Secondly, The next effect is likeness : Gal. iv, 19, ' My little chil- dren, of whom I travail in birth till Christ be formed in you.' His image portrayed, drawn upon the soul ; so that a christian representeth Christ and expresseth his life in all that he doeth ; discovereth his Spirit working in him. The image of Christ is darkened in many as to purity and iioliness : 1 Peter i. 15, 16, * As he that hath called you is hoi}', 80 be holy in all manner of conversation ; for it is written, Be ye holy as I am holy.' We should be like Christ in meekness and self-denial: Mat. xi. 29, 'Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in lieart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.'
326 SERMONS UPON 1 PETER I. 23. [SeR. IV.
SEKMON IV.
By the ivord of God, which liveth and dbidethfor ever. — 1 Peter i. 23.
DocT. The instrumental cause of regeneration is the word of God : James i. 18, ' Of" his own will begat he us, by the word of truth.' There is the principal efficient, ' He ; ' the moving cause, ' Of his own will ; ' the instrumental ■ cause or means, ' By the word of truth ; ' and the final cause is for his own glory and service. So 1 Cor. iv. 1,5, ' For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel ; ' where we have the author, ' Christ;' the subordinate instrument, ' I,' Paul ; the means, ' The gospel.'
1. Let me explain the point.
2. Confirm it by reasons how and why.
First, How the word concurreth to regeneration.
1. There is a twofold operation upon the soul — physical and moral. The physical operation is the infusion of life ; the moral operation is in a way of reason and persuasion : both these ways are necessary, not of any need in God, but mere love to us. God worketh strongly like himself, and sweetly, that he may attemper his work to our nature, and suit the key to the wards of the lock. Both these ways are often spoken of in scripture : John vi. 44, 45, ' No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him. And they shall all be taught of God : every man, therefore, that hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me.' They are both taught and drawn ; so taught as also drawn and inclined ; and so drawn as that also taught ; as it becometh God to deal with men. And therefore some- times God is said to ' create in us a new heart,' Ps. li. 10, and to 'create us to good works,' Eph. ii, 10, to note his almighty power. Sometimes to persuade and allure : Hosea ii. 15, ' I will alkire her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her ; ' Gen. ix. 27, ' The Lord shall persuade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem.' By fair and kind words draw men to a liking of his ways. The soul of man is determined to God by an object without and a quality within. The object is propounded with all its qualifications, that the understanding may be informed and convinced, and the will and affections persuaded in a potent and high way of reasoning. But this is not enough to determine man's heart without an internal quality or grace infused, which is his physical work upon the- soul. There is not only a pro- pounding of reasons and arguments, but a powerful inclination of the heart, and so by a strong hand we are plucked out of the snare of death. Well, now, as to the physical or powerful operation, the word is not the instrumental cause, but God worketh immediately ; for the word written and preached, voice, letters, syllables, are not subjects capable of receiving spiritual life to convey it to us. I say, there is not any such virtue in the sound of syllables and sentences of the word, but the Spirit doth this work immediately. But as to the moral operation, in a way of argument and persuasion, so the word is the instrument. There are other occasional helps, but this is the instituted means. Word and sacraments are instrumenta qaandam tenus moralia,
VeR. 23.] SERMONS UPON 1 PETER I. 23. 327
in a sort moral instruments ; the word to beget grace, and the sacra- ments to confirm it. We are born again of the \Yord, but our growth and increase we have from the sacraments.
2. Though the infusion of life be God's immediate work, yet because it is done in concomitancy and association with the word, therefore the effect is ascribed to the word as well as to the Spirit. So the law of God is said ' to convert the soul,' Ps. xix. 7 ; and the gospel is said to be the 'power of God to salvation,' Rom. i. 16, that is, God doth not ordinarily work any other way ; and hath tied us to depend upon him in the use of this means for such an effect. As the stars shed abroad their influences by air and clouds to make the earth fruitful, and insin- uate their effects by other natural causes ; so doth God convey his power in a concomitancy with the word, though not by the word ; that is, there is not any natural force put into it to produce such an effect.