the practitioners thereof. So that it was their continual practice, to clothe their minds, memories, and consciences, by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, as the garment of salvation; which having done, they could not but give evidence of the influence and effect which this produced in their outward walk. They were righteous in their walk. They having a sight of their real and everlasting perfection in Christ Jesus, lived in a view of it, and under the influence of the same; and this was an outward evidence for them to others, to whom they belonged. It proved they were born again; that they were born of Christ; that they had the Spirit of Christ whereas, such as were not so walking, let them say of the Saviour, and profess of him what they might, yet it was evident to real saints, let it be as it might in the eyes of others, that such were not the real children of God. This was a truth which was immutable. It could not be given up. It was, and will be so down to the very end of time. It can never vary. If we know that he is righteous, we know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. We being born again of Christ, receive his Spirit; who makes us acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ; who dwelleth in us. We by that spiritual faculty wrought in us by regeneration, are drawn forth spiritually to think on, converse with, and delight ourselves greatly in Him. We see Him. We converse with Him. We have communion with Him. We walk with Him. We walk before Him. We delight so to do. This is no part of our salvation: we disclaim it altogether in this view of it. As we have Christ for the whole of our salvation, this is the outward effect which the true knowledge of it produceth in us: and we are hereby only distinguished from all other professors of Christ, by the walking even as Christ walked. In reading the whole of this Epistle through and through, it should be noticed, the apostle does not call upon us to be so and so, but he shews we cannot but be so and so, if we are in Christ: if we have communion with Christ: if we have fellowship with his Father and our Father in Him, we walk in the light as he is in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. And the true knowledge and enjoyment of this, produces those blessed inward and outward effects, which the apostle speaks of in and throughout the whole of this, and the former chapters, and in all the following ones. Causes cannot but produce their proper effects. Grant this, and you have the key to this whole Epistle. You may then see clearly into every part of it, and also into the whole design of the apostle in the same. There will not then be found any one thing to stumble you throughout it. For it is only in proportion as Truth prevails and operates on the spiritual mind, such and such blessed fruits and effects are produced. So this is the foundation of all. Real believers being one with Christ, and they having received from Christ, the Holy Spirit, to live and abide with them for ever; who leads them into real communion with the Father, so they are hereby influenced by the same to walk in the light of holiness and truth-To love where Christ, and such as Christ loveth-To hate that which Christ hateth-To have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them-To walk as Christ walked— To express this to be the very sentiment of their souls, and to walk agreeable unto it, and at all times to abide by it-That such as know and acknowledge Christ to be righteous, that He is their everlasting righteousness and perfection, in whom the Divine Father beholds them everlastingly righteous; the true apprehension and belief of this, constrains

them to be righteous in their conduct and walk before men―That this is the outward proof and evidence, by the which they are distinguished from all others: and a most glorious proof that they are born of Him; and are his beloved ones, created in Him unto good works, which he hath foreordained that they should walk in them. I would now proceed to observe, that as the new-birth of these saints is here attributed to Christ, as it is elsewhere to the Father, and the Spirit, which shews how the Eternal Three are jointly concerned in the whole work of grace, and in all, in every gracious act and influence of grace, within us, and upon us. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. So I would in my last particular of this discourse, set before you,

4. That regeneration is the foundation of all righteousness in the soul, and the very sole principle from whence it originates. And the exercise of it, is an outward evidence of our being born again, and that we are interested in the glorious and complete righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lord insists on the necessity of regeneration in these words of his, which are recorded by our apostle, in the 3rd chapter of his gospel. "Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." v. 3. It is our very entrance into the spiritual world, just as our natural birth is our entrance into this natural world. It is by natural generation and birth we are introduced into this present visible world; and it is by spiritual regeneration we are brought into Christ's spiritual and invisible world. Adam is the root of natural generation. Christ is the root of spiritual regeneration. It is from Him, by virtue of our secret and eternal union to Him, founded on the election of our persons in Him before the foundation of the world, that we receive the Spirit of life from Christ, and are formed for his praise: which as it was an act of the Divine will towards us from everlasting, so it takes place within us, and upon us, in the day of the Lord's power, when the Holy Ghost, as the breath and Spirit of life enters into us, and makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus. The Spirit takes up his residence in us. He is pleased to produce that in us which was not there before. The Scriptures call it a new birth-The inner man-A new creation-A new creature-The new man-The hidden man of the heart: and other terms are used to express it. The apostle Peter says to the saints to whom he writes, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." 1 Pet. i. 22-25. He addresses these new-born persons thus. Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." chap. ii. 1-3. He opens and sets before us all contained in this new, divine, spiritual and supernatural birth in these words, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and

godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Epis. i. 3, 4. In this new-birth is contained all the life and grace of Christ, which will ever be inherent in the mind. The Holy Spirit is pleased to draw it out into act and exercise, on Christ, and the Father's love in Him, as it seemeth good in his sight. And this divine nature is the foundation of all inherent righteousness: the very sole principle from whence it originates. This suits with what our most precious Lord Jesus Christ says himself on this subject. The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John iv. 14. The drawing out into open view, act and exercise, what the Holy Ghost hath wrought in the soul, is entirely and alone, the work of the same Holy Ghost who hath wrought this whole work of God within us: and the exercise of our spiritual minds on Christ, is a clear evidence of our interest in the Lord Jesus. It is hereby we are proved to be the beloved of God: called to be saints: that we are interested in the all-glorious and everlastingly precious righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not interested in Christ hereby; nor are we entitled to his salvation in consequence hereof. Yet we are hereby capacitated for the enjoyment of Christ, and all the blessings of his great salvation. Without this newbirth, we can neither spiritually apprehend, nor enjoy the Lord Jesus Christ; for without it, we have no faculty suited to him. This spiritual birth is not our salvation; nor is it any part of our holiness and righteousness before God; but it is our meetness for glory; without which we can have no communion with the Three in Jehovah this side heaven, any more than we could in glory. This should be more closely attended unto, than it is in general. If we have not in us a new nature, it is impossible for us to delight in Christ Jesus. Do we not find we love to hear Christ's voice? To delight in Him? Is it not sweet to meditate on his love? From whence springs all this? Most assuredly from the Holy Spirit. But how is it we feel all this in our own souls? Yea, feel and enjoy what we ourselves are wholly unable to express? Surely it is because we have senses and faculties inherent in our minds, most exactly suited and agreeable to the objects and subjects presented to us, and set before us, in the glass of the everlasting gospel. We may think and talk otherwise, but if we are unregenerate we cannot perform one holy act: and it is expressly said, without holiness no man shall see the Lord. is the practice of holiness there, and the practice of righteousness here, both these passages are upon. And when we have an holy and righteous principle wrought in us, in our new and spiritual birth, then we cannot, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, but act agreeable unto it. where is there any thing in all this to lead us off Christ, or to lead us into ourselves? Nothing; no indeed there is not. 'Tis the universal acknowledgment of all saints, that as surely as we know that Christ is righteous, so we know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

It

And

Then it follows from the apostle's words, that such have an inward disposition to righteousness. And from whence can this spring and originate, but from the new birth: and how can this detract from Christ, seeing it is here attributed to Him. It is because such are born of Him, that they are disposed to live to Him, and for Him. They cannot live to

SS

Him, but they must in their outward walk be righteous persons. It seems to me to be altogether to ascribe our whole salvation to the Trhee in Jehovah, and to give them their proper glory for their distinctive acts in the same. The Father is to be praised for his great love wherewith he hath loved us, in giving Christ for us, and giving Him, with all the blessings contained in his great salvation unto us. We may well praise our Lord Jesus Christ, for his love to us, and for his washing us from our sins in his own blood, and saving us in himself with an everlasting salvation. We cannot but love the Holy Spirit, for revealing Christ in us, and unto us; for forming Him in us, and so testifying of Him to onr hearts, as to render Him everlastingly precious unto us. We cannot under believing views, but be desirous to shew forth his praise: this is the very spirit of our text. This is to be done before men; then it must be by shewing forth, and declaring in and by our outward walk, and deportment, that He who is the Lord our Righteousness, is pleased to lead us in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. So if we look over the whole of this chapter, we shall find, that the real saints, not being led away by the many antichrists, and their not following these, together with their abiding in the true and only right doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, were all so many proofs of their being the Lord's: who had both taught them, and kept them; who led, guided, and defended them: who was so gracious unto them, that whilst there were on every side, such as were only mere speculists in the gospel, and only nominal professors of the same, yet these had real and spiritual communion with Christ, and proved the reality of this, in being in their walk, tempers, and conduct, what the disciples of Christ should be, righteous persons: by the which, proof was given, there was every thing in the knowledge of Christ, and his gospel, which most effectually disposes to, and effectually promotes, and produces all this. We must confess, it becomes us to acknowledge this, and prove the truth of this in our own persons. It is good for us to look on ourselves, as vastly interested in the whole contained in what the apostle delivers. It would be well were we to consider the whole, so far written to us, that we should attend to the whole of the same. Is it not because we too heedlessly pass over what is written in the inspired Epistles, that we reap no more advantage from them? I confess I look on it for myself, one of my greatest sins, the reading the sacred pages with too little attention, and self application. May the Lord the Holy Spirit lead us to reverence them as the oracles of God: to esteem them as the means of making us wise unto salvation by faith which is in Christ Jesus. I must now leave what is contained in this present sermon with you; praying the Lord to follow it with his blessing so far as it seemeth good in his sight. The more you receive the light, truth, and knowledge of Christ into your minds, the more you will delight to walk with Him. It is in your walking with Him all grace will abound towards you. This will be your preservative from every evil and error. You will aim to glorify the Lord in all things: and with all you have and are. I cannot put life into God's word: but the Holy Spirit can. He does. He fills it with such an energy as cannot be resisted. May it please Him so to do, at all times, when you hear, read, meditate, and attend on the preaching of his most holy word: giving you to hear his voice in it: to mix faith with it. May you be not only hearers but doers of it. May it be to you the ingrafted word which shall save your souls and bodies

from all sin and evil. Thus I express my good will, and best wishes for your temporal and spiritual welfare. May the Lord himself say Amen to the same. May the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness shine upon us, and shine within you, and invigorate your whole souls with his holy and heavenly influences. May he make your path as the path of the just, as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. May the Spirit of Christ and glory rest upon this: then you will confess, If we know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. The Lord bless his Truth unto you. Amen.

SERMON XXXIV.

that we

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.-1 JOHN iii. 1.

In this verse the apostle breaks forth, in reflecting some glorious beams of light and love, on the minds of such as were born of Christ, and were made partakers of the divine nature, as the apostle Peter terms it, 2 Epis. i. 4. As the doctrine of the Holy Trinity runs throughout every article of our most holy faith, and the distinct acts and operations of the Sacred Three, are one grand part of the New Testament, so our apostle in this verse now before us, calls on these he writes unto, to behold, to take into their minds, and consider the love of the Divine Father unto them— To view it in this instance of it: they were called the sons of God. It was but a title; but they had therewith all contained in it: therefore the manner of love, the freeness of it, the sovereignty of it, the eternity of it, with the blessings contained in it most truly deserved their most spiritual and deepest attention. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. It is pure, it is infinite love. It is God's own act of grace towards us. He is a fountain of everlasting love. We are his children by adoption: and our regeneration is the fruit thereof; so that this title and honour do most truly belong unto us. This is the very reason why the whole world out of Christ, unbelievers, and those who know not God, can neither conceive, nor judge, nor have the least apprehension of our state before the Lord. And because they cannot, therefore it is they contemn, and hate us. It is because they knew not our Lord Jesus Christ in his incarnate state; nor do they know us in the state of regeneration into the which we are brought; nor our blessed deliverance from the state of sin, guilt, and condemnation in which we were in our state of unregeneracy, out of which we are now for ever delivered. It is with us as it was with Christ: the world, the people of the Jews, knew not the Lord of Glory, when he appeared amongst them in the form of a servant. The world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. In order, and with a design to open these