move and act; so when the sinner is born again, or from above, he will repent, believe, love, obey, and worship.

'Every man,' says Dr Adam Clarke, must have two births, one from heaven, the other from earth; one of his body, the other of his soul; without the first, he cannot see nor enjoy this world; without the last, he cannot see nor enjoy the kingdom of God. As there is an absolute necessity, that a child should be born into the world, that he may see its light, contemplate its glories, and enjoy its good; so there is an absolute necessity, that the soul should be brought out of its state of darkness and sin, through the light and power of the grace of Christ, that it may be able to discern the glories and excellencies of the kingdom of Christ here, and be prepared for the enjoyment of the kingdom of glory hereafter.'

II. 1. But, what is it to be born again? It is not changing one kind of sin for another; nor one sect or creed for another. Neither is it outward reformation merely. It is not neglecting one duty to do another duty. It is not always running even to religious meetings, if thereby we disregard any paramount social demands at home. Upon the Sabbath unexceptionably, and at all other suitable times, a small matter should never be allowed to keep our feet from the courts of the Lord. We should not neglect the assembling of ourselves together. But the Holy Sabbath must not be unsanctified by rendering every day alike. Extremes produce a dangerous revulsion. There is a religious, as truly as any other kind of dissipation. It is of little use, to be always going to learn, and leaving no time to practise our duties. It is much easier to pray, at least to pray with the lips, or to hear another pray for us, than to labour. And a well inclined heart can, and will be devotional, while engaged in any lawful and expedient vocation. But, to be born again, the soul must be new-modelled and new-moulded. To be born again, is to begin anew, as those that have hitherto lived either much amiss, or to little purpose. 'We must not think to patch up the old building, but begin from the foundation.' We must have a new nature, new principles, new affections, new aims. Our old evil pro

pensities must be slain, and new holy ones must be born, and grow, and strengthen with our strength. And this new birth has its rise from heaven, and its tendency to heaven.' But Saint Paul, Saint Peter, and Saint John, and the Scriptures at large, are the best comment upon the concise injunction of our Saviour. The new birth implies, repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. We must be partakers of the divine nature. We must love. For love is of God, and every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. We must be made alive. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The spirit itself must bear witness with our spirit that we are born of God. For he that believeth hath the witness in himself. We must lead new lives. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? We must experience a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness. Ye know that every one which doeth righteousness is born of him. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; and he cannot sin, that is, wilfully and continually, because he is born of God. He that is begotten of God keepeth himself. He abhors that which is evil, and cleaves to that which is good. His daily cry is, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. He gives all diligence, to add to his faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. Thus is this doctrine asserted, and abundantly fortified by Scripture. This quickening of the soul into a new life is, most usually, a slow and gradual work. First appears the germe, then the bud, then the blossom, then the small and immature fruits, and last the ripe, and rich, and cheering clusters.

2. But to be a little more specific, What is it to be born again? Is it to increase in human wisdom? No. The understanding may be filled with light, even to overpowering illumination; and, at the same time, the heart be crowded with that darkness, which may be felt. It must be a new birth of the heart, rather than of the head. In fine, it is a birth, not only from Pagan pantheism and polytheism into Christian Theism; but from bigotry and fanaticism into the middle path of a catholic, liberal, enlightened zeal. It is a birth, of the anathematizing polemic into the peaceable minister. Of the lip-worshipper into the heart-worshipper. Of the sacrilegious into the sanctified. Of the Sabbath-breaker into the Sabbathkeeper. Of the time-serving into the self-sacrificing statesman. Of selfism into patriotism. Of the sophisticating pettifogger into the fair-minded counsellor. Of the deceiving charlatan into the medicating friend. Of the weigher with light weights into the holder of the just balance. It is a birth, of the neglecter into the protector of parents. Of the swearing shipmaster into the praying pilot. Of the winebibber into the waterbibber. Of the epicure, the spendthrift, the libertine, and the debauchee, into men of sense and soberness. Of the irresolute, vacillating, inefficient lounger, into the firm, fixed, and active doer of good. Of the eye-servant into the single-hearted. Of the busy-body in other men's matters, into one who is busy only in his own. It is a birth, of the liar into the truth-teller; of the thief into the honest man; of the jockeying into the true; of the covetous into the generous; of the cruel into the humane; of the censorious into the charitable; of the haughty into the courteous ; and of the lukewarm into the ardent. In short, it is a birth, of the defying boaster into the stricken penitent; of the lion into the lamb; of the sinner into the saint. Such, and so great, and so holy, is the change, we conceive, which is wrought upon the heart, and which issues forth into the whole length and breadth of a vigilant life, upon the new birth of the soul. But, in this world, we can never be entirely freed from sin. The body must be laid in the grave, and there be dissolved, before it can be changed into the similitude of the angels.

III. Do you say, my Brethren, that the Decrees of God distress you? That the doctrines of predestination, election absolute, eternal reprobation, fixed purpose, physical ability and moral inability, peccable and impeccable possibility, and especial influences, perplex you? My friends, God is no respecter of persons. Election is grounded upon what, in human language, is called foreknowledge. Whom he did foreknow, them he did predestinate. But with God, time is one eternal Now. He doth not measure time, as we do, by a succession of ideas in the mind. With him, all is intuitive. All is present; no past, no future. He looks over the human life, as we look over a map, or a book; and sees the end from the beginning. He can foresee, and foreknow, what we each one of us shall be, even before we are born. Thus salvation is nothing arbitrary, but contingent; being based upon character. And character is based upon educational bias, strength or weakness of mind, and strength or weakness of temptation. Away then, with all metaphysics and mysticism from Scripture. Away with all doctrines predicated upon a few select passages, which, thus insulated, nullify the pervading and free invitations of the Gospel. They lead to presumption, or to despair. They mock free agency. They destroy accountability.

er.

Do you mention the patriarch Jacob, in the Old Testament? Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated ; and this before the children were born, or had done either good or evil? That doubtless was a temporal, national election, for a particular end; the elder shall serve the youngOr that the Almighty, in the perfection of his knowledge, foresaw something in the heart of Jacob, preferable to what was in the heart of Esau. But you say, Does not God make the human heart? True; but we know, because we feel, that we have the power of volition within ourselves, to obey, or disobey. Do you mention Saint Paul, in the New Testament? That was no ordinary, but a very extraordinary conversion. Those were the days of miracles. Otherwise, if you quote the conversion of Saint Paul, it is an encouragement to sin, that the grace of God may the more abound, which God forbid. Perhaps the very fact of Saint Paul's possessing and ex

erting so great zeal, although it was not according to correct knowledge, was the reason of his special conversion. As he verily thought he was doing God service, it pleased the merciful God to turn his fervour into the right current; to transform him from a zealous Jewish persecutor, into a zealous christian minister. He was to be a chosen vessel, to bear God's name before the Gentiles. But did not Saint Paul condemn himself, after his conversion? He did; and why? Because he then knew, that he had before self-blinded himself to the true light; and what Christian but laments, and condemns himself for his former sins?

It is true, my Brethren, that, in this world, and in temporal affairs, even now, for wise purposes, perhaps to try our faith, or our patience, or our humanity, one is blessed above another. But in things spiritual, and eternal, we believe that God does no more for one than for another, their characters being equal. He works in all, both to will, and to do; yet leaves them to will, and to do, as they choose. The Spirit is always drawing all men with the cords of love. If God were to remove the obstinacy from A, B, and C, and not from D, E, and F, although none might merit mercy, would it not be unequal? Would it not militate against one of his noblest attributes, that of moral impartiality? Were it not even more just, even if less satisfactory I speak with reverence, and in the fallibility of human judgment—to condemn the whole? God forbid, that we should ever cherish such views of his sovereignty; of his uncontrolled, and uncontrollable benevolence. Do you read, that God, out of his mere good pleasure, hath elected some, and reprobated others? And that the potter hath power over the clay, to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? My friends, we believe the same. We believe in the efficient, discriminating influences of the Spirit of God. But we believe, that these efficient, discriminating influences are directed to those alone, who use the appointed means, so far as they are known, for working out their own salvation, with fear and trembling. And we believe, that these eclectic influences from on high are denied to those alone, who neglect to use the known, and appointed means; and