130 woirx OF THE HOLT " the sons of God, and his lot is among the holy ones." From what hath been spoken it appears; Sect. k7.Fourthly: That the work of the Spirit of God in regenerating the souls of men, is diligently to he inquired into by the preachers of the gospel, and all to whom the word is dispensed. For the former sort, there is a peculiar reason for their attendance unto this duty. For they are-used and employed in the work it- self by the Spirit of God, and are by him made instru- mental for the effecting of this new birth and life. So the apostle Paul stiles himself the father of them who were converted to God, or regenerate through the word of his ministry: 1 Cor. iv. 15. " Though you have 4' ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have you not " many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you ' through the gospel." He was used in the ministry ofthe word for their regeneration, and therefore was their spiritual Father, and he only, though the work was afterwards carried on by others. And if men are fathers in the gospel to no more than are converted un- to God by their personal ministry, it will be no advan- tage unto any, one day, to have assumed that title, when it path had no foundation in that work as to its effectual success. So speaking of Onesimus, who was converted by him in prison, he calls him his son, whom he had begotten in his bonds, Phil. 10. and this he de- clared to have been prescribed unto him as the princi- pal end of his ministry, in the commission he had for preaching the gospel, Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Christ said unto him, " I send thee unto the Gentiles, to open "their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and 4' from the power of Satan unto God;" which is a description of the work under consideration. And this is the principal end of our ministry also. Now, cer- tainly, it is the duty of ministers to understand the work about which they are employed, as far as they are able, that they may not work in the dark, and fight un- certainly, as men beating the air. What the scripture bath revealed concerning it, as to its nature, and the manner of its operation; as to its causes, effects, fruits, evidences, they ought diligently to inquire into. To be spiritually skilled herein, is one of the principal fur- nishments of any for the work of the ministry, without which they will never he able to divide the word a- right, nor chew themselves workmen that need not be shamed. Yet is it scarcely imaginable, with what rage SPIRIT IN THE and perversity of spirit, with what scornful expressions this whole work is traduced, and exposed to contempt. Those who have laboured herein, are said " to pre- " scribe long and tedious trains of conversion, to set " down nice and subtile processes of regeneration, to " fill peoples heads with innumerable swarms of super- " stitious fears and scruples about the due degrees of " godly sorrow, and the certain symptoms of a thorough ".humiliation," p. 306, 307. Could any mistake be charged on particular persons in these things, or the prescribing. of rules about conversion to God and re- generation, that are not warranted by the word of tenth, it were not amiss to reflect upon them, and re- fute them. 13ut the intention of these expressions is evident, and the reproach in them is cast upon the work of God itself. And I must profess, that I believe the degeneracy from the truth and power of Christian religion; the ignorance of the principal doctrines -of the gospel, and that scorn which is cast in these and the like expressions on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, by such as not only profess themselves to be ministers, but of an higher degree than ordinary, will be sadly ominous unto the whole state of the reformed church amongst us, if not timely repressed and corrected. But what, at present, I affirm in this matter is: that it is a duty indispensibly incumbent on all ministers of the gospel, to acquaint themselves thoroughly with the na- ture of this work, that they may be able to comply with the will of God, and grace of the Spirit in the effecting and accomplishment of it, upon tae souls of them unto whom they dispense the word. Neither, without some competent knowledge hereof, can they discharge any one part of their duty and office in a right manner. If all that hear them are born dead in trespasses and sins, if they are appointed of God to be the instruments of their regeneration, it is a madness which must one day be accounted for, to neglect a sedulous inquiry into the nature of this work, and the means whereby it is wrought, and the ignorance hereof, or negligence herein, with the want of an experience of the power . of this work in their own souls, is one great cause of that lifeless and unprofitable ministry which is a- mong us. Sect. 28.Secondly; It is likewise the duty of all to whom the word is preached to inquire also into it: it is unto such- to whom the apostle speaks, 2 Cor.
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