words of Jesus: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Heb. xiii. 5. And, "He that loveth Me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." John xiv. 21. Let us pray to Jesus to fulfil these his gracious words to our unspeakable comfort and salvation; yea, joy and delight; that we may know the love that God hath to us; for "God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him." 1 John iv. 16. This love of God, brethren, is the highest, purest, holiest, and happiest love; for, it is eternal love-a love unchangeable, great, free-a love that death cannot part, which puts an end to all the endearments of the creature, and created things that we do love too much, to the slighting of God's love, which is an unchangeable and eternal love.

Now, finally, God's love cannot flow into an impure heart. Our hearts must be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and by the sanctifying Spirit made pure, and holy, and free from every taint of sin; for then is God's love "perfected in us;" for it is written, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter i. 16. And "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Heb. xii. 14.-May "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen."

D

SERMON III.

THE NEW BIRTH, OR NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST

JESUS.*

2 Cor. v. 17.

THEREFORE IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW 29 CREATURE.

THE text we have chosen, brethren, is one of great importance. It speaks of a change which every one must undergo before he can enter the kingdom of heaven. This change is usually called, "the new birth," or the being "born again," or "from above," by the Spirit of God. And by the Apostle, in our text, "a new creature," or "new creation." The therefore is a conclusion drawn from preceding premises, which we consider refer to the whole of the verses preceding, but specially to those immediately following our text. Those who have undergone this change, feel the infirmities and sorrows of their present condition, and long for the time when mortality shall be swallowed up of life. Ver. 4. They have also a full assurance of hope, or of knowledge, that if their earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, they have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the

* Preached on the occasion of the Dean of Carlisle reading himself in, at the Church of St. Mary, Carlisle.

heavens," ver. 1; therefore "they are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Ver. 8. They are also influenced by "the love of Christ;" which he who has not undergone this change, neither knows, nor feels, nor understands. And "they live not unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again," ver. 15; which is so opposite to the spirit of the world, and of the natural man, who lives unto himself, "doing his own ways, finding his own pleasure, and speaking his own words, Isaiah lviii. 13; that the Apostle affirms, that whosoever has undergone such a change, is "a new creature," that, "old things are passed away; and all things are become new.

We propose to inquire,

I.

What it is to be "in Christ."

II. Why the regenerating work of the Spirit is called "a new creation."

III. The nature of the "change" the soul undergoes in regeneration.

IV. The "necessity" of this change.

May the Holy Spirit guide us aright while we inquire,

I. What it is to be "in Christ."

(1.) In a general sense it means, to be "saved," to be in safety; as Noah in the Ark, from the deluge of waters that overwhelmed the old world. Gen. vi. 17, 18; (2) to be chosen in Christ "before the foundation of the world;" (3) that we, be accepted in Christ, or in the beloved; (4) to have redemption through the blood of Christ, "the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" (5) to obtain an inheritance in Christ,

"being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will;" (6) to trust or believe in Christ; in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." So the Apostle speaks of those, "who are of note among the Apostles, who also were in Christ before me," Rom. xvi. 7; that is, who had embraced by faith the gospel of their salvation, and believed in Christ, Eph. i. 1-12; (7) to be united to Christ by faith, John xv. 5; (8) and lastly, to be justified in Christ; as, says the prophet, "In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.' Isaiah xlv. 25. We see then, brethren, the importance of the phrase in Christ, and what it implies; and if in any of these respects we are in Christ, for the one involves the whole; then, a great change has taken place in us, we are created anew in Christ Jesus, we are "a new creation," "born again of the Spirit," "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Inquire, II. Why the regenerating work of the Spirit is called "a new creation."

The Apostle, we conceive, styles the regenerating work of the Spirit on the heart, "a new creation," from the similitude there is between it and "the old creation." In the fourth chapter of this Epistle, ver. 6, the Apostle writes, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," which is an allusion to the Mosaic account

of the creation. Let us then compare the two, and see what is the similitude between them.

First, then, in Gen. i. 1 and 2, we read: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.' What a striking emblem of the soul of man in spiritual things. Light enough, brethren, in natural things, but dark in spiritual. He may have intellectual light in spiritual things; but this goes no further than his natural understanding, and leaves him to all saving knowledge in darkness still. Before the Gospel, the word of salvation, comes to men; the Scripture declares they "sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death." Luke i. 78. That this is not to be understood exclusively of the heathen, appears clear from the words of Zacharias: "whereby (referring to Christ) the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death." And from the words of the Apostle himself: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. iv. 6. And he further declares in his Epistle to the Romans, chapter iii. ver. 9; "We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin:" and sin, in Scripture language, is darkness.

Again, we read, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light and there was light." Gen. i. 2, 3. Apt emblem of the first movements of the Spirit of God upon a sinner's heart. As in the natural