ness that we have done, but according to his mercy he hath saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."

3. The regeneration of the sinner is a spiritual change, communicating new life.

It is not easy, brethren, to speak or to write, upon subjects of an abstract or intellectual character, without using expressions which do not often occur in the ordinary intercourse of man with man. We must not, however, in treating of divine things, always speak superficially under pretence of speaking plainly. What is commonly called plain language from the pulpit consists not in the simplicity of the words employed, so much as in the absence of thoughts. Men ordinarily call that perspicuous, which costs no trouble to understand; and the reason frequently is, that men are delivered from the trouble of thinking, because there is nothing communicated which requires thought. I am aware of this difficulty when I attempt to speak to you of a subject, which cannot possibly be understood without reflection. To the superficial hearer, every thing is abstruse which has any sense; and nothing is perfectly plain but that which has little or no meaning. I am also aware, and I confess, with gratitude to God for his goodness to the children of men, that many feel the power of regeneration who are not competent to define with accuracy the nature of the change which it effects. Many a strong man cannot name a muscle of the body, or tell the origin and insertion of a nerve or a sinew. The anatomy of the body is not therefore, however, an unbecoming subject of study; nor is the nature of regeneration unworthy of our attention. We have shown that it is the work of God; and we now show that it consists in a spiritual change.

Regeneration is often denominated, but not with precision, a moral change. It indeed improves the moral sense and the moral conduct; but as it is not effected by the power of moral suasion, to give it the exclusive designation of a moral change conveys an inadequate idea of its peculiar character. It affects the natural, or intellectual powers of man, as much as it does the moral or the active. It communicates no new faculty of either description, nor does its value consist in increasing the capacity of the one or the energy of the other. It does not convert the child into a man of science, nor the frigid into a man of sensibility: but it directs both reason and love to the things of God, and employs both intellect and inclination, as they ought to be employed, upon the things that belong to our peace. It is not a physical change, produced by the force of impulse, nor is it a mere moral change produced by the influence of motive on the will; but a spiritual change infusing a new principle of life, which the mind did not previously, and could not, otherwise, possess and this spiritual life, supernaturally communicated, lays the foundation for new exercises of perceiving, of feeling, and of acting, of a kind entirely distinct from any thing, of which the unregenerate mind was capable.

The sinner is spiritually dead until his conversion. By the fall of Adam, according to the penalty of the covenant of works, all the human race, proceeding from the Head of that covenant, are not only become subject to natural death, and exposed to death eternal, but are in fact, all dead in trespasses and in sins. Death has passed upon all men. The saints, on the other hand, are spiritually alive. They are quickened, and born again, according to the covenant of grace, in Jesus Christ their living Head, who fulfilled the condition, and restored what another, not he, had taken away.* The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. If, then, unregenerate men are spiritually dead, and regenerate men spiritually alive, we cannot deny that regeneration communicates spiritual life.

Other arguments also, lead to the same conclusion. The gift of grace to man is something or other, which he did not possess by natural constitution. It is not, however, a new animal faculty, or a new intellectual faculty, or a new moral faculty. There is no augmentation of the number of the organs of the body or of the powers of the intellectual and moral constitution of man. It is not any new exercise of those organs or faculties; for these exercises are man's own acts, and not the gift of the grace of God. It is a fact, however, that something is graciously communicated from heaven to the fallen sinner, which affects every organ and every faculty, which directs and controls every exercise, until the whole man, soul and body, be sanctified to the service of the Lord. And what is this new principle of perception, of will, and of action, which makes the new nature, and the new man? What is this gift of the grace of God? It is powerful in its action; and we call it life: it is spiritual in its origin, its influence, and its end; and we call it spiritual life.

The oracles of inspiration completely warrant the use of the term "spiritual life" in designating that which is communicated in our regeneration, by the Spirit of God. Jesus Christ calls it, John iv. 10. "the gift of God, living water," and 14. "a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And this spake he of the Spirit which they should receive," chap. vii. 39. It is, therefore, a spiritual life which he gives.

Christians are said to have been quickened even when they were dead in sins, Eph. ii. 5. They had, of course, life given to them; and that life is of the Spirit: for it is the Spirit that quickeneth, John vi. 63. Nay, this truth is unquestionable; for the inspired writers make it one of the first principles upon which they reason and exhort. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit, Gal. v. 25. If any should yet doubt the propriety or significancy of this mode of speech, let him be satisfied with the apostle Paul's declaration, Rom. viii. 6. "To be spiritually minded is life and peace." See also, 2 Cor. iii. 6. "The Spirit giveth life."

This form of expression is, moreover, more accurate than to call our regeneration merely a moral change. Every instance of reformation of manners in an individual or community, is a moral change. Indeed, every alteration of the moral character, whether for the worse or the better, may be so denominated. So general a phrase cannot therefore unequivocally convey the ideas which we ever ought to connect with the terms which designate the commencement of true religion in man. We cannot think correctly of the new birth if we exclude the ideas of life and spirit; and we do not speak with precision, if we define the blessing conveyed, without including in our definition, spiritual life.

Indeed, this expression is most conformable to the precision of metaphysical science. Life is a term very well understood; and as well understood by the vulgar as by the philosopher. Men of erudition may continue to dispute about that in which it consists; but it is obvious to all that life and death are distinct and opposite; and that in whatever the principle of vitality consists, there are different kinds of life in the universe. The gardener knows as well as his master, the difference between a living and a dead rose-bush: and without the aid of philosophy, the wandering savage will prefer his "living dog to a dead lion." There is, moreover, a propriety in distinguishing one kind of vital nature from another. Vegetable life is distinct from animal life; and the animal life is distinct from the rational: but the spiritual life is as distinct from any of these, as any one of them is from the other. Even philosophical accuracy, therefore, justifies the plain Christian in retaining those distinctive terms, which Christianity recommends to his use, in speaking of the origin of piety in the heart.

The religious life of man, as a new life, requires a name descriptive of its nature. It is derived from the Spirit of God; it is concerned about spiritual things; it introduces a man into a spiritual empire; it makes him spiritually-minded; it makes him walk in the Spirit; it endows him with spiritual discernment; it qualifies him for worshipping God in spirit and in truth; and it ultimately settles the believer among "the spirits of just men made perfect."* Why, then, not call it a spiritual life?

4. Regeneration is instantaneously communicated by the Holy Ghost.

Between life and death there is, in fact, no intermediate state. He who is not regenerated or born again, is unregenerated, and still in his sin. Where there is no spiritual life, there is no holy perception, no holy emotion, no holy act or exercise. This is the doctrine which we intend to inculcate by affirming the change effected in regeneration to be immediate.

There is no disposition to limit to a certain time, of more or less duration, the operations of the Almighty. The conversion of fallen man from sin to holiness, is his work. He is sovereign, and worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will. At once, if he wills such an effect, the sinner may be translated from spiritual death, independently of all created means, into the perfection of holiness and blessedness. For ages, if God wills such treatment, he that is born again may continue under the means of grace, before he attain to perfection in glory. There is great variety, too, in the apparent as well as in the real circumstances of the case in question. The effects of the new life are alone obvi

ous to man.

The principle itself is hidden. "Your life is hid with Christ in God." It eludes the scrutiny of created minds as much as the substance of the soul or the essence of matter. They all become known to us only by their properties. Matter, mind, life, in all its kinds and grades, are all brought to our knowledge by their attributes or operations; and beyond these, there is impenetrable mystery. In every pebble of the brook, in every flower of the field, in every one of the insects that flutter in the summer sun, there is something, examine them as you will, that must ultimately surpass the apprehension of the human intellect. The existence of spiritual life in man is known to his neighbour only by its effects; and perfect knowledge is exclusively from God. He alone searcheth the heart of man, and claims infallibility in judging. To us belong things which are revealed. The power of his work in the heart, and the testimony of his Spirit with the conscience, assure individuals of their own personal regeneration; and by divine revelation, God may, if he see cause, assure an individual of the conversion of another. Without this, there is no certainty, however promising appearances may have been. There is indeed a possibility of arriving at all the confidence respect. ing the integrity of a religious profession, which is necessary for the purposes of social life. So much is necessary for the good order of the house of God on earth, and so much is within the reach of church officers.

The apparent religion of good men, is subject to much variety; and that, of both the mistaken and the pretended professor, often assumes a very equivocal character. It may be long before an observer can form an estimate any way satisfactory, of the attainments of certain individuals who are asking the way to Zion; and although every man on earth is in fact either regenerated or unregenerated; there are some so affected by the means of grace, as to give us reason to hope their ultimate conversion, as well as to doubt, that they are already born again. Such appearances have been the occasion of introducing into practical discourses on personal religion, some expressions which convey the idea that regeneration is a work of time; and that it requires a preparatory process of mental exercises which are neither holy nor unholy, but of an intermediate nature.

The words preparatory to regeneration have been subject to much discussion among writers on Theology. Two remarks will suffice to prevent my meaning from being mis