SERMON II.

ON REGENERATION.

Of the Nature of Regeneration, and particularly of the Change it produces in Men's Apprehensions.

2 Cor. v. 17.-If any Man be in Christ, he is a new Creature; old Things are passed away, behold, all Things are become new.

THE knowledge of our true state in religion, is at once a

matter of so great importance, and so great difficulty, that in order to obtain it, it is necessary we should have line upon line, and precept upon precept. The plain discourse which you heard last Lord's day, was intended to lead you into it; and I question not, but I then said enough to convince many, that they were in an unregenerate condition. Nevertheless, as there are various approaches towards regeneration and conversion, which on the whole fall short of it; I think it very expedient now to give you, what I may properly enough call the counter-part of this view; which I shall, by divine assistance, attempt from the words I have now been reading.

The apostle who wrote them, was transported to such a zeal for Christ, and for the souls of men, that some thought him Beside himself; and no doubt many would represent him, as the greatest enthusiast upon the face of the earth. But as it was A very small thing to him to be judged of man's judgment†, he calmly vindicates himself, by declaring that there was a cause for all this warmth, as the honour of God and the Redeemer, and the eternal salvation of men, were so intimately concerned in the affair: The love of Christ, says he, constrains us‡, or as the words properly signifies, it bears us away with it, like a mighty torrent, which we are not able to resist; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead, under the sentence of God's righteous law, or they would not have needed such an atonement as the blood of his Son; and we farther judge, That he died for all, that they who now live, only in consequence of his dying love, should not henceforth live unto 5 Συνεχεία

Ver. 13.. + 1 Cor. iv. 3.

2 Cor. v. 14.

enquiries, and also to impress your minds, and my own, with truths in which we have all so intimate a concern.

The divine spirituality and omnipresence is apprehended by the good man in a peculiar manner. That there is some immaterial substance, and that matter is moved by his active power continually impressed upon it, according to stated laws, is indeed so plain a dictate of reason, that I question not, but the thought influences the minds of some, who have not so much acquaintance with language, as to be able properly to express it: But alas, it easily passes through, as if no way important. It is quite a different thing, to feel, as it were, the presence of an infinitely intelligent, and all-observing Deity, actually surrounding us in all times and places;-to say from the heart, Oh Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me, so that thou understandest my thoughts afar off: Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me* ;— to feel, as it were, the hand of God, which indeed we may feel, if we duly attend to it, in all the impressions made on our bodily senses, and on the powers of our mind ;-to feel ourselves even now supported by it, and to argue from the constant support of his hand, the never-failing notice of his eye. "He reads my present thoughts; he knows, even now, all the secrets of my soul, and has always known them; has always observed my conduct in every the minutest particular, and recorded, in permanent characters, the whole history of my life, and of my heart; of this depraved sinful life, of this vain, this treacherous, this rebellious heart."

With this conception of the divine observance are closely and intimately connected new apprehensions of the purity of God, and of his infinite majesty; views, which mutually assist, and illustrate each other. The irreverence with which the generality of men behave in the presence of God; and the easiness with which they admit the slightest temptation to sin against him, plainly shew what low notions they have of him : But God does, as it were, appear to the eye of a renewed mind, arrayed in his robes of light and majesty; so that he is ready to cry out, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth theet: I see the eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient God, who sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; who spreadeth out the heavens as a tent to dwell in, and looks down on the nations as the drop of a bucket, and counts them as the small dust of the + Job xlii. 5.

Psal. cxxxix. 1-7.

SERMON II.

ON REGENERATION.

Of the Nature of Regeneration, and particularly of the Change it produces in Men's Apprehensions.

2 Cor. v. 17.-If any Man be in Christ, he is a new Creature; old Things are passed away, behold, all Things are become new.

THE knowledge of our true state in religion, is at once a

matter of so great importance, and so great difficulty, that in order to obtain it, it is necessary we should have line upon line, and precept upon precept. The plain discourse which you heard last Lord's day, was intended to lead you into it; and I question not, but I then said enough to convince many, that they were in an unregenerate condition. Nevertheless, as there are various approaches towards regeneration and conversion, which on the whole fall short of it; I think it very expedient now to givė you, what I may properly enough call the counter-part of this view; which I shall, by divine assistance, attempt from the words I have now been reading.

The apostle who wrote them, was transported to such a zeal for Christ, and for the souls of men, that some thought him Beside himself; and no doubt many would represent him, as the greatest enthusiast upon the face of the earth. But as it was A very small thing to him to be judged of man's judgment†, he calmly vindicates himself, by declaring that there was a cause for all this warmth, as the honour of God and the Redeemer, and the eternal salvation of men, were so intimately concerned in the affair: The love of Christ, says he, constrains us‡, or as the words properly signifies, it bears us away with it, like a mighty torrent, which we are not able to resist; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead, under the sentence of God's righteous law, or they would not have needed such an atonement as the blood of his Son; and we farther judge, That he died for all, that they who now live, only in consequence of his dying love, should not henceforth live unto + 2 Cor. v. 14. 5 Συνεχεία

⚫ Ver. 13.. + 1 Cor. iv. 3.

themselves, but unto him that died for them*. We therefore live to this Jesus; we consecrate our lives and labours to this purpose, and in consequence of it, we henceforth know no man after the flesh, that is, we do not regard our temporal interests, nor consider how we may most effectually obtain the favour and friendship of those who may be useful to us in life; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, or have expected a temporal Messiah, who should make our nation triumphant over the Gentiles, and enrich it with the spoils of other nations, yet now henceforth we know him no more under such a character. And in this respect the same temper will prevail in the heart of every real christian; and therefore, i. e. in consequence of what was said before of the Redeemer's love, if any man be in Christ, if he be really one of his faithful servants united to him by a lively faith, and in consequence of that union interested in his salvation, he is a new creature; his views and sentiments, his affections and pursuits, are so entirely changed, that he seems, as it were, to be come into a new world, and to be transformed quite into another person from what he formerly was: Old things are passed away, and, behold the astonishing transformation! All things are become new. This is the thought, that I am now to illustrate; and you cannot but see, how proper a foundation it will be for our discourse on the second general I proposed, which is,

Secondly, Particularly to describe the nature of that great change, which passes on every soul, that is truly regenerate, in the scriptural, and most important sense of the word‡.

And here it may hardly seem necessary to tell you, that I do not mean to assert that the substance of the soul, and its natural faculties, are in a strict and proper sense changed: A man might as reasonably assert from such a scripture, that the former body was annihilated, and a new one produced; and common sense and decency will not allow us to imagine, that the apostle meant any thing of this nature, by the general terms he uses here. But the plain meaning is, that, when a man becomes a real christian, the whole temper and character of his

Some chuse to call the change here described, renovation, rather than regeneration. I have given my reasons before, (page 394.) why I use the words promiscuously: But I shall endeavour through the whole of these discourses, so to state the nature of this change, as to have no controversy with good men of any persuasion about any thing but the name of it; concerning which, I hope they will not contend with me, as I am sure I will not quarrel with them.

intelligent being; far superior to this well-wrought frame of flesh and blood, which God has given me for a little while to command, and which I must quickly drop in the dust: I am made capable of determining my own choice, of directing my own actions, of judging concerning the importance of ends, and the propriety of means in subserviency to them: And while I see a vast variety of creatures in different forms beneath me, I see no rank of creatures above me, nothing nobler than man, here on earth where I dwell. Yet I see man, in the midst of his glory, a feeble dependant mortal creature, who cannot possibly be his own end, nor can of himself alone, by any means command or insure his own happiness.Every thing tells me, that he is the creature of God; and that it is his greatest honour and felicity, to know, and practically to acknowledge himself to be so: Every thing tells me, that it is most reasonable, that God, who is the great original of man, should also be the end of his being: But have I made him the end of mine? My soul, thou art conscious to thyself, thou hast lived in many instances Without him in the world.He has given thee, even in the system of thine own nature, and of the visible beings that are round about thec, compared with his providential interposition in the management of them, the imitations of his holy and righteous will: He has expressed these dictates far more plainly in his written word: And when thou comest to examine them, how art thou condemned by them? When thou comest to think of the spirituality and purity of his being, and his law, how shameful does thy temper, and thy life, appear to have been? what an infinite disproportion is there between that, and its perfect rule!And whom, oh my soul, hast thou offended? whose law hast thou broken? whose grace hast thou despised? The law, the grace of that eternal God, of whom I have now been hearing; who is here present with me, who is even within me, and who sees, oh my heart, more distinctly than thou canst see, all thy guilt, and all its aggravations. Oh Lord, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashest. I have talked of sin, and of the sentence of God against it, as a thing of course: But oh my soul, it is thine own concern! The guilt, the stain of sin is still upon thee; the sentence of God is pronounced against thee; and it must be reversed, or thou art undone for ever. These irregular habits and dispositions that prevail in thee, must be corrected, or they will prove thy mortal discase, and everlasting torment.--Thou art a poor weak irreso