nestly desire, we confidently hope, and we humbly pray to God, that the number of those who understand the scriptures may be speedily and greatly increased. It is from that book, we learn the necessity of regeneration to a religious life. Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again. This necessity is asserted by the Saviour himself: and he makes the assertion in connexion with the doctrines of religious worship. The connexion, of course, explains the necessity intended by him. The second birth is not necessary to the existence of man; nor is it a fact that all men shall certainly be renewed in the spirit of their minds. Regeneration is not essential to the being, but to the well-being of man. You may be born, and live, and die, and suffer eternal punishment in the world to come, without being born again; and unless you are born again, you must necessarily perish for ever. Regeneration is necessary to a religious life. This is the necessity intended, by the Redeemer, in my text. It is impossible in the nature of things, that an unregenerate sinner, should be a truly religious man. It implies a contradiction. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he CANNOT SEE the kingdom of God.* The unregenerate man cannot be a Christian. Regeneration is necessary to faith in Christ; to repentance unto life; to the acceptable worship of God; to everlasting happiness in heaven. If this is the case, it is no wonder we should insist upon your conversion. It is no wonder we should urge the importance of it. It is no wonder we should labour to prevent any mistakes respecting it. "Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again." 1. Regeneration is necessary to faith. The necessity of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is every where admitted by Christians. He that believeth shall be * John iii. 3. He cannot see the kingdom of God-8 δυναται ιδειν την Βασιλειαν. Το see is to enjoy; and, in the fifth verse, the phrase is, he cannot enter into the kingdom-He cannot become a member of the kingdom of grace on earth, or of the kingdom of glory in heaven, except through regeneration. There is, however, a peculiar felicity in the words cannot see the kingdom, employed by our Redeemer in the present case. Nicodemus had confessed his belief in Christ, as a teacher sent from God; but did not profess faith in him as the Messiah. Jesus answered, Unless a man be born again, he cannot see my kingdom. He has no spiritual discernment-He cannot discern my character, or that of my kingdom; he cannot enter into the spirit or the designs of my mission; he cannot perceive or enjoy my grace and my salvation. saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. Faith is the act of a renewed heart, and the necessity of regeneration is consequently manifest. "I give you to understand," said the apostle to the Corinthians, "that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost."* I do not affirm, because I do not believe, that any time elapses, in the case of those who have come to years of understanding, between their regeneration and the exercise of faith upon the Son of God. Faith is the first act of the renewed heart, the first exercise of spiritual life. The power and the act are in point of time inseparable: yet power precedes, in the order of nature and of grace, its own exercise. Faith is the gift of God; but it is an act of man. I believe, you believe, are words which indicate that faith is acted both by you and by me. It is not a passive perception of the truth of any proposition; but a persuasion of the truth for actual exertion. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness: with the renewed heart, with the quickened spirit, man believeth. Faith is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. It is an act of obedience to God. By it, I see, I hear, I obey my Redeemer. By faith I come to him on his own invitation; I embrace him as the gift of God for my salvation; and trust in him, for my protection in life and in death; and for my portion through eternity. 2. Regeneration is necessary to repentance. I use repentance, in this case, according to the accurate definition of our standards.f Repentance unto life, is what * 1 Cor. xii. 3. + Shorter Catechism. Quest. 87. There is a conviction of sin, there is a sorrow even umto despair, which exists independently of either faith or regeneration. This fact induces many to suppose, that repentance unto life does not depend on either. The sacred scriptures make a distinction between mere regret and true repentance. It is very clearly marked in the original language of the New Testament, although the English translation does not follow the happy example. Μετανοια designates that repentance which God requires, and which the Spirit works in us. It is a change of mind for the better, and in relation to religion, necessarily implies renovation of nature. Μεταμελεομαι, and not Μετανοεω, is the scriptural term to designate mere sorrow or concern for sin on account of its evil consequences. Such concern may exist without regeneration. Repent is the English translation of both these verbs. It has, of course, two distinct significations. Simple concern or sorrow for transgression; and a change of mind from sin to holiness in Jesus Christ our strength. Sensible men should distinguish the meaning. Our Catechism and Confession of Faith has done so. The duty and the grace of repentance is one thing,-μετανοια; mere regret and sorrow is another thing, μεταμέλεια. God requires and accepts; it is that which the Redeemer himself dispenses to his people; which the Holy Spirit works in us as a principle of holiness; and which leads us to the practice of new obedience. The impenitent, as well as the unbelieving, are rejected from the number of the saints; and the necessity of the second birth to the Christian, is obvious from its being essential to evangelical repentance. Repentance towards God is the exercise of a holy principle, and is a great part of our sanctification. As it is distinguished from mere distress on account of the dangerous consequences of moral evil, by its nature and its fruits, it is also distinct in its very origin. It is a godly sorrow for having offended God, accompanied with hatred of sin and love of holiness. It brings forth correspondent fruits, in good works and a humble disposition. It is the exercise of the new nature and the new life communicated by the Spirit of the Lord. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."* 3. Regeneration is necessary to the acceptable worship of God. Forms of religious worship are now so common, that all men seem to confess the propriety of expressing reverence for the Deity under some outward show. Were we to judge from the commonly received opinion among that class of people who are esteemed well informed, there is little importance attached to the kind of religion, or the modes of worship. There are, however, here and there, to be seen, a few pious men, who are not yet become bigots to the spurious charity, which substitutes looseness for liberality in principle and in practice. There are some who hold the forms of godliness, according to divine appointment; and who retain, with the form, "the life and power." The worship of God, being an expression of such affections as he invites, under forms which he prescribes, requires, for the due performance of it, holy affections and a knowledge of his revealed will. The exercises of Christian worship must be observed by all the saints. The word, the sabbath, the sacraments, prayer, and praise, must receive attention from him, who would walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. "Bodily service profiteth not: for the body without the spirit is dead." Mere sounds and gestures may serve for the production of theatrical effect, or for the amusement of the ignorant and the gay: but no rational being, in the exercise of common sense, will attach the idea of holiness or virtue, to services performed without any intention to improve the creature, or to honour the Creator. Divine revelation, your only rule, Christians, in faith and in worship, requires the exercise of grace, in all that we undertake to perform. Without faith it is impossible to please God. "Let us, therefore, have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." If works without faith cannot please Jehovah; if grace be necessary to serve him acceptably; then, certainly, the unregenerate sinner cannot calculate upon offering any sacrifice which shall be accepted by the Omniscient Being who detects hypocrisy; who cannot be deceived by the pretensions of those whose hearts are at enmity with the character which they professedly adore. * 2 Cor. vii. 10. Rom. viii. 12, 14. 4. Regeneration is necessary to our future happiness. "Except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. For without holiness, no man shall see God." Were it possible to admit into the celestial paradise an unregenerate man, however glorious the place, it would yield no enjoyment to him. Opposite to good, in the temper of his mind; enmity against God, in his disposition; opposed to the Redeemer, in his whole soul; what enjoyment could the place or the company yield to him? The unsanctified sinner, would, in heaven, be out of his element. A tenant of the deep, on the summit of a rock, or a bird of the air, in the depth of the sea, would not be so far removed, from the condition in which nature would find enjoyment, as an unregenerate man within the gates of the new Jerusalem. A sinner may find pleasure in the visible church, although he has none in real religion. Society not far removed from himself, and the distinguishing traits to him imperceptible, may give play to his social affections, and induce him to bear patiently with the doctrine and discipline which otherwise would prove an annoyance. The habits of early life, the customs of moral order, in the circle which includes his person and his family; interest, pride, ambition, and perhaps even the basest of passions, may help him to deceive himself; or tempt him to deceive others, by a profession of love and submission to the Lord. Such considerations render the ordinances of Christianity tolerable, in the church on earth, to many who would endure torture, were they, with all their malignity of soul, set down in heaven before the throne of the Lamb. Such a state of things is, however, impossible. Justice will not permit the admission of the guilty to the fellowship of the righteous. The divine holiness prevents the introduction of a polluted sinner into that place where no unclean thing can enter. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Sooner shall Satan succeed in scaling the high battlements of the celestial city, and in casting down from his throne of glory the almighty God, than Jehovah receive into the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world for the saints, any one who remains unrenewed and under the dominion of the law of sin and death. There is no communion between light aud darkness; between Christ and Belial. CONCLUSION. Hear, then, ye unrenewed sinners, the message which I am bound to deliver from my God and my Redeemer. "Ye must be born again," or perish for ever. The Saviour himself hath spoken it; and even he cannot save without regeneration. It would be a contradiction. Such salvation is death; death in sin; death eternal; no salvation: But unto them that do not obey the truth, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil.* Listen to the message which I bring. It is a message of mercy. Come, now let us reason together. Of what avail is your negligence? Can that save you? Making light of important truth cannot alter its nature. You cannot possibly consider disrespect for divine revelation as conducive to your future happiness. Unbelief may deceive, but it cannot sanctify. Of what avail is your honesty in social life; your morality? Will it atone for your impiety? Is it more valuable than that which you reject, the merits of Jesus Christ? Be not deceived. God is not mocked with impunity. If you allow yourselves one moment's consideration, you cannot imagine that you shall be happy in heaven without holiness; or that you can be Christians without believing in the Lord with a new heart. You are sinners. You come short of your duty in every thing. You are guilty at the bar of * Rom. ii. 8, 9. |