CONTENTS. ESSAY ON JUSTIFICATION. LETTER to the Rev. JAMES HERVEY, An ESSAY on the connection between the doctrine of Justi- Page Some general observations on the metaphor used by the apostle John, Except a man be born again ;` SECT. I. From this expression, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, we may learn the great- ness of that change which must pass upon every child of Adam, before he can become an heir of life, SECT. II. This expression, Except a man be born again, and other similar expressions, imply that the change here intended is not merely partial, but universal, SECT. III. From these words, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, and other similar ex- pressions in the holy Scriptures, we may infer that the SECT. IV. From this metaphor, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, and other parallel ex- SECT. I. Wherein the change in regeneration doth pro- perly and directly consist, ib. SECT. III. The effects of regeneration, with some of the principal evidences of its sincerity, SECT. III. There must be a conviction of sin and danger, 236 SECT. IV. Of the degree of sorrow for sin in true penitents, 249 AN ESSAY ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST AND HOLINESS OF LIFE. TO THE REV. JAMES HERVEY. SIR, WHEN Christ our Saviour was about to go to his Father, he told his disciples, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." I am persuaded that by this he did not only intend to forewarn the twelve of the offence which that generation would take at the ignominy of the cross, but also to intimate that the case would be the same in all ages; that his doctrine would meet with great resistance and opposition; and that the temper and character of his real disciples would be very different from the spirit that would generally prevail in the world. This hath been continually verified in experience. For as many in the highest stations, and of highest repute for wisdom in the world, did set themselves against the Gospel at its first publication, so even where there is a nominal profession of it, there is still an |