' " Libertas sine gratia niliil est nisi contumacia, non libei'tas." — August. Epist. Ixxxix.
CPIAP. v.] OF REGENERATION. 835
be " of him that willeth, and of him that runneth," and not " of God, that showeth mercy on whom he will have mercy," contrary to the apostle, Rom. ix. 15, 16. And the whole efficacy of the grace of God is made thereby to depend on the wills of men ; which is not consistent with our being the " workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works," Eph. ii. 10. Nor, on this supposition, do men know what they pray for, when they pray for their own or other men's conversion to God; as hath been before declared. There is, therefore, necessary such a work of the Holy Spirit upon our wills as may cure and take away the depravation of them before described, freeing us from the state of spiritual death, causing us to live unto God, and determining them in and unto the acts of faith and obedience. And this he doth whilst and as he makes us new creatures, quickens us who are dead in trespasses and sins, gives us a new heart and puts a new spirit within us, writes his law in our hearts, that we may do the mind of God and walk in his ways, worketh in us to will and to do, making them who were unwilling and obstinate to become willing and obedient, and that freely and of choice.
(3.) In like manner a prevailing love is implanted upon the affec- tions by the Spirit of grace, causing the soul with delight and com- placency to cleave to God and his ways. This removes and takes away the enmity before described, with the effects of it : Deut. xxx. 6, " The Lord thy God Avill circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." This circumcision of the heart consists in the " putting off the body of the sins of the flesh," as the apostle speaks. Col. ii. 11. He "crucifies the flesh, with the affec- tions and lusts" thereof Some men are inclined to think that all the depravation of our nature consists in that of the sensitive part of the soul, or our affections; the vanity and folly of which opinion hath been before discovered. Yet it is not denied but that the affec- tions are signally depraved, so that by them principally the mind and will do act those lusts that are peculiarly seated in them, or by them do act according to their perverse and corrupt inclinations, Gal. V. 24; James i. 14, 15. Wherefore, in the circumcision of our hearts, wherein the flesh, with the lusts, affections, and deeds thereof, is crucified by the Spirit, he takes from them their enmity, carnal pre- judices, and depraved inclinations, really though not absolutely and perfectly; and instead of them he fills us with lioly spiritual love, joy, fear, and delight, not changing the being of our affections, but sanctifying and guiding them by the principle of saving light and knowledge before described, and uniting them unto their proper object in a due manner.
From what hath been spoken in this third argument, it is evident
336 NATUEE, CAUSES, AND MEANS OF REGENERATION. [BOOK III.
that the Holy Spirit, designing the regeneration or conversion of the souls of men, worketh therein effectually, powerfull}^, and irresistibly ; which was proposed, unto confirmation.
From the whole it appears that our regeneration is a work of the Spirit of God, and that not any act of our oivn, which is only so, is intended thereby.^ I say it is not so our oiun as by outward helps and assistance to be educed out of the principles of our natures. And herein is the Scripture express; for, mentioning this _ work directl}^ with respect unto its cause, and the manner of its ojoera- tion in the effecting of it, it assigns it positively unto God or his Spirit: 1 Pet. i. 3, " God, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten iis again." James i. 18, " Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." John iii. 5, 6, 8, " Born of the Spirit." 1 John iii. 9j " Born of God." And, on the other hand, it excludes the will of man from any active interest herein ; I mean, as to the first be- ginning of it : 1 Pet. i, 23, " Born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." John i. 13, " Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, l)ut of God." See Matt. xvi. 1 7 ; Tit. iii. 5; Eph. ii. 9, 10. It is, therefore, incumbent on them who plead for the active interest of the will of man in regeneration to produce some testimonies of Scripture where it is assigned unto it, as the effect unto its proper cause. Where is it said that a man is born again or begotten anew by himself? And if it be granted, — as it must be so, unless violence be offered not only to the Scripture but to reason and common sense, — that whatever be our duty and power herein, yet these expressions must denote an act of God, and not ours, the substance of what we contend for is granted, as we shall be ready at any time to demonstrate. It is true, God doth command us to circumcise our hearts and to make them new: but he doth therein declare our duty, not our potver; for himself pro- miseth to work in us what he requireth of us. And that power which we have and do exercise in the progress of this work, in sanctification and holiness, proceeds from the infused "principle which we receive