unto eternal life. So the metaphors taken from the animal and vegetable kingdoms, teach the same lesson. But does not the mere fact that Peter says, we are born again of incorruptible seed," declare that where this incorruptible seed is not, there can be no birth!

Is it necessary now to traverse the whole face of nature, to explore the whole kingdom of botany, to find a plant without a seed, in order to prove the proposition, that every ear of corn comes from one grain of seed deposited in the earth? No more is it essential to my argument, that I should first hear all the conversions in the world, before I conclude that there is one that originated without the word of God having been first sown in the human heart. Will not all the world believe me, that if I prove in one case that without the specific seed,—corn, wheat, &c., we cannot have a crop, that it is true in all other cases, without a particular examination of every alleged case. And from every principle of analogy, if I prove the Word in one case of a new heart to be necessary, it needs not that I prove it to be so in every other heart, and in every other case. The mere fact of calling the Gospel the incorruptible seed, is enough. Where that seed is not, the fruit of it cannot be.

The phrase, "the incorruptible seed" of any thing, indicates, in the ears of common sense, that is essential to that. thing; and if so, then who can be a Christian without being born?-and who can be born but according to one uniform and immutable law? Now, in the theory we oppose, there is no uniformity; there is a plurality of ways of being born, which, to my mind, is most palpably at fault in every particular.

But I will adduce some other testimonies under this head of argument. We shall hear James the apostle, chapter i. 18: "Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creation." Hence the truth again appears as an instrument of regeneration. God's will is the origin of it; his Spirit the efficient cause of it; but the Word is the necessary instrument of it. By the Word of Truth, then, we are begotten, and not without it, according to James. We may add testimonies without increasing either authority or evidence; but, for the sake of illustration, if not for authority, we shall offer a few other testimonies to complete this particular argument. We shall hear Paul, as a father, speak to his sons in the faith in Corinth-1 Cor. iv. 15: 66 As my beloved

sons I warn you; for though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the gospel." Paul regards the gospel just in the same attitude in which James represents it. The gospel is here the seed, the instrument of the conversion of the Corinthians.

But the whole oracle of God is unique on this subject. God "purifies the heart by faith," that is, the truth believed-not by believing as an act of the mind, but by the truth believed, which constitutes "the faith." Paul also told the Thessalonians that God had, "from the beginning, chosen them to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Here again the belief of the truth is the instrument of sanctification and salvation. I shall conclude this little summary of a portion of the direct and positive testimony of God, in proof of my grand position on the Holy Spirit's work of conversion and sanctification, by the testimony of the Messiah, in person: “Sanctify them through thy truth, O Father, for thy Word is the truth." Whether, then, we call the truth the Word, the Word of God the gospel, it is called the seed, the incorruptible seed of the new birth; by which a sinner is quickened, begotten, born, sanctified, purified, and saved. I regard this my eighth argument as a host in itself-nay, as a solemn, direct, and unequivocal declaration of God, in attestation of the entire truth and safety of the proposition concerning both conversion and sanctification. Still I will yet add other arguments.

ARG. IX.-One shall be based on the special commission given to Paul, as expounded by that given to the Messiah himself. And therefore, we shall read that to the Messiah, as introductory to that presented to the apostle Paul. "I give thee," says Jehovah, "for a covenant of the people; for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes; to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prisonhouse." "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn." Isaiah xlii. 6, 7; lxi. 1, 2. We shall now hear Paul relate his own, as he had it from the mouth of the Lord: "I have appeared

unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith, that is in me." Here, then, we have a full development, in these grand commissions, of the manner and means employed in the wisdom and grace of God in converting and sanctifying the nations of the earth, through the mediation of the Messiah. The most conspicuous point, or the chief means stated, is that God would use light, knowledge, the gospel, and that he would OPEN THE EYES of men-turning them from darkness to light, and from the kingdom and power of Satan to God. God, then, who commanded light to arise out of darkness, has used moral, spiritual light—that is, revelation, the gospel-as the means of conversion and sanctification. Illumination is, therefore, an essential prerequisite to conversion and holiness. Without light there is no beauty; for in the dark, beauty and deformity are undistinguishable. Without light there is nothing amiable, because amiability requires the aid of light for its exposition, as much as beauty. The power of Satan is in darkness; the power of God is in light. God, therefore, works by light; and Satan by darkness. Hence, in Paul's commission, it reads, "Turn them from darkness to light;" and the consequences will be, "from the power of Satan to God ;" and the ultimate effect will be remission of sins, and an inheritance among the sanctified. After the study of these, and many such similar documents, found in the Bible, I confess I am wholly unable to conceive of a religion without knowledge, without faith, without an apprehension, an intelligent, as well as a cordial reception of the gospel of Christ. I repudiate, therefore, with my whole heart, a notion of infant, idiot, and pagan regeneration— this speculative conversion, without light, knowledge, faith, hope, or love. It makes void the whole moral machinery of the Bible, the Christian ministry, and the commission of the Holy Spirit. It is no advocate of Christ; it is no comforter of the soul, on the hypothesis of infant, and pagan, and idiot regeneration.

ARG. X.-Whatever influence is ascribed to the Word of God in

sons I warn you; for though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the gospel." Paul regards the gospel just in the same attitude in which James represents it. The gospel is here the seed, the instrument of the conversion of the Corinthians.

But the whole oracle of God is unique on this subject. God "purifies the heart by faith," that is, the truth believed—not by believing as an act of the mind, but by the truth believed, which constitutes "the faith.” Paul also told the Thessalonians that God had, "from the beginning, chosen them to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Here again the belief of the truth is the instrument of sanctification and salvation. I shall conclude this little summary of a portion of the direct and positive testimony of God, in proof of my grand position on the Holy Spirit's work of conversion and sanctification, by the testimony of the Messiah, in person: 'Sanctify them through thy truth, O Father, for thy Word is the truth." Whether, then, we call the truth the Word, the Word of God the gospel, it is called the seed, the incorruptible seed of the new birth; by which a sinner is quickened, begotten, born, sanctified, purified, and saved. I regard this my eighth argument as a host in itself-nay, as a solemn, direct, and unequivocal declaration of God, in attestation of the entire truth and safety of the proposition concerning both conversion and sanctification. Still I will yet add other arguments.

ARG. IX.-One shall be based on the special commission given to Paul, as expounded by that given to the Messiah himself. And therefore, we shall read that to the Messiah, as introductory to that presented to the apostle Paul. "I give thee," says Jehovah, "for a covenant of the people; for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes; to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prisonhouse." "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.” Isaiah xlii. 6, 7; lxi. 1, 2. We shall now hear Paul relate his own, as he had it from the mouth of the Lord: "I have appeared

unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith, that is in me." Here, then, we have a full development, in these grand commissions, of the manner and means employed in the wisdom and grace of God in converting and sanctifying the nations of the earth, through the mediation of the Messiah. The most conspicuous point, or the chief means stated, is—that God would use light, knowledge, the gospel, and that he would OPEN THE EYES of men-turning them from darkness to light, and from the kingdom and power of Satan to God. God, then, who commanded light to arise out of darkness, has used moral, spiritual light—that is, revelation, the gospel-as the means of conversion and sanctification. Illumination is, therefore, an essential prerequisite to conversion and holiness. Without light there is no beauty; for in the dark, beauty and deformity are undistinguishable. Without light there is nothing amiable, because amiability requires the aid of light for its exposition, as much as beauty. The power of Satan is in darkness; the power of God is in light. God, therefore, works by light; and Satan by darkness. Hence, in Paul's commission, it reads, "Turn them from darkness to light;" and the consequences will be, "from the power of Satan to God;" and the ultimate effect will be remission of sins, and an inheritance among the sanctified. After the study of these, and many such similar documents, found in the Bible, I confess I am wholly unable to conceive of a religion without knowledge, without faith, without an apprehension, an intelligent, as well as a cordial reception of the gospel of Christ. I repudiate, therefore, with my whole heart, a notion of infant, idiot, and pagan regenerationthis speculative conversion, without light, knowledge, faith, hope, or love. It makes void the whole moral machinery of the Bible, the Christian ministry, and the commission of the Holy Spirit. It is no advocate of Christ; it is no comforter of the soul, on the hypothesis of infant, and pagan, and idiot regene

ration.

ARG. X.-Whatever influence is ascribed to the Word of God in