Secondly, The exhortation is not in vain, for tliese reasons — 1, Because the ohject of regeneration is the reasonable creature, upon whom God worketh, not as upon a stock or a stone, but maketh use of the faculties which he hath, and dealeth with reasonable crea- tures in a reasonable manner; draweth them with the cords of a man, not only by invincible grace, but by doctrine and jjcrsuasion. He worketh not on us as on senseless blocks, but as reasonable creatures : Hosea xi. 4, ' I drew them with cords of a man, with the bands of love.' First showing man his lost estate by the law, and in the gospel reveal- ing Christ, and the possibility of salvation to all those that will come
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to God by him ; and then by the preaching of the gospel sweetly in- viteth them to receive Christ, that he may pardon their sins, and sanctify their natures, and lead them in a way of holiness unto eternal life, upon which followeth the powerful operation of his Spirit, infusing life into them, and conforming them to Christ.
2. It is not in vain, that man may own his duty and be sensible of the necessity of the change of his estate, who would otherwise be alto- gether careless and mindless of such a thing. In the name of God we may require you to believe, repent, turn to God, though God giveth you all these things. So likev/ise we may exhort you to be regenerate, to put off the old man, and to put on the new : Eph. iv. 22-24, ' That ye put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is cor- rupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind ; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.' To warn you of your duty : Eph. V. 14, ' Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.' To point out to lost sinners what is their duty, namely, to turn to God, and set about the duties of holiness, flowing from the principle of a new life ; which is enjoined by God to sinners, not that it is in their power, but because it is their duty so to do ; yea, such a duty as must be speedily and earnestly gone about, if they mean to be saved ; for our utter inability to help ourselves, or to do anything acceptable to God, contracted by Adam's fall, doth not weaken or abolish God's sovereign right and dominion over us ; and though we be not able to do his will, yet he may justly require and exact it of us. It is a demanding of God's right, and a making of the creature sensible of what he must look after.
3. Because by such exhortations and commands, as by an outward means, the Spirit of God doth effectually work that in them which he requireth of them : ' Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,' Rom. x. 7. There is no power in us, or principle of life in us, whereby we can quicken ourselves or bring ourselves from nature to grace ; yet by the exhortation, as by the means, God infuseth this power and principle, conveying thereby the effectual working of his power, and sogivethwhathe requireth. As it was not in vainsaid to Lazarus, 'Come forth ; ' there was a power went along with the words, ' Lazarus, come forth,' John xi. 43. Christ in using his omnipotency doth not look upon things as they are in themselves or seem to be to us, but in speaking and commanding giveth life and strength to do what is commanded. So he ' calleth things that are not as though they were,' Rom. iv. 17. He speaketh to him as one living, and ready to come forth on a call ; because of this very word he puts life into him to hear and to obey. So when God by us calleth upon lost dead sinners to get life and grace, who knoweth but that the blessing may go along with the exhortation, and he may work what he requireth ?
4. The exhortation is not in vain, because there are some things to be done before regeneration. In order thereunto, the preparative dis- positions that lead unto regeneration must be distinguished from rege- neration itself. They are not gradus in re, parts of regeneration, but gradus ad rem. When Adam was created, the matter was prepared, and tlie body organised and fitted to receive the soul before God breathed
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that spirit of life into liim, and in ordinary generation there is a dis- ])Osing of the matter before it be quickened. Now though God be not always tied to this course, yet he would have man tied to them in the use of external means, so that by these preparative exercises he may come nearer than he was before : Mark xii. 34, ' And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he saith unto him, Thou are not far from the kingdom of God.' These preparations in regard of conversion are like the drying of the wood to the kindling of it or setting it on fire. The dryness of the wood is not the firing of the wood, or any degree of it, only a preparation of the matter, that it may take fire when it is put to it ; or like the heating of metals before they are melted, and are cast into the mould to be fashioned. Such kind of preparations there are to regeneration ; as when a man by the study of the law hath a dis- covery and anxious sense of his miserable condition out of Christ, and doth seriously deliberate what to do, and hath a desire and purpose to make use of all good means for the escaping of God's wrath, as to hear, read, meditate, confer with others about the things that belong to regene- ration. We may require you to use all these godly exercises, and to be diligent therein, that you may be in some readiness, and lie near at hand for God's work, which is better than to be afar off. So these pre- parations are as the drying of the wood, though it be not fired ; the heating of the metal, though it be not melted ; and in these we feel some common operations of the Spirit at least ; and they that refuse these preparatives are without excuse, and it is a sign they slight reconcilia- tion with God and regeneration by his Spirit. Thus you see why we are to exhort, and you to look after it, that you may lie fair for God's work.