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pursuit, when by this means the word of God is urging us on. Jonah was probably encouraged when he came down to the sea-side, to find a ship just ready to sail : when a man is in a wrong course, a piece of Scripture, unexpectedly met with, may keep him much in the same way. The angel of the Lord commissioned Gideon, to go and deliver Israel, as he was threshing wheat : a man engaged in the same work feels an inclination to go forth and preach, but has some little doubt as to his sufficiency and success. When lo! these words come to his mind, “ Arise, for the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour,” and his doubts are scattered like dust before the wind. A good old man used to exhort people to live by the ten commandments, and not by impulses ; and he used to tell how he got free from delusion himself. When he was young, he was poor and pious, and thought all suggestions, in Scripture style, came from heaven. Walking in the field, in want of firing, by the side of a neighbour's hedge, he wished for some of it to burn: instantly the word came-In all this Job sinned not, and in faith of this, he began to make free with his neighbour's wood. But, happily he discovered his error ; tried the application of the text by the command: Thou shalt not steal, or, as the relater remarks, the word of God might have led him out of the church into the jail.”

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This writer further remarks on the improper use of Scripture that the word of God has awful passages ; and there are persons of melancholy temperament, or labouring under dejection from temporary causes. Such persons, by a principle of association, are always prone to attract towards themselves every thing of a dreadful nature. What wonder, therefore, when a threatening of Scripture strikes the mind in such a case, if the man, viewing it as a divine intimation, is plunged into distraction or despair? We cannot love the word of God too much, nor consult it too often. But we are to “ search the Scriptures ;” and it is to “ dwell in us richly in all wisdom." We are not to turn it into a kind of lottery, or to use it as a spell or a charm; but to understand what we read. We are not to take it separately, but connectedly: and if we would be directed by it as to our duty, or satisfied by it as to our state, we are to peruse its contents with diligence, humility, and prayer; to observe the passages that refer to persons of our character or condition, that describe the temptations to which we are exposed, or the trials under which we labour."*

The Spirit of inspiration has neither made a formal distinction between the prominent doctrines of the gospel, nor digested them into a regular series. They are stated sometimes in one form, sometimes in another, according to the character or circumstances of the hearer. Occasionally, a doctrine is exhibited by itself, but generally each includes the rest, and the whole circle of Christian graces. The great change from death to life, which we are now to contemplate, is comprehended in saving faith; in genuine repentance; in holy obedience. The divine influence, which produces the spiritual creation, is necessary to incite and enable us to perform the duties involved in each of these requirements. This is always implied, and in some instances is explicitly stated. (Phil. 1. 29: Acts 5. 31: 11. 18: 2 Tim. 2. 25: Heb. 6. 6: Rom. 6. 17.)

But Christ thought it important, in his discourse with Nicodemus, to fix the attention distinctly on that renewing of the heart which he declared to be indispensably necessary as a means of admission into his kingdom. (John 3. 3.)

This change, in common language, is called regeneration, i. e. a new birth. The word is used but twice in the New Testament; (Mat. 19. 28: Tit. 3. 5.) and in the first passage

its meaning depends upon punctuation. Christ may mean either that those who had followed him in the regeneration, in the renewing of their minds, should be rewarded; or that his followers should be rewarded when he should regenerate, create anew, the heavens and the earth. But although the word regeneration is used but once as certainly declaring the necesssity of a new heart in order to salvation, yet other words of equivalent meaning are frequently employed. Christians are said to be born of God-born of the Spiritborn again by the word of God-begotten by the word of truth—created anew in Christ unto good works-quickened from a state of spiritual death, and to be saved by the renewing of the Holy Ghost. (1 John 1. 13: 1 John 2. 29: 3. 9: 1 Pet. 1. 23: James 1. 18: Eph. 2. 1-5.)

We shall consider now the nature, evidence, duty, and necessity of regeneration.

I. The nature of regeneration.

This part of our subject may be regarded as a key-stone in theology. Every view we take of it must have an important bearing on many other essential doctrines, and on religious duties in general. I shall confine my attention chiefly to matters of fact, for the obvious reason that to carry our researches further would be not only unprofitable, but unauthorized by the example of Christ. What, then, is the agency of the Spirit, and what are the means employed in accomplishing the new creation ? Are any new powers and faculties added to the soul, or are the already existing powers merely brought into the voluntary service of God? The latter only, if our own consciousness is competent to testify. Some of the disciples of John, who were true believers, said, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (Acts 19. 2.) There are many also who have been fully taught the existence and office of the Holy Spirit, and who have themselves experienced his renewing influence, without apprehending, at the time, the truth that they had passed from death to life. They were sensible that their views and feelings, in regard to religious subjects, had undergone an important change ; but, not believing themselves to be born again, they supposed the change to have been effected by the clearer knowledge of truth and duty resulting from an unusual investigation of the Scriptures, and the instructions of their pious friends. When convinced by the subsequent fruits of the Spirit that they had indeed been created anew in Christ Jesus, they were astonished to find that the marvellous passage from darkness to light could have been effected so silently as to escape their observa