The Method of Grace

First, The Scripture speaks of it as a thing of great difficulty to be conceived by man: Joh. 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the spirit. The original of winds is a question of great difficulty in Philosophy: we hear the voice of the wind, feel its mighty force, and behold its strange effects; but neither know whence it comes, or whither it goes: ask a man, Do you hear the wind blow? yes: do you feel it blow? yes, very sensibly: do you see the effects of it rending and overturning the trees? yes, very plainly: but can you describe its nature, or declare its original? no, that is a mystery which I do not understand: why so; Just so it is with him that is born of the spirit: the holy spirit of God, whose nature and operations we understand but little of, comes from heaven, quickens, and influences our souls, beats down and mortifies our lusts by his almighty power: these effects of the spirit in us we experimentally feel, and sensibly discern; but how the spirit of God first entered into, and quickened our souls, and produced this new creature in them, we understand little more of it, than how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with Child, Eccles. 11. 5. Therefore is the life of the new creature called a hidden life, Col. 3. 3. the nature of that life is not only hidden totally from all carnal men, but in a very great measure it is an hidden and unknown life unto spiritual men, though themselves be the subjects of it.

First, The Scripture speaks of it as a thing of great difficulty to be conceived by man: Joh. 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the spirit. The original of winds is a question of great difficulty in Philosophy: we hear the voice of the wind, feel its mighty force, and behold its strange effects; but neither know whence it comes, or whither it goes: ask a man, Do you hear the wind blow? yes: do you feel it blow? yes, very sensibly: do you see the effects of it rending and overturning the trees? yes, very plainly: but can you describe its nature, or declare its original? no, that is a mystery which I do not understand: why fo; Just so it is with him that is born of the spirit: the holy spirit of God, whose nature and operations we understand but little of, comes from heaven, quickens, and influences our souls, beats down and mortifies our lusts by his almighty power: these effects of the spirit in us we experimentally feel, and sensibly discern; but how the spirit of God first entred into, and quickned our souls, and produced this new creature in them, we understand little more of it, than how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with Child,