They take for their motto the words of Paul: Whose I am, and whom I serve. Acts xxvii. 23. Rom. vi. 12, 13. 5. It is an abiding change. The saints are begotten by an immortal Father, born of incorruptible seed, and designed for a life that shall never end. The grace of God in them is a well of water springing up to everlasting life, a spark of fire that shall never be extinguished. Unconverted men may have their good moods and religious pangs, but they are not lasting. Oh Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? Oh Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth But the path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Those who are brought into a state of grace may fall into sin, reproach, und trouble; but they shall not return to a state of nature. away. If they leave their first love, they shall not lose it. his own work, nor suffer others to destroy it. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, oh Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the work of thine own hands. Grace is not indefectable in its own nature, but is rendered so by the purpose and promise of God. Psal. cxKxviii. 8. Prov. iv. 18. Rom. xi, 29. Phil. i. 6. II. Notice some of the evidences of the new birth. -These we shall chiefly select from the first epistle of John. 1. Those who are born of God do not commit sin; yea, they cannot sin, because they are born of God. (ch. iii. 9. v. 18.) This however is not to be understood in the most extensive sense; for "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not ;" and "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (Eccles. vii. 20. 1 John i. 8.) Those who plead for sinless perfection in the present life shew their unacquaintedness with scripture and their own hearts. Yet those who are born of God do not commit sin as others do, contentedly, obstinately, and perseveringly, nor as they themselves once did. Sin has not the dominion over them, nor has it gained their full consent: it dwells in them, but does not rule over them. It is the object of their hatred, even while they commit it; and when committed, it is the matter of their grief. There is something within them which op poses the temptation, though there is something which complies with it. If they fail in the contest, they are recovered, and the contest is again renewed. The principle of grace will be always rising up against sin, and at length will triumph over it. Rom. vii. 14-25. 2. They have overcome the world-its frowns and smiles, hopes and fears. (1 John v. 4.) Neither prosperity nor adversity, preferment nor abasement, can drive the believer from his duty, nor draw away his heart from God. The world is not the object of his pursuit, nor, as far as he acts in character, has he any anxious or disquieting cares about it. He neither inordinately thirsts after it, nor is much concerned to part with it. He has learned to weep, as though he wept not; to rejoice, as though he rejoiced not; to buy, as though he possessed not; and to use this world as not abusing it, knowing that the fashion of it passeth away. His language is in a good degree like that of Paul: God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 1 Cor. vii. 30, 31. Gal. vi. 14. 3. They have a sincere love to all the saints; for every one that loveth is born of God. (1 Johu iv. 7.) The existence of holy love is the effect of the new birth, and its various exercises are the evidence of it. True believers love God, and all mankind: they also love one another for his sake, and this shews that they are born of God and made partakers of a divine. nature. There may be some difference of sentiment among christians, in lesser matters; and some of them are less amiable than others; yet it belongs to their character to love as brethren, to be kind and tender hearted one towards another, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven them. And when those are highest in our esteem, however low in circumstances, who most adorn their profession and bring most honour to religion, it is a happy evidence that we are passed from death unto life, and shall never come into condemnation. 4. All their hope of salvation is founded on the mediation of Christ. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. (1 John v. 1.) Believing Jesus to be the Christ, however, includes not only a knowledge of him as the Saviour, and an admission of him under that character, but an actual reliance on him as such, and a committing of our souls into his hands. We cannot indeed believe aright concerning him, but we shall also trust in him; and this is proper to the soul that is born of God. No sooner does the light shine into it than it discovers its lost and perishing condition, its utter inability to help itself, and the insufficiency of all creatures to afford relief. At the same time Christ is revealed as a suitable and all-sufficient Saviour, and the soul is brought to an absolute resignation of itself to him; to be sanctified by his grace, directed by his Spirit, and pardoned through his blood. Christ lives and reigns in the new creation. In every emergency, danger and distress, the soul applies to him, and finds safety. Its language is, Lord, to whom should we go; thou hast the words of eternal life. 5. Their walk and conversation is holy and exemplary. Every one that doth righteousness is born of God. (1 John ii. 29.) This is not merely to do the thing which is right in itself, but out of regard to the rectitude and propriety of it, or from the love of righteousness for its own sake. True obedience also. respects not only what God has commanded, but because he has commanded it. What we do must not be to gratify our own inclination, promote our own interest, or please either the good or the great, but in obedience to the will of God. To be acceptable it must likewise be universal and persevering; not from mercenary, but grateful motives; not for life, but from life; not that God may love, but because he hath loved us. As no one doth righteousness without a righteous principle, so neither without renouncing all our own righteousness in respect of dependence for that righteousness which does not submit to the righteousness of God must be the greatest instance of unrighteousness, assuming to itself that which does not belong to it, and denying both to the Creator and Redeemer that to which they have the most equitable claim, robbing one of his glory, and the other of his crown. III. Consider the reasonableness and importance of this change: "Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again." Nicodemus seemed to marvel at this doctrine, as if it were liable to great objections; supposing it to be new and strange, and altogether impracticable and absurd. How can these things be, said he. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Thus ignorant was this master in Israel of one of the first principles of the oracles of God! Let us also beware that we do not stumble at this stumbling stone. We must be born again. 1. Do not marvel at it as if the doctrine were new and strange. Or if it had been so, yet seeing that Christ himself expressly declares it, and urges its importance, it becomes us to receive it. But if we search the old testament, we shall find that the doc trine of the new birth is no new revelation, though expressed in somewhat different terms. What is here called a being "born again" is there denoted by "circumcising the heart to love the Lord our God" "taking away the heart of stone, and giving a heart of flesh"--" giving them a heart to know the Lord"-" putting his fear in their hearts," &c. These and many other similar terms were fully expressive of the renovation of the soul by divine grace, and contained the same doctrine for substance as that which our Lord inculcated. He might therefore well say to Nicodemus, "Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things!" Had he been an Israelite indeed, he would have known these things; and being himself a teacher, his ignorance was still more inexcusable. 2. Marvel not as if the doctrine were unintelligible. Mysterious it may be, as to the manner in which this change is effected, but its nature and necessity are plain and obvious. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit." We see and feel the effect, but know not the cause: so is it respecting divine influence. The formation of Christ in the beart may be as difficult to comprehend, as the formation of a child in the womb: but the fact itself is as easy of belief in one case as in the other. "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God, who maketh all." (Eccles. xi. 5.) Great is the mystery of godliness, as well as of iniquity. But VOL. III. |