jects, a change of mind for the better.* It is, indeed, universally admitted, by all who pay any respect to the doctrines of the bible, that this is the case. However they may differ as to the nature, the extent, and the importance of the change, there is no disputing the fact.

A little attention, too, paid to the scriptural expressions by which the change is designated, is sufficient to show, that it does not consist in a mere outward alteration of conduct or connexions; in exchanging one set of speculative opinions for another; in transient exercises of will upon novel objects; or in any evanescent emotions, whether of love, or of hate, of grief, or of joy. Let me not be misunderstood. A change of appearances there is a change of feelings there is: a change of acts and of exercises there is: but this is not all: there is also a change of nature. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.‡ It is not a new covering for the old man, or a new lining for the old vessel. It is a new man, a vessel of mercy for the master's use.

The names applied in the sacred oracles, to the change which gives origin to the Christian life, prove that it does not consist in appearances, or in mere exercises of intellectual or active power. It is called, in language neither hyperbolical, nor designed to mislead our sober judgment, by such names as indicate an entire renovation of the human mind as to its religious character.

It is a Regeneration: Tit. iii. 5. According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. It is a Quickening into life: Eph. ii. 5. Even when we were dead in sins, (God) hath quickened us together with Christ. It is a New birth: John iii. 3. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. It is a Renova

tion of the intellectual powers of man: Col. iii. 10. The new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. It is a Renovation of the active powers of man: Ezek. xxxvi. 26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. It is, in fact, a NEW CREATION: Eph. ii. 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

2. The change designated by these expressions is effected exclusively by the power of God.

The uniform testimony of scripture proves this to be the case: The experience of the saints in every age is a constant admission of the fact: and, indeed, from the nature of the subject, it is impossible it were otherwise.

I begin, brethren, with the testimony of him who made you, who cannot be deceived himself, and who practises deception upon no man. He is best able to describe the cause of that holiness in man, which prepares him for eternal felicity; and to unfold the character of the regeneration, without which we cannot see the kingdom of God. His word is the only foundation of your faith. Upon it I rest for proof of my position. Search the scriptures. Every where you find, not only that the preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord; but also that all other agency is, in this case, ineffectual without his grace and power: so then, neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. It is easy to multiply quotations; but the limits which I have set to myself in this discussion do not permit that I should cite more than three witnesses to the truth which I affirm. These, I hope, will by you be deemed sufficient. The testimonies of a prophet, of an apostle, and of Jesus Christ, the faithful and true Witness, are adequate to the purpose. The Prophet exhibits the Author of regeneration, and describes the nature of the saving change. The Apostle, describing the same work, not only ascribes it to the power of Jehovah, but excludes the pretensions of other causes. The Redeemer of men asserts the same doctrine, and refers the effect to the Almighty, whom we all adore. Hear and believe.

Ezek. xi. 19. "Thus saith the Lord God-I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you, and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them an heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes." John i. 13. "The sons of God that believe in his name

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-which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

John v. 17, 21, 24. "Jesus answered, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work-So the Son quickeneth whom he willVerily, verily, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me-is passed from death unto life."

Thus, we see very plainly, that the conversion of the sinner-his translation from death into life, is by the working of his mighty power, who raised our Saviour from the dead.

The experience of believers, in every age, admits and enforces this precious truth. Very few who make a profession of Christianity have acquired the hardihood necessary to declare, without hesitation or disguise, that they owe their conversion and sanctification to their own exertions, or to other created power. Indirectly, indeed, many discover their pride and their folly, by ascribing much to their own talents and sobriety; but I have never met a man who affirmed as a fact, that he was himself born again without supernatural interference in the case. By far the greater part of those who ever practise prayer to God, are in the habits of supplication for mercy, and confessing upon their knees, that the glory of converting sinners belongs to the Supreme Being. Assuredly, the man who feels the burden of guilt, and smarts under a sense of his wo, will look, not unto the creature, but the Creator, for renovation and peace. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

It is astonishing, (if any inconsistency in matters of religion, however extravagant, can astonish us) that men, capable of so much reason as to distinguish the right hand from the left, should, at the same time, admit as a fact, that their own conversion is by the power of God, and yet maintain as a doctrine, that the conversion of others must be by the power of man. Collect the testimonies of all Christians: inquire singly of each individual believer; nay, of every man and woman who professes to be born again: Ask the question plainly, Is it God, or some other one, that has given you the new heart? and all will acknowledge, that as a matter of fact, this change is of the operation of God. And yet, somehow or other, many will presently set to work, torturing their own ingenuity and the words of divine revelation, in order to find some means of avoiding the consequences of this admission, as if they were eager to explain away a concession made with reluctance. The pride of life, the spirit of party, the power of error, may effect this much; but there

is no danger, that any child of God will refuse in heaven to join in the celestial music of the ransomed, while accompanied with the triumphant harp, they sing, Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory of our regeneration. There, at least, we shall all see eye to eye; there, brethren, we shall lift up the voice together without discord. While the Spirit of God testifies, both in the word of truth, and in the hearts of the saints, that they are born of God, we are enabled to reason, from the nature of the case, the impossibility of effecting otherwise a saving change upon the mind of fallen man. Regeneration, if it ever take place, must be by supernatural power. No other cause is adequate to the

effect.

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Means of conversion and of growth in grace are appointed of the Lord; and they are wisely and mercifully adapted to the rational nature, and relative condition of fallen men; but outward ordinances have not, in themselves, any efficient power over the mind, nor can they derive it from the will of the man who doth administer them to others. They fail, generally, in the effect of renewing the heart; they have failed, in every place, under all circumstances of age, information, and interest; and they always must fail, unless companied by the divine efficiency, in producing any other improvement than what is competent to the old man. The understanding may have ideas about religion communicated and augmented: the conscience may be alarmed or soothed, and rendered more acute: the affections may be moved even to ecstacy about religious objects: and the will, powerfully exercised, may set the whole man in motion; but yet it is only the improvement of the carnal mind, still retaining its blindness and its enmity, That which is born of the flesh is flesh.*

No other creature can act upon the mind of man in any

other manner, than addressing the intellectual and active powers with ideas and motives of action. You may enlarge the measure of my knowledge, and you may interest my feelings in every degree of which they are capable, you may, by the powers of moral suasion, incline me both to will and to act according to nature: but still that very nature retains its depravity until I am sanctified by the Spirit of God.

Do you ask, Is not the will of man free? Has it not power over all other faculties? Has it not a self-determining power? Is it not able to sanctify itself? I answer, Man is a free agent. You have a will of your own. You exercise it freely. You are under no compulsion. And yet you are a sinner. I answer again, the will cannot act without motive. Make the experiment. It is impossible. Willing without a motive, is willing nothing. Deceive not yourself. Your will is corrupt. It is set upon evil continually. The sinful will cannot regenerate you, or make itself holy. You must be born again. It is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.

Do you reply? Although I have not the will, I have the power of sanctification. I have the natural ability, although I have not the moral ability of self-regeneration.

Again, I say, deceive not yourself by words without meaning. What! You, an unregenerate man, have natural power to regenerate your own heart? Make the experiment. If you succeed, you will be alone in heaven. No other man ever hath borne himself again. No other man hath quickened himself. No other new man hath created himself in Christ Jesus. Have I mistaken your meaning? Perhaps you intend to be understood merely as saying, that you have natural faculties, and are a subject of moral government. Be it so. If that is your meaning, why not say so? In that case, there would be no misunderstanding. Yes! you have natural faculties, and moral faculties also. You have understanding: You have conscience: You have affections: You have a will; but not the power of either, or all of them together, whether natural or moral, call them what you choose, is adequate to your own regeneration. Boast not of an ability which has no power in relation to the case in hand. With all your natural ability, even if you had the will, you could not make yourself a new man. The will is either corrupt, and it cannot produce holiness; or it is holy, and regeneration has already taken place. Upon either supposition, the truth remains uncontrovertible. "It is not by works of righteous