together in fociety, to conftitute a great variety of relations; thefe ties are of God's own making, and our affecti ons to all perfons fo related to us are natural, and in fome of them very frong. How then do they operate? In what manner do they exprefs themfelves? Nothing will more evidently prove what is the ruling difpofition of the heart. Whenever we love others fincerely, we fhew it by defiring and endeavoring to procure for them those bleff ings which we ourfelves moft highly efteem.

Let us take any one of these relations for an example. Does a parent fincerely love his children? Religion doth not weaken, but ftrengthen this affection, and add to the force of his obligation to ferve them. But if the parent truly loveth God above all, how will his love to his children be expreffed? Surely by defiring, above all, that they may be "born again." Their following finful courses will give him unfpeakably more grief than their poverty, fickness, or even death itself. He will be more concern ed to make them, and more delighted to fee them, good than great; and, for this purpofe, every fiep of their education will be directed. Would not every parent fhudder at the thoughts of fending a beloved child to a house infected with the plague, or any other scene where health or life would be in imminent danger? What then fhall we think of thofe parents who, from the fingle prospect of gain, without fcruple, place their children in houfes deeply infected with the leprofy of fin, and expofe them, with out the leaft neceffity, to the moft dangerous temptations?

I know there are fome inftances in fcripture of perfons who have been confidered as very pious themfelves, who yet were fhamefully negligent in this branch of their duty. Of thefe Eli, mentioned in the book of Samuel, is one, whofe fons, though in the moft facred office, "made them"felves vile, and he reftrained them not." I imagine I could easily bring in doubt, if not the reality, at least the eminence of his piety, and others of the fame kind, though often taken for granted, without much examination; but I fhall only obferve what an oppofite account is given of the divine conduct toward Eli and toward Abraham, the father of the faithful. He revealed his will, and employed

in his meffage the child Samuel, to the neglect of Eli, grown old in his courts, and denounced the moft fevere and terrible judgments against him and his houfe: "Be

hold, I will do a thing in Ifrael, at which both the ears "of every one that heareth it fhall tingle; in that day I "will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his houfe: when I begin I will alfo make an "end. For I have told him that I will judge his houfe "for ever, for the iniquity which he knoweth."* On the contrary, see the honorable diftinction put upon Abraham: "And the Lord faid, Shall I hide from Abraham that "thing which I do, seeing that Abraham fhall furely be"come a great nation, and all the nations of the earth "fhall be bleffed in him. For I know him, that he will "command his children and his houfhold after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do juftice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that "which he hath spoken of him."†

..

Nothing indeed can be more plain from reafon itself, than that, in proportion to the impreffion which parents have upon their own minds of the importance of falvation, will be their concern and care that their children alfo may be the heirs of everlafting life. Suffer me to ask every parent who reads this difcourfe, or rather to befeech all fuch, to afk themselves feriously, what are their own strongest defires and hopes concerning their children? In those moments when your affections are fondeft, and your partial flattering expectations moft diftinctly formed, are you obliged to confefs that your minds run much more upon the profpect of your childrens living in affluence and fplendor, or being promoted to places of honor and trust, than their being brought to a faving acquaintance with Christ and him crucified, that whether they live or die they may be the Lord's? If this is the cafe, you have juft ground to fear that you are of that unhappy number who "favor not the things that be of God, but the things that "be of man."

1 Sam. iii. 11, 12, 13.

† Gen. xviii. 17, 18, 19.

VOL. I.

X

3. Another excellent evidence of regeneration is, the moderation of our attachment to worldly enjoyments in general, and habitual fubmiffion to the will of God. So foon as this change takes place, it will immediately and certainly abate the measure of our attachment to all earthly things. Formerly they were the all of the foul, its portion and its reft; but now a clear discovery being made of greater and better bleflings, they must fall back into the fecond place. There is a wonderful difference between the rate and value of prefent poffeffions of any kind, in the eye of him who lives under the impreffions of eternity, and of him who believes it but uncertainly, who understands it very imperfectly, and who thinks of it as feldom as confcience will give him leave. It must be confeffed we are all apt to be immoderate in our attachment to outward bleffings; this is the effect and evidence of the weakness of our faith: but, fo far as faith is in exercife, it must mortify carnal affection. There is no way in which an object appears so little, as when it is contrafted with one infinitely greater, which is plainly the cafe here. The truth is, time and eternity, things temporal and things fpiritual, are the opposite and rival objects of human attention and efteem. It is impoffible that one of them can be exalted, or obtain influence in any heart, without a proportional depreffion of the other. They are, allo, as they feverally prevail, the marks to diftinguish those who are, and those who are not, brought again from the dead. For as the apoftle fays, "To be carnally mind"ed is death, but to be fpiritually minded is life and peace."*

Further, it is not only in abating the measure of our attachment to worldly things that religion fhews itself, and the change is discovered, but in the use and application of them. The real Chriftian's powers and faculties, poffeffions and influence, are confecrated to God. His abilities are laid out for the glory of God. He no more confiders them as a mean of excelling others, and getting to himfelf a name, but of doing good. He finds it his highest

* Rom. viii, 6.

pleasure to serve God with his talents; he thinks it his duty to plead for him in his converfation, to honor him with his fubftance, to enforce and ratify the divine laws by his authority and example.

The fame thing fhews plainly why a Chriftian muft ma nifeft his new nature by fubmiffion to the divine will. Does he receive his mercies from God? Does he love them lefs than God? Does he esteem it his duty to use them in his fervice? And can he poffibly refufe to refign them to his pleasure? I am fenfible that refignation at the will of God, abfolute and unconditional, is a very difficult duty, but it is what every believer habitually ftudies to attain. He chides his remaining impatience and complaints, grieves at the continuing ftruggles of his imperfectly renewed will, and is fenfible that in this the fuperiority of his affection to God above the creature ought to appear. Unrenewed perfons, when their earthly hopes are difappointed, immediately renew the purfuit; they only change the object to one more within their reach, or they alter their measures, and endeavor to amend the fcheme; but real Christians, receiving a conviction of the vanity of all created things, feek their refuge and confolation in the fulness and all-fufficiency of God.

SECT. IV.

A more particular enquiry into what properly constitutes the sincerity of the change.

TH

HUS I have given a fuccinct view of the moft remarkable effects and vifible evidences of regeneration. I cannot, however, fatisfy myfelf with this, because I am perfuaded the great queftion is, how far they ought to go, and to what meafure of ftrength and uniformity they ought to arrive. There are not a few who may, in a certain degree, fincerely think themselves poffeffed of most or all the difpofitions mentioned above, whose state is nevertheless very much to be fufpected. On the other hand, perhaps, fome of the hunibleft, that is to fay, the very beft, may be in much fear concerning themfelves, because they

do not perceive either the vigor or steadiness in their holy difpofitions which they greatly defire and are fenfible they ought to attain. Befides, what hath been hitherto said is only general, viz. that thofe who are born again will have new apprehenfions of things, will be humble, mortified to the world, and fubmiffive to the will of God. In this way it will be moft applicable to, or at least moft fenfible in those who had once gone great lengths in profanity, and were, by the almighty and fovereign grace of God, fnatched as

brands from the burning." The oppofition between their new and old characters is ordinarily fo great, that it will not admit of any doubt. To fome others it may be neceffary to make a more ftrict and particular enquiry into the nature of fincerity, and what is the full and proper evidence of the reality of the change.

That the reader may form as clear and diftinct conceptions on this fubject as poffible, he may be pleased to recollect what was obferved above, That perfect holiness confifts in having the heart wholly poffeft by the love of God, without the mixture of any inferior or bafer paffion; and that regeneration confifts in a fupreme defire to glorify God, and a preference of his favor to every other enjoyment. Now what chiefly occafions difficulty in difcerning the reality of this change is, that there is much unfubdued fin remaining in the children of God, and that there are many counterfeit graces, or appearances of religion, in those who are, notwithstanding, in the "gall of bitternefs, and in the bond of iniquity."

It

That there is a great degree of unmortified corruption ftill remaining in the faints of God, and that not fo much as one is wholly free from it, is apparent from too many melancholy proofs. It appears from the pathetic complaint of the apostle Paul, formerly referred to, of the law in his members warring against the law of God in his mind. appears, alfo, from the grofs fins into which fome eminently holy perfons have been fuffered occafionally to fall, through the ftrength of temptation, as David's adultery and murder, Solomon's idolatry, the apoftle Peter's denial of his mafier, and feveral others recorded in fcripture.