I. They that are justified in Christ are also regenerate in Him and receive power to do good.

We believe that they which are ingrafted into Christ, like as they are justified in Him, so they be regenerated in Him and made new creatures by participation of His divine nature; and consequently are made free, and do take force from Christ Himself, as members from the Head, and as branches from the vine, to eschew evil, and to follow that which is good. As Christ saith, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). But then be we made free when we are joined unto Christ, and regenerate[d] by His Spirit, as the apostle also saith, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

II. Christ liveth and worketh in men regenerate.

For with the apostle we confess that Christ liveth in us that are regenerate by His Spirit (Gal. 2:20), and liveth not idly but worketh, both that we may will and that we may perform (Phil. 2:13); for the great love that He beareth unto us, and by His Spirit doth help our infirmities (Rom. 8:16).

III. A regenerate man, in matters pertaining to the sensible and human life, doth bear himself better than one not regenerate, and therefore is more free.

So a regenerate man, besides that he always keepeth his will free from all constraint, (as also the unregenerate doth), he doth likewise bear himself better and more warily than the unregenerate, even in such actions as pertain to the sensitive and human life, wherein the unregenerate may be circumspect, since in those actions also a regenerate man is wrought by the Holy Spirit who lighteneth his mind, governeth his will and his thoughts, and draweth his actions out of a good fountain--that is, out of a good heart--and directeth them to their principal end, that is, to the glory of God. Whereunto the apostle also exhorteth us, saying, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). And therefore he is even in this kind of actions more free than the man unregenerate, namely, in that he is not violently drawn by his own lusts to the doing thereof, as the other unregenerate is, but being wrought by the Holy Ghost, thinketh, willeth, and attempteth all things more warily, wisely, and religiously, evermore heedfully respecting this, that he do all things to the glory of God, his own salvation and some profit of his neighbor. For he always observeth that rule of the apostle, "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's" (Rom. 14:7-8). And therefore he commendeth all his actions to the divine providence, and saith with James, or at least thinketh, If the Lord will, I will do this or that, or I will go to this place or that.

IV. Likewise in getting the moral virtues, a regenerate man is freer and of more force than the unregenerate.

And albeit we confess that a man unregenerate, helped by the special aid of God, can be possessed with the moral virtues, yet we hold that this special aid of God is much more forcible in the regenerate; and that through the presence of the Holy Ghost, by whom they are lightened, governed, and driven forward--as it was well proved of the ancient fathers against the vain boast of the Gentiles--that those virtues which they call moral were far other manner of gifts in the Christians than they were, or could be in the infidels, since in them they were only the images or shadows of virtues; but in true Christians they were the very virtues indeed.

V. Unto such things as are of God and pertain to His kingdom, only the regenerate man is by the Holy Ghost enlightened, inclined, and wrought to the understanding, choosing, and performing them.

But we believe that in the true understanding, choosing, and performing those things which pertain to the kingdom of God, only the regenerate are so guided by the Holy Ghost that they alone truly understand, will, and do the same; since the apostle saith, the natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he perceive them; but of the regenerate he addeth, the spiritual man discerneth all things (1 Cor. 2:14); and in another place, God worketh in us both to will and to perform (Phil. 2:13).

VI. A regenerate man is not only wrought, but also worketh by the Holy Spirit.

Being so taught by these words of the apostle and other testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, we confess that regenerate men are so wrought by the Holy Ghost, that they themselves do likewise work; and God so worketh in them to will and to perform, that they are the same which do will and do perform. For they are not blocks, nor beasts, but men endowed with reason whereby they understand, and with a will whereby they desire, and whereby they command over the other powers of the soul and body, that such things as are good should be put in execution.

VII. The power of free choice in the regenerate is yet weak, so that we have still need of the help of God; neither can we do all that we would.

But because our regeneration is as it were only begonne [begun], and not as yet perfect, so that whereas we were before wholly flesh, now we consist partly of the Spirit, and partly of the flesh, which do continually fight the one against the other, that what good things we would, them we cannot perform (Gal. 5:17); [but] in our spirit we serve the law of God, but in our flesh the law of sin (Rom. 7:25). Therefore we believe that which we also know by experience in the regenerate, that much bondage still remaineth--much darkness in the soul, and perverseness in the heart, and weakness in all the faculties of mind and body--that we have still need of new help from God and new grace, whereby both our minds may be more and more enlightened, and our wills made better and better, and our strength to do good more increased and perfected. And therefore while we remain in this flesh, our free choice is never truly and merely free; that is, never able enough of itself to avoid ill and do good, especially since the event of all things is not in our power, but in the hand of God; and that it must needs be that all those things come to pass, not which we think but whatsoever His hand and purpose hath decreed shall be done.

VIII. That God so governeth the minds and wills of the godly, that in the very conflict of temptations and of the flesh, He suffereth them not altogether to fall from Him.

Meanwhile we hold this, that they which be already ingrafted into Christ, their minds and wills being now endowed with the Holy Ghost, are so governed and upheld by God for Christ's sake, that although they may be weakened many ways and by many temptations, yet they are never suffered wholly and altogether to be beaten down and so to perish (Jer. 32:40; Luke 22:32; Rom. 8:35).

IX. Errors.

We condemn them, which either denying or extenuating this new birth, will have a man regenerate to be as unable to do good, and as much the servant of sin as he was before he was born again; against so many and so manifest testimonies of Holy Scripture, concerning the deliverance of the regenerate from the bondage of sin, and their choice to do good--(to say nothing of that high injury which is done to the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth and worketh in us). Again we disallow those likewise, which will have a regenerate man to be so delivered out of the bondage of sin that he can by no means sin anymore; which all the whole Scripture in general, and our daily experience gainsayeth. For although we be not suffered to sin unto death, yet it is very apparent that we commit many sins in their own nature worthy of death. Therefore on the other side, we also disallow their opinion which do so extenuate or make small the force of the Spirit in the regenerate, and so enlarge and set out the relics and remainder of the flesh; that they say the working of the Spirit is oftentimes quite extinguished by the forces of the old man, and teach that the same regenerate man may utterly fall out of the favor of God, and so eternally perish, which God gainsayeth by the prophet, "I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me" (Jer. 32:40). And the apostle affirmeth that "the foundation...standeth sure, etc." (2 Tim. 2:19); and, He which began this good work in you shall perfect it unto the end (Phil. 1:6).