine providence in the pre- servation of our natural lives, but none like those whereby the life of the new creature is preserved in our souls : There are critical times of temptation and desertion, in which it is ready to die, Rev. iii. 2. the degrees of its strength and liveliness, are sometimes sadlv abated, and its sweet and comfortable workings intermitted, Rev. ii. 4. the evidences by which its being in us was wont to be dis- covered, may be, and often are darkened, 2 Pet. i. 9- and the soul in which it is may draw very sad conclusions about the issue and event ; concluding its life not only to be hazarded, but quite ex- tinguished, Psal. Ii. 10, 11, 12. but though it be ready to die, God wonderfully preserves it from death ; it hath as well its re- viving, as its fainting seasons. And thus you see, what are the lovely and eximious properties of the new creature. In the next place,
Fourthly, We will demonstrate the necessity of this new creation to all that are in Christ, and by him expect to attain salvation ; and the necessity of the new creature will appear divers ways.
First, From the positive and express will of God, revealed in
* Grace indeed cannot be totally intermitted, nor finally lost, but there may be an omission of the act, though not an omission of the habit; the act may be perverted, though faith cannot be subverted; it may be shaken, though not shaken out; its fruits may fall, but its sap lies hid in the root; the effect of jus- tification may be suspended, but the state of the justified cannot be dissolved, Suffrag. Brit.
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scripture, touching this matter: Search the scriptures, and you shall find God hath laid the whole stress and weight of your eter- nal happiness, by Jesus Christ, upon this work of the Spirit in your souls. So our Saviour tells Nicodemus, John iii. 5. " Ve- {t rily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water, " and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Agreeable whereunto are those words of the apostle, Heb. xii. 14. " Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.'" And whereas some may think, that their birth-right privileges, enjoyment of or- dinances, and profession of religion, may commend them to God's acceptance, without this new creation ; he shews them how fond and ungrounded all such hopes are. Gal. vi. 15. " For in Christ " Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircum- " cision, but a new creature.'1 Christ and heaven are the gifts of God, and he is at liberty to bestow them, upon what terms and conditions he pleaseth: and this is the way, the only way, and stated method in which he will bring men, by Christ, unto glory. Men may raze out the impressions of these things from their own hearts, but they can never alter the settled course and method of salvation. Either we must be new creatures, as the precept of the word command us, or lost, and damned creatures, as the threaten- ings of the word plainly tell us.
Secondly, This new creation, is the inchoative part of that great salvation which we expect through Christ, and therefore, without this, all hopes and expectations of salvation must vanish. Salva- tion, and renovation, are inseparably connected. Our glory in heaven, if we rightly understand its nature, consisteth in two things: namely, our assimilation to God, and our fruition of God : and both these take their beginning and rise from our re- novation in this world. Here we begin to be changed into his image, in some degree, 2 Cor. iii. 18. for the new man is created after God, as M'as opened above. In the work of grace, God is said to begin that good work, which is to he finished, or consummated, in the day of Christ, Phil. i. 6. Now nothing can be more irrational, than to imagine that ever that design, or work should be finished or perfected, which never had a beginning.