individual. We must look for the secret of this spiritual change out of the creature, away from men and angels, and seek it in God the Eternal Spirit. God looks within himself for the power, and he finds it there, even in his own Omnipotent Spirit. This is the great and spiritual truth we are now to consider:-Regeneration, the sole and special work of the Holy Spirit.

The doctrine that assigns to human power an efficient part in the new birth, is based upon the supposition that, there is in man an inherent principle, the natural bias of which is to holiness; and that, because God has created him a rational being, endowed with a will, understanding, conscience, affections, and other intellectual and moral properties, therefore the simple, unaided, voluntary exercise of these powers, a simple choosing of that which the conscience and the understanding point out to be good, in view of certain motives presented to the mind, is all that is required to bring the soul into the possession of the divine nature. With all meekness and affection, yet uncompromising regard for the glory of God, would we expose, on scriptural grounds alone, the fallacy and the dangerous tendency of this hypothesis.

Begging the reader to bear in mind what, in the previous chapter, has been advanced touching the

actual state of the natural man, we would earnestly bespeak his attention to the following passages. John iii. 6. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." It is morally, nothing but flesh. It is carnal, corrupt, depraved, sinful, and has no discernment or perception whatever of spiritual things. In this sense, the term flesh, as it is opposed to spirit, is to be interpreted in God's word. It signifies the corruption of nature. Gal. v. 17. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other." Again, Rom. viii. 5-8. "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace; because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." What further proof need we of the natural sinfulness and impotence of man? And yet, the affecting testimony of God's word borne to this, is by no means exhausted.

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Do we speak of his mind?-Eph. iv. 18. Having the understanding darkened." Of his knowledge?-1 Cor. ii. 14. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for

they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know, because they are spiritually discerned." Of his heart?-Eccles. ix. 3. "The heart of the sons of men is full of evil." Of his love to God? —Rom. viii. 7. "Enmity." Of his ability to believe?-John xii. 39. " "They could not believe." Of his power to acknowledge Christ?-1 Cor. xii. 3. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." Thus minute, clear, and solemn is the testimony of the Holy Ghost himself, touching the real amount of human power brought to bear upon the production of spiritual life in the soul of man.

So far from co-operating with the Spirit in the new creation, the natural man presents every resistance and opposition to it. There is not only a passive aversion to, but there is an active resistance of, the work. The stream of man's natural inclinations, as we have fully proved from the scriptures of truth, runs counter to all holiness. A strong and steady current has set-in against God, and all that God loves. The pride of reason, the perverseness of the will, the enmity of the mind, the heart's love of sin, all are up in arms against the entrance of the Holy Spirit. Satan, the great enemy of God and man, has been too long in quiet and undisturbed possession of the soul, to resign his dominion, without a strong and

a fearful struggle to maintain it. When the Spirit of God knocks at the door of the heart, every ally is summoned by the "strong man armed" to "quench the Spirit," and bar and bolt each avenue to his entrance. All is alarm, agitation, and commotion within. There is a danger of being dispossessed, and every argument, and persuasion, and contrivance must be resorted to, in order to retain the long undisputed throne. The world is summoned to throw out its most enticing bait— ambition, wealth, literary and political distinction, pleasure in her thousand forms of fascination and power, all, are made to pass, as in review, before the mind. The flesh exerts its power-the love of sin is appealed to, affection for some long-cherished lust, some long - indulged habit, some "fond amusement," some darling taste, these, inspired with new vigour, are summoned to the rescue. Thus Satan, the world, and the flesh, are opposed to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, in the great work of spiritual regeneration. O let no individual be so deceived as to believe that, when God the Eternal Spirit enters the soul, he finds the temple swept, and garnished, and prepared for his reception. That, without the exercise of his own omnipotent and irresistible power, the heart bounds to welcome him, and reason bows submissively to his government, and the will

yields an instant and humble compliance. O no! If he that is in the regenerate, were not greater and more powerful than he that is in the world, such is the enmity of the heart to God, such the strong power and love of sin, such the supreme control which Satan exerts over the whole empire of man, God would be for ever shut out, and the soul for ever lost. But, see how clearly regeneration is proved to be the work of the Spirit. A few quotations from his own word will set the question at rest.

Examine the following. "Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." "That

which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Other passages shew the power exerted in regeneration to be infinite. God says, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." The same power that called the material creature from nothing, into existence, effects the new and spiritual creation.-" God who commanded the light