William Law · 3 of 5

The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration · Part 3

[Reg-109] God so loved man, when his fall was foreseen, that he chose him to salvation in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world. When man was actually fallen, God was so without all wrath towards him, so full of love for him, that he sent his only begotten Son into the world to redeem him. Therefore God has no nature towards man, but love, and all that he does to man, is love

[Reg-110] (24.) There is no wrath that stands between God and us, but what is awakened in the dark fire of our own fallen nature; and to quench this wrath, and not his own, God gave his only begotten Son to be made man. God has no more wrath in himself now, than he had before the creation, when he had only himself to love. The precious blood of his Son was not poured out to pacify himself (who in himself had no nature towards man but love), but it was poured out, to quench the wrath, and fire of the fallen soul, and kindle in it a birth of light, and love. {See "Spirit of Loveï, part ii, p. 50, &c.

[Reg-111] As man lives, and moves, and has his being in the divine nature, and is supported by it, whether his nature be good or bad; so the wrath of man, which was awakened in the dark fire of his fallen nature, may, in a certain sense, be called the wrath of God, as hell itself may be said to be in God, because nothing can be out of his immensity; yet this hell, is not God, but the dark habitation of the devil. And this wrath which may be called the wrath of God, is not God, but the fiery wrath of the fallen soul

[Reg-112] And it was solely to quench this wrath, awakened in the human soul, that the blood of the Son of God was necessary, because nothing but a life and a birth, derived from him into the human soul, could change this darkened root of a self-tormenting fire, into an amiable image of the Holy Trinity, as it was at first created

[Reg-113] This was the wrath, vengeance, and vindictive justice that wanted to be satisfied, in order to our salvation; it was the wrath and fire of nature and creature kindled only in itself, by its departing from due resignation, and obedience to God

[Reg-114] When Adam and Eve went trembling behind the trees, through fear and dread of God, it was only this wrath of God awakened in them; it was a terror, and horror, and shivering of nature, that arose up in themselves, because the divine life, the birth of the Son of God, which is the brightness and joy of the soul, was departed from it, and had left it, to feel its own poor miserable state without it. And this may well enough be called the wrath, and justice of God upon them, because it was a punishment, or painful state of the soul, that necessarily followed their revolting from God

[Reg-115] But still there was no wrath, or painful sensation, that wanted to be appeased, or satisfied, but in nature and creature; it was only the wrath of fallen nature, that wanted to be changed, into its first state of peace and love. When God spoke to them, he spoke only love; Adam, where art thou? And he called him, only to comfort him with a promised redemption, through a seed of the woman, a spark of the Word of life which should reign in him, and his posterity, till all enemies were under their feet. God therefore is all love, and nothing but love and goodness can come from him. He is as far from anger in himself, as from pain and darkness. But when the fallen soul of man, had awakened in itself, a wrathful, self-tormenting fire, which could never be put out by itself, which could never be relieved by the natural power of any creature whatsoever, then the Son of God, by a love, greater than that which created the world, became man, and gave his own blood, and life into the fallen soul, that it might through his life in it, be raised, quickened, and born again into its first state of inward peace and delight, glory and perfection, never to be lost any more. O inestimable truths! precious mysteries, of the love of God, enough to split the hardest rock of the most obdurate heart, that is but able to receive one glimpse of them! Can the world resist such love as this? Or can any man doubt, whether he should open all that is within him, to receive such a salvation

[Reg-116] O unhappy unbelievers, this mystery of love compels me in love, to call upon you, to beseech and entreat you, to look upon the Christian redemption in this amiable light. All the ideas that your own minds can form of love and goodness, must sink into nothing, as soon as compared with God's love and goodness in the redemption of mankind

[Reg-117] I appeal to nothing but the state of your own hearts and consciences, to prove the necessity of your embracing this mystery of divine love. I will grant you all that you can suppose, of the goodness of God, and that no creature will be finally lost, but what infinite love cannot save

[Reg-118] But still, here is no shadow of security for infidelity; and your refusing to be saved through the Son of God, whilst the soul is in the redeemable state of this life, may at the separation of the body, for aught you know, leave it in such a hell, as the infinite love of God cannot deliver it from. For, first, you have no kind, or degree of proof, that your soul is not that dark, self-tormenting, anguishing and imperishable fire, above-mentioned, which has lost its own proper light, and is only comforted by the light of the sun, till its redemption be effected. Secondly, you have no kind, or degree of proof, that God himself can redeem, or save, or enlighten this dark fire-soul, any other way than, as the gospel proposes, by the birth of the Son of God in it. Therefore your own hearts must tell you, that for aught you know, infidelity, or the refusing of this birth of the Son of God, may, at the end of life, leave you in such a state of self-torment, as the infinite love of God can no way deliver you from

[Reg-119] You build much upon certain clear ideas, founded in the nature and fitness of things; but I beseech you to consider, that here in this great point, on which all depends, you have no ideas at all; for you have not one clear, or even obscure idea, that your souls cannot be in this disordered state, or that they can be set into a right order, without the birth of the Son of God brought forth in them

[Reg-120] But to return

[Reg-121] (25.) What has been already said of the nature of regeneration, may sufficiently show us, how greatly it is mistaken, when it is said to signify only a moral change of our tempers and inclinations

[Reg-122] Tempers and inclinations are the fruits of the new-born nature, and not the nature itself; and as fruits and flowers are entirely distinct, and different from the root and the tree, and necessarily suppose the root and the tree, before they can be brought forth; so good tempers and inclinations are as distinct from, and posterior to that nature, which is to produce them, as its fruits

[Reg-123] And if good tempers rightly purified, could really arise, or be brought forth in us, without a change first made in the root, or nature, that is to bring them forth, it would be no absurdity to say, that men may gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles

[Reg-124] But if our blessed Lord has declared this, to be contrary to the nature of things, and has further said, that the tree must first be made good, before it can bring forth good fruit; then we can with sufficient ground of assurance say, that our nature must first be made good, its root and stock must be new made, or regenerated again, before it can bring forth good fruits of moral behavior

[Reg-125] (26.) Angels are justly represented to us, as flames of love; now every flame must have a hidden fire for its root, from which it has its subsistence; and the spiritual flaming angelical nature, must have a spiritual fire concealed under it. Now let it be supposed, that in an angel this flame of love was extinguished, and that there then only remained that inward root of a spiritual fire. Let it be supposed, that this spiritual fire that has lost its flame of love cannot cease to be, and to be a fiery spirit; that it cannot, by any properties of its fire kindle itself in its first flame of love; that all its own stirrings can produce no one thought, motion or desire, but what solely tends either to selfishness, envy, pride, or wrath; that it can of itself no more come out of this state, than fire locked up in a flint, can of itself become a flame; could it be said, that this angel had only lost some moral good dispositions? Must it not be said, to have lost that nature, from which alone, its good tempers could proceed? Let it be further supposed, that God, by a miracle of love entered into the fiery root, or essence of this fallen angel, and by a new birth made it again to be a flame of love; could it be said, that it had gained nothing by this new birth, but only a change of some moral tempers? Must it not be said to have gained a new nature, a flame of love, instead of a dark fire? and from this new nature, its angelical and good tempers can alone proceed

[Reg-126] (27.) But the representing the new-birth as signifying only a change of moral behavior, is not only thus false and absurd in itself, but is also exceeding prejudicial to true conversion, and saps the foundation of our redemption

[Reg-127] That it is highly prejudicial to true conversion, is most evident from this, that it hides and suppresses the real nature of our fallen state, and the true greatness of the love and mercy of God in our redemption. Now these two things it inevitably does in a great degree, and therefore the hurt that it does us, is more than can well be imagined

[Reg-128] And it is owing to this cause more than to any other, that even amongst people of sober behavior, religion is only a superficial thing, that has no true depth in them, because they have never understood the true depth of religion, nor conceived, in how deep a manner, their nature is concerned in it

[Reg-129] A heathen may say, that by going to such a neighborhood, or marrying into such a family, or falling into acquaintance with such a man, he obtained an entire change in his moral behavior. Now if Christians are told, that this is the true, and only meaning of their new birth in Christ Jesus, namely, a great change in their moral behavior, a thing that happens to heathens, by the ordinary occurrences of human life, it is no wonder, that they live all their lives, strangers to true humility, and penitence, are never truly converted to God, or have any just sense of his infinite mercy, in the manner of their salvation

[Reg-130] For if they are to believe, that to be born of God, born from above, born of the Spirit, born of an incorruptible seed of the Word of God, signifies no more than this now mentioned, must not this naturally lead them, to take everything that is said of God and Christ, in the mysteries of their redemption, in a sense as much below the expression, as this of the new birth? Must it not naturally lead them to think, that all scripture -doctrines, have more of height and mystery in the expression, than in the thing itself? and that there is no need to fear, or hope, or believe, or trust, or resign, or love, or seek, or do, or bear, or give, or suffer according to the apparent language, and plain expression of the gospel? And thus, the words of him that spoke as never man spoke, have all their spirit and life taken from them; and we may be said to have the words of Christ, as though we had them not

[Reg-131] (28.) The whole nature of the Christian religion, stands upon these two great pillars, namely, the greatness of our fall, and the greatness of our redemption. In the full and true knowledge of these truths, lie all the reasons of a deep humility, penitence, and self-denial, and also all the motives and incitements, to a most hearty, sincere, and total conversion to God. And everyone is necessarily more or less of a true penitent, and more less truly converted to God, according as he is more or less deeply, and inwardly sensible of these truths

[Reg-132] And till these two great truths, have awakened, and opened our minds for the full reception of the divine light; all reformation and pretense to amendment, is but a dead and superficial thing, a mere garment of hypocrisy, to hide us from ourselves, and others

[Reg-133] Nothing can truly awaken a sinner, but a true sense, of the deep inward possession, and power that sin has in him. When he sees, that sin begins with his being, that it rises up in the essences of his nature, and lives in the first forms of his life, and that he lies thus chained, and barred up in the very jaws of death and hell, as unable to alter his own state, as to create another creature; when along with this knowledge he sees that the free grace of God, has provided him a remedy equal to his distress, that he has given him the holy blood and life of Jesus Christ, the true Son of God, to enter as deep into his soul, as sin has entered, to change the first forms, and essences of his life, and bring forth in them a new birth of a divine nature, which is to be an immortal image of the Holy Trinity, everlastingly safe, blessed, and enriched in the bosom of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; when a man once truly knows, and feels these two truths, he may be said, truly to know, and feel so much of the power of Christ brought to life in him. And there seems to be no more, that you need to do outwardly for him. The voice of his inward teacher is ever so speaking, so ever heard, and loved within him, that you can say nothing to him outwardly of any humility, penitence, or self-abasement, but what is less, than his own wounded heart suggests to him. Humility can only be feigned or false, before this conviction. He can now, no more take any degree of good to himself, than assume any share in the creation of angels; and all pride or self-esteem of any kind, seems to him to contain as great a lie in it, as if he was to say, that he helped to create himself

[Reg-134] You need not tell him that he must turn unto God with all his strength, with all his heart, all his soul, and all his spirit; for all that he can offer unto God, seems to him already less than the least of his mercies towards him. He has so seen the exceeding love of God, in the manner and degree of his redemption, that it would be the greatest of pain to him, to do anything, but upon a motive of divine love. As his soul has found God to be all love, so it has but one desire, and that is, to be itself all love of God. This is the conviction and conversion, that necessarily arises from a full, inward sensibility of these truths; the soul is thereby wholly consecrated to God, and can like, or love, or do nothing, but what it can, some way or other, turn into a service of love towards him. But where the weight and power of these truths is not livingly felt in the heart, there it is not to be wondered at, if religion has no root, that is able to bring forth its proper fruits

[Reg-135] And if the generality of Christians, are a number of dead, superficial consenters to the history of scripture-doctrines, as unwilling to have the spirit, as to part with the form of their religion; loath to hear of any kind of self-denial, fond of worldly ease, indulgence, and riches, unwilling to be called to the perfection of the gospel, professing and practicing religion, merely as the fashion and custom of the place they are in, require; if some rest in outward forms of religion, others in certain orthodoxy of opinions; if some expect to be saved by the goodness of the sect they are of, others by a certain change of their outward behavior; if some content themselves with a lukewarm spirit, and others depend upon their own works, these are delusions, that must happen to those, who do not know and feel, in some good degree, the true nature of their own fallen soul, and what a kind of regeneration can alone save them

[Reg-136] But all these errors, delusions, and false rests, are cut up by the root, as soon as a man knows the true reason and necessity of his wanting so great a savior

[Reg-137] For he that knows the ground and essences of his soul to be so many essences of sin, which form sin as they form his life, entirely incapable of producing any good, till a birth from God has arisen in them; such a one can neither place his redemption, where it is not, nor seek it cooly and negligently, where it is

[Reg-138] For knowing, that it is the hell within his own nature, that only wants to be destroyed, he is intent only upon bringing destruction upon that; and this secures him from false religion

[Reg-139] And knowing, that this inward hell cannot be destroyed, unless God becomes his redeemer, or regenerator in the ground of his soul; this makes him believe all, expect all, and hope all from his savior Jesus Christ alone

[Reg-140] And knowing that all this redemption, or salvation, is to be brought about in the inmost ground and depth of his heart, this makes him always apply to God, as the God of his heart; and therefore what he offers to God is his own heart; and this keeps him always spiritually alive, wholly employed and intent upon the true work of religion, the fitting and preparing his heart for all the operations of God's Holy Spirit upon it. And so he is a true inward Christian, who, as our blessed Lord speaks, has the kingdom of God within him, where the state and habit of his heart continually, thankfully, worships the Father in spirit and in truth

[Reg-141] (29.) Having sufficiently shown the nature and necessity of regeneration, that it consists solely in the restoration of the birth of the Son of God in the human soul, it must be plain from thence, that it is solely the work of God, he being alone able to effect it; and that man can have no other share in it, but that of complying with the terms, on which it is to be received of God

[Reg-142] It may be proper to enquire, when, and how this great work is done in the soul

[Reg-143] The mercy and infinite goodness of God, has chosen all mankind to salvation in Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world. Now this eternal decree of God, took place upon the fall of Adam; and as he was admitted into the terms of Christian salvation immediately after his transgression, so all mankind, as being in his loins, were taken into the same covenant of grace, and what was then done to Adam, was done to him, as the common parent of mankind

[Reg-144] The bruiser of the serpent given to Adam, as his savior, was not a verbal promise of something only, that should come to pass in future ages to redeem him, and which left his soul in the same state of inward darkness, disorder, and weakness in which it found him; but it was a redeeming power, which by the mercy of God, was treasured up in his fallen nature, which was to resist and overcome the wrath and death, and awakened nature of hell, that was in his soul; and from that time of God's accepting him to a salvation, through the seed of the woman, he was saved by the power of Christ within him, as really, as those that lived, and believed in Christ, after he had been incarnate. As nothing can save the last man, or become his righteousness, or redemption, but the divine nature of Jesus Christ, derived into his soul, so nothing else could be righteousness, redemption, or salvation to the first man

[Reg-145] All men therefore that ever were, or shall be descended from Adam, have Jesus Christ for their savior, as Adam had, they receive the promise made to him, and receive by that promise, that which he received by it, they have a seed of the woman, an incorruptible seed of life, springing up in the first essences of their life, which is to oppose and resist the seed of the serpent, or the diabolical nature that is in them also. And therefore no son of Adam is without a savior, or can be lost, or entirely overcome by the evil, that the fall has brought upon him, but by his own turning away from this savior within him, and giving himself up to the suggestions, and workings of the evil nature, that is in him

[Reg-146] (30.) This mystery of an inward power of a salvation hidden in all men, has had just such degrees of obscurity and manifestation, as the nature, and birth, and person of the messiah have had; that is, as the nature and person of Jesus Christ, as an atonement, savior and redeemer of mankind, were for several ages of the world only obscurely pointed at, and typified by the religion of the Jews; so this seed of a new birth, or saving power of Christ hidden in the souls of all men, was, through the same ages, under the same veil, and obscurity

[Reg-147] But when the eternal Son of God became incarnate, and manifested to the world the mysteries of his nature, person, and office, when it was publicly declared, that he was the life and light of the world, the only source of goodness in every creature, the "Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world"; that we must all be born again of him, be born again from above, be born of the Spirit, and that everyone was to profess the owning, seeking and desiring this divine birth, by a baptism into the Name, or nature, of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; then it became plainly manifest, what Christianity was from the beginning, and in what manner Jesus Christ was the savior of Adam, and what it was that he received, by receiving a bruiser of the serpent, into the first essences of his life

[Reg-148] Therefore when Jesus Christ came into the world, declaring the necessity of a new birth, to be owned, and sought, by a baptism into the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; this was not a new kind, or power of salvation, but only an open declaration of the same salvation, that had been till then, only typified, and veiled under certain figures and shadows, as he himself had been. And men were called not to a new faith in him, as then first become their inward life, and light, but to a more open and plain acknowledgement of him, who from the beginning, had been the one life and light, and only salvation of the first man, and all that were to descend from him

[Reg-149] (31.) Now the things required on our part, towards the raising and bringing forth this new birth in us, are repentance, and faith. These are to be the continual support of our regeneration, carrying it on to the end of our lives

[Reg-150] But now though repentance and faith are to bring forth, and carry on our regeneration; yet they are themselves the effect and fruit of it, viz., of that first seed or light of life, which God willed to be in Adam

[Reg-151] For had not God of his own free grace, chosen Adam and Eve to salvation in Jesus Christ, by doing inwardly in the deep, and darkened essences of their fallen souls, something like that, which he did to the "darkness which was upon the face of the deep," when he said, "Let there be light" in it; Adam and Eve, and all their posterity, had been inwardly, as to their souls, only of the nature of the devils, full of their dark and fiery dispositions, shut up in their elements, incapable of any thought or motion, but what tended to selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath

[Reg-152] Neither they, nor any of their posterity, could have brought forth any degree of humility, resignation, love, faith, hope, or desire of God; but had lived hardened and fixed, in the abovenamed elements of hell, full of their own perverse will, without all conscience, or instinct of goodness

[Reg-153] And therefore when God of free grace, provided that falling man should fall into a state of redemption, that is, into a possibility of being God's creature again; this was effected by God's treasuring up, or preserving in him a seed of the woman, a remaining spark of his first divine life; which first divine life, was then, Christ in him, his full birth of glory, as certainly, as Christ in us, is now our hope of glory

[Reg-154] St. Paul says, "God hath chosen us in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world." Now from this eternal, foreseeing goodness of God towards all mankind, it is, that a root or remains of the first divine life, called a seed of the woman, the ingrafted Word, a kingdom of God, a pearl of great price, a treasure hid in a field, was fore-ordained to be preserved, and treasured up, though hidden under that death, which Adam died in paradise. And thence it was, that the goodness of God, could direct distressed Adam to this comfort, viz., "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent"; not a foreign seed, to be sown into thee from without, but a remaining, preserved seed of thy first life of Christ, which through the divine love for thee, is hidden, and securely treasured up under thy own fallen earthly nature, as a pearl hidden in thy own field, a principle of holiness, a touch of love, the pledge of immortality, and fund of everlasting happiness. For this heavenly pearl, called by St. Peter, "the incorruptible seed of the Word," shall surely come forth again out of its state of hiddenness and death; shall quicken and revive into its first glory, through Christ, who is, and ever shall be, the resurrection, and life of all that, which was hid and lost in the death, that Adam died

[Reg-155] (32.) And here it is, that we see again how "God is love," universal love towards all mankind, having put all into a state of redemption. For if all men, as sons of Adam, are by the free grace of God made sons of the second Adam, and, as such, have a seed of life in them from him, in order to be raised up to a perfection of the new man in Christ Jesus; and if this seed of a new birth, or light of life, is the general, and preventing grace of all men, that enables them so to act, as to obtain God's assisting grace, in the renewal of their hearts and minds, then it is a glorious and undeniable truth, that there is no partiality in God, no election of one people to mercy in Christ Jesus, and dereliction of another to their own helpless misery, but that all men, have a general call, and a general capacity to obtain their salvation; and that as certainly as all fell and died in Adam, so all were restored in his restoration

[Reg-156] (33.) Now as the first power and ability of our having one good thought, or desire of turning to God in penitence and faith, is the effect of this first seed of a new birth in all men; so this seed of a new birth is quickened, strengthened, and brought forth to its full stature or highest degree of perfection, by acts, or rather habits of repentance and faith

[Reg-157] So that faith and repentance are the life of the new man, or the acts by which it grows, and is brought forth into its proper state of perfection. There is no difference between faith and works, in this inward new-born man. Its faith is its works, and its works are its faith. For faith is its turning to God, and its turning to God, is its aversion, or turning from all evil; so that faith and good works, are only two considerations of one and the same thing, or of one and the same state of mind, in the new-born man