he, it is not of blood; think not to say you have Abraham to your father, you must be born of God if you go to the kingdom of heaven.

Secondly, “Nor of the will of the flesh.”  What must we understand by that?

It is taken for those vehement inclinations that are in man to all manner of looseness, fulfilling the desires of the flesh.  That must not be understood here; men are made the children of God by fulfilling their lustful desires; it must be understood here in the best sense.  There is not only in carnal men a will to be vile, but there is in them a will to be saved also—a will to go to heaven also.  But this it will not do, it will not privilege a man in the things of the kingdom of God.  Natural desires after the things of another world, they are not an argument to prove a man shall go to heaven whenever he dies.  I am not a free willer, I do abhor it; yet there is not the wickedest man but he desires some time or other to be saved.  He will read some time or other, or, it may be, pray; but this will not do—“It is not in him that wills, nor in him that runs, but in God that shews mercy;” there is willing and running, and yet to no purpose; Rom. ix. 16, “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, have not obtained it.”  Here I do not understand as if the apostle had denied a virtuous course of life to be the way to heaven, but that a man without grace, though he have natural gifts, yet he shall not obtain privilege to go to heaven, and be the son of God.  Though a man without grace may have a will to be saved, yet he cannot have that will God’s way.  Nature, it cannot know anything but the things of nature; the things of God knows no man but by the Spirit of God; unless the Spirit of God be in you, it will leave you on this side the gates of heaven—“Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”  It may be some may have a will, a desire that Ishmael may be saved; know this, it will not save thy child.  If it were our will, I would have you all go to heaven.  How many are there in the world that pray for their children, and cry for them, and ready to die; and this will not do?  God’s will is the rule of all; it is only through Jesus Christ, “which were born, not of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”  Now I come to the doctrine.

Men that believe in Jesus Christ to the effectual receiving of Jesus Christ, they are born to it.  He does not say they shall be born to it, but they are born to it; born of God, unto God, and the things of God, before they receive God to eternal salvation.  “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Now unless he be born of God, he cannot see it.  Suppose the kingdom of God be what it will, he cannot see it before he be begotten of God; suppose it be the Gospel, he cannot see it before he be brought into a state of regeneration; believing is the consequence of the new birth, “not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

First, I will give you a clear description of it under one similitude or two.  A child, before it be born into the world, is in the dark dungeon of its mother’s womb; so a child of God, before he be born again, is in the dark dungeon of sin, sees nothing of the kingdom of God, therefore it is called a new birth; the same soul has love one way in its carnal condition, another way when it is born again.

Secondly, As it is compared to a birth, resembling a child in his mother’s womb, so it is compared to a man being raised out of the grave; and to be born again is to be raised out of the grave of sin—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life.”  To be raised from the grave of sin is to be begotten and born; Rev. i. 5.  There is a famous instance of Christ—“He is the first-begotten from the dead, he is the first-born from the dead;” unto which our regeneration alludeth,—that is, if you be born again by seeking those things that are above, then there is a similitude betwixt Christ’s resurrection and the new birth; which were born, which were restored out of this dark world, and translated out of the kingdom of this dark world into the kingdom of his dear Son, and made us live a new life; this is to be born again; and he that is delivered from the mother’s womb, it is the help of the mother; so he that is born of God, it is by the Spirit of God.  I must give you a few consequences of new birth.

First of all, a child, you know, is incident to cry as soon as it comes into the world; for if there be no noise, they say it is dead.  You that are born of God, and Christians, if you be not criers, there is no spiritual life in you; if you be born of God, you are crying ones; as soon as he has raised you out of the dark dungeon of sin, you cannot but cry to God, What must I do to be saved?  As soon as ever God had touched the jailor, he cries out, “Men and brethren, what must I do to be saved?”  Oh! how many prayerless professors are there in London that never pray?  Coffee-houses will not let you pray, trades will not let you pray, looking-glasses will not let you pray; but if you were born of God, you would.

Secondly, It is not only natural for a child to cry, but it must crave the breast, it cannot live without the breast; therefore Peter makes it the true trial of a new-born babe; the new-born babe desires the sincere milk of the Word, that he may grow thereby.  If you be born of God, make it manifest by desiring the breast of God.  Do you long for the milk of promises?  A man lives one way when he is in the world, another way when he is brought unto Jesus Christ; Isa. lxvi., “They shall suck, and be satisfied.”  If you be born again, there is no satisfaction till you get the milk of God’s word into your souls; Isa. lxvi. 11, “To suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of consolation.”  O what is a promise to a carnal man; a whorehouse, it may be, is more sweet to him; but if you be born again, you cannot live without the milk of God’s word.  What is a woman’s breast to a horse?  But what is it to a child?  There is its comfort night and day, there is its succour night and day.  O how loath is he it should be taken from him.  Minding heavenly things, says a carnal man, is but vanity; but to a child of God, there is his comfort.

Thirdly, A child that is newly born, if it have not other comforts to keep it warm than it had in its mother’s womb, it dies.  It must have something got for its succour; so Christ had swaddling clothes prepared for him; so those that are born again, they must have some promise of Christ to keep them alive.  Those that are in a carnal state, they warm themselves with other things; but those that are born again, they cannot live without some promise of Christ to keep them alive, as he did to the poor infant in Ezekiel xvii., “I covered thee with embroidered gold.”  And when women are with child, what fine things will they prepare for their child!  O but what fine things has Christ prepared to wrap all in that are born again!  O what wrappings of gold has Christ prepared for all that are born again!  Women will dress their children, that every one may see them how fine they are; so he in Ezekiel xvi. 11—“I decked thee also with ornaments, and I also put bracelets upon thine hands, and a chain on thy neck.  And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and ear-rings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head;” and, says he in the 13th verse, “thou didst prosper to a kingdom.”  This is to set out nothing in the world but the righteousness of Christ, and the graces of the Spirit, without which a new-born babe cannot live, unless he have the golden righteousness of Christ.

Fourthly, A child when it is in its mother’s lap, the mother takes great delight to have that which will he for its comfort; so it is with God’s children, they shall he kept on his knee; Isaiah lxvi. 11, “They shall stick and be