SERMON VI.

Ye must be born again."

JOHN iii, 7.

THE text brings into view, what is commonly termed the doctrine of regeneration; a doctrine about which there has been no small diversity of opinion in the church of Christ; and which has awakened more or less of the opposition of the human heart in every age of the world.

The method of the Spirit's operation, in producing the change implied in the text, it is beyond the province of men to determine. But how incomprehensible soever the nature of this change may be, so far as regards the manner in which it is effected, by the agency of the Holy Ghost, the necessity and importance of it cannot be questioned; and the declaration of the Saviour, "Ye must be born again," ought to arrest the attention, and command the most profound consideration of sinners. Here is no room to modify, nor to accommodate. The necessity is imperious, and absolute. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

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If we hate sin, because it is odious in its nature, and op; posed to God; if we love holiness, because God loves it, and because he is holy; if we are able to discover a perceptible change in our feelings towards the character of God, and hist holy government and law; if we love the society and employments of God's people, and take little or no sensible delight in the company and conversation of the wicked; if we see a beauty in the character of Jesus Christ, to which we were formerly insensible, and feel a pleasure in contemplating the method of salvation exhibited in the Gospel, as adapted, peculiarly, to our condition of guilt, and ruin; if we are pleased that God is supreme, and grace sovereign, as well as rich, and free; if we are ready to condemn ourselves, and justify God in the revelation he has made of his will, and in the orderings of his providence, and his grace; if we are willing to lie at the feet of gracious sovereignty, and to rely alone on the Lord our righteousness and strength for salvation; then we have good ground to hope that we have passed from death unto life, that the Lord Jesus has been formed in our hearts, the hope of glory."

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I have thus given you a summary view, of the effects resulting from the renewing influences of the Holy Spirit, because it is not my design, at this time, to consider this branch of the subject; but to direct your attention, more particularly, to the NECESSITY of this great moral change. In prosecuting my design, I would remark

That men very generally feel, that a change in their character, and manner of living, is essentially requisite,

to qualify them for the society of heaven and for the approbation of their Judge in the state of final retribution.

Under the light of Christianity most men feel deeply, that their present character is not such as God can consistently approve. Hence they are always resolving that they will do better for time to come. They thus clearly evince, that they feel the necessity of some change or other, in the conduct of their lives, and in the temper of their hearts, and virtually acknowledge, that they are too impure in their present state to appear before God.

There is little doubt, if an angel should visit us to day, and announce, to the most self-confident, and secure sinner, in our auditory, "This day thou shalt die," that such sinner would become tremblingly alive to a sense of his guilt, and would begin, seriously, to make preparation for the immense change, by condemning his sinful motives in his past life, by approving of God's character and government, by all the external signs of deep mourning for his past follies, and by agonizing cries for mercy. 'Tis to be apprehended, that there are very few among us, who would not feel thus, in the immediate prospect of eternity. In this feeling we see acknowledged the necessity of the change brought to view in the text. We feel ourselves to be guilty, and unlike to God; we have a deep conviction, that he is of purer eyes, than to look upon us with complacency, in our present character and views, and thence we resolve that we will do better before we die. Nor is this feeling, in its principle, peculiar to the Christian world.

The idolatrous portions of the human family, have

felt that they must do something to please their gods, and that they must both believe, and practice, what their deities have required; and not unfrequently, under the deep, though deluded impression, of the necessity of the case, have made sacrifices, which indicated a zeal, and a spirit of submission, worthy of a better object, and a better cause.

The inference to be drawn from this state of facts, with respect to the common feelings of mankind, as it regards the necessity of a change of character, to render them the proper objects of the divine favour, is perfectly analogous, to what the Scriptures teach us respecting the character of the natural heart. It is a heart at enmity against God, full of rebellion, deceit, fraud, and revenge, unclean, foolish, and only evil continually.

By these representations of the unsanctified heart, we are taught, that men naturally, do not exercise those feelings towards God, and his creatures, which they ought to exercise; and comparing as these representations do, most perfectly, with our own convictions, that an essential change must be accomplished upon us, to remove the apprehensions of dread, with which we anticipate the scenes of the judgement, and the realities of the eternal world, the conclusion seems well founded, that no man, by nature, is fitted for the society and employments of heaven; and that his character, if his heart has never been changed by Divine Grace, is utterly offensive to God. The natural state of the sinner, being that of entire alienation from God, there is no possibility of his enjoying him, but as he experiences a change in his affections.

From the unlikeness of God, in his moral feelings, and character, to man; and from the unlikeness of man, in his moral feelings, and conduct, to what God requires, and loves, we see the necessity of regeneration, or of being born again. The necessity then, of this great moral change appearsI. FROM THE UNLIKENESS OF GOD TO MAN.

By this unlikeness, we do not mean a physical dissimilarity ; as that God is almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, and that man, in the physical structure and organization of his soul and body, is limited and finite. This, in itself, would not lay a foundation for the necessity of regeneration. The angels are infinitely beneath God in all their endowments and attributes; yet they need no such change, as is necessary to fallen man. They are holy, to the full extent of their capacities, and being holy, God loves them. Man, on the contrary, is totally sinful, and it is on the entire opposition of his heart to God, and holiness, that the necessity of his being born again is founded. The unlikeness of which we speak, is of a moral nature; and has respect altogether, to the moral character of man, or to the feelings and disposition of his heart.

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Influenced by the benevolent feelings of his heart, the blessed God is disposed, so to employ his attributes, as to bring about the greatest amount of good, possible to the universe. This is an infinitely amiable, and lovely disposition. Being thus disposed, he exercises his authority, and influence to promote, and secure such a state of things, as his benevolent heart ardently desires. Now it is his love of good, and of doing good, that constitutes the amiableness, and moral