A man of new principles

(Thomas Brooks, "Paradise Opened" 1675)

"If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature;
 old things are passed away, behold all things
 are become new!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

A new creature has . . .
  a new judgment,
  a new will,
  new affections,
  new thoughts,
  new company,
  new choices,
  new laws,
  new ways,
  new works, etc.
A new creature is a changed creature throughout.

The new creature includes a new light, a new sight,
a new understanding. The new creature sees sin to
be the greatest evil, and Christ and holiness to be the
chief good. When a man is a new creature, he has a
new judgment and opinion—he looks upon God as his
only happiness, and Christ as his all in all, and upon
the ways of God as ways of pleasantness. The new
man has new cares, new requests, new desires, "Oh
that my heart may be adorned with grace!"

The new man is a man of new principles.
If you make a serious inspection into his soul,
you shall find a principle . . .
  of faith,
  of repentance,
  of holiness,
  of love,
  of contentment,
  of patience, etc.

The new man experiences a new combat and conflict
in his soul. "The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the
spirit lusts against the flesh." He combats with all sorts
of known sins—whether they are great or small, inward
or outward, whether they are the sins of the heart or the
sins of the life. This conflict in the new man is a daily
conflict, a constant conflict. The new creature can never,
the new creature will never, be at peace with sin; sin and
the new creature will fight it out to the death. The new
creature will never be brought into a league of friendship
with sin.

The new man is a man of a new life. A new life
always attends a new heart. You see it in Paul,
Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus, the jailor, and all
the others that are upon Scripture record.

The new man has new society, new company.
Holy society is the only society for people with
holy hearts, and in that society can no man
delight, until God renews his heart by grace.

The new man walks by a new rule, which is the
written Word of God. This rule he sets up for all
matters of faith, and for all matters of practice.

Well, friends, whatever you do forget, be sure that
forever you remember this—that none can or shall
be glorious creatures, but such as by grace are
made new creatures.