I should not farther pursue this discourse, nor insist on this di- gression, but that Mr Goodwin hath taken advantage by the mention of reofeneration to deliver some rare notions of the nature of it, which deserve a little our farther taking notice of; for which end, doubtless, he published them. To m'ake way, then, for his intendment, he in- forms us, sect. 29, " That ' regeneration' itself, according to the gram- matical and proper signification of the word, imports a reiteration or repetition of some generation or other. It cannot import a repetition of the natural generation of men (the sense of Nicodemus on this point was orthodox, who judged such a thing impossible) ; therefore it must import a repetition of a spiritual generation, unless we shall say (which I think is the road opinion) that it signifies only the spi- ritual generation, with a kind of reflection upon and unto the birth natural."
Ans. That the grammatical sense of the word imports "a reitera- tion of some generation or other," is only said. ' Avd hath other signi- ^cations in composition besides the intimating of a reiteration of the same thing, either in species or individually the same again. YlaXiy- yividia, would seem rather to enforce such an interpretation than dva.- •ysvvrjffig, which yet it doth not. It is spoken of that which hath no
552 DOCTKTNE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
biii.h properly at all, as Pliilo,DeMundo, Mrj fiSvov (pdopav rou xoe/xov xarri- yopiTv aXKa xai itaXiyyivicioLV dvaipuv. 'Aca of itself is only "through:" Xupov av vXrjevra, Horn. ' Od. |., — " Through a woody country." 'Avda- raeig, "resurrection," doth not import "again," after another rising be- fore, but a restoration from a lost state. So is -raXiyyivieSa used, Matt, xix. 28. To be regenerate is to have a new and another generation, not any one repeated. In the place of John mentioned by Mr Good- win, there is mention neither of a repetition of a former generation nor directly of a new one; though it be so, it is not there called so. Our Saviour at first says, 'Edv [i^ri ng yswridfi ccvuSsv^ " Unless a man be bom from above," as the word is elsewhere rendered, and properly signi- fies, as John iii. 81, xix. 11 ; Mark xv. 88; James iii. 17; and some- times "of old" or "former days," as Acts xxvi. 5. Once only it signi- fies " again," Gal. iv. 9, but there it is joined with '^rdXiv, which restrains it. And in the exposition afterward of what he intended by that ex- pression, he calls it simply a being " born of water and the Spirit," verse 5, without the least intimation of the repetition of any birth, but only the asserting of a new spiritual one ; called a birth, indeed, with allusion to the birth natural, which is the " road opinion," well beaten ever since Christ first trod that path. Besides, the very same thing which is expressed under the name of " regeneration," being a spiritual birth, which a man had not before, is also delivered unto us in such words and terms as manifest no reiteration of any state, con- dition, or thing to be included therein, as conversion to God, a quick- ening from death, sanctification by the Spirit, etc. ; all which manifest the induction of a new life and form, and not the repetition of an- other. Hence the ancients called baptism " regeneration," being the initial ordinance of Christianity, and expressive of the new life which in and through Christ we receive; and that from Tit. iii. 5. "Rege- neration," then, neither in the import of the word nor in the nature of the thing, doth require a reiteration of any generation, but only the addition of a new one to that which a man hath before, and whereunto this doth allude. The receiving of a new spiritual birth and life is our " regeneration, renovation, resurrection, quickening, implanting into Christ," and the like; so that the foundation of all the ensuing discourse is a mere quagmire, where no firm footing can be obtained.
And of the same nature is that which ensues: "It is," saith he, " the conunon sense of divines, that the two generations men- tioned, the natural and spiritual, are membra dividentia, and con- tradistinguished the one unto the other; and so the apostle Peter, too, seems to state and represent them, as also our Saviour himself, John iii. 6. Now, there can hardly any instance be given where the introducing of one contrary form or quality into the subject is termed a reiteration or repetition of the other. Calefactiou, for ex-
XV.] THE SINS OF BELIEVERS CONSIDEIIED. 553
ample, is never termed a repetition of frigefaction, nor calefaction called a reiteration of frigefaction; nor when a regenerate or morti- fied man dieth his natural death is he said to reiterate or repeat his spiritual death."
A71S. That in the term "regeneration" two births are implied may be granted; that the same is intimated to be repeated is de- nied, and not proved at all; and therefore Mr Goodwin says well, that the introducing of a contrary form is not called the reiteration of another. No more is it here. Our new birth is called our " rege- neration," or " new generation," in allusion to our natural birth, not as a repetition of it. Neither is the allusion in respect of the contrary qualities wherewith the one and the other are attended, but in respect of the things themselves; in which regard, as they are not the same, so they are not contrary, but diverse. They are both births, — the one natural, the other spiritual. Natural and spiritual, in that sense, are not contrary qualities, but diverse adjuncts. And so are the two births compared, 1 Pet. i. 23, John i. 13; in which last place our regeneration is expressed under the simple term of being " born," with distinction to the natural birth, and not the least intimation of the iteration of any birth or generation subjoined. So also is it, James i. 18. So tliat hitherto little progress is made by Mr Goodwin towards his intendment, whatever it be. Thus, then, he expresseth it: —