well." "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"* Most unreasonable, most ungrateful would it be to question or complain. No true believer does so he is thoroughly convinced of the truth of God's word, and the equity of God's dealings and dispensations. This is his concern, this the great purpose resting in his soul, to be reconciled to God in His own appointed way; to be made an inheritor of His eternal kingdom. He knows, and it is enough for him to know, that "the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men ;"+ he believes, and he acts upon the belief, that "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin :" he seeks to "wash and be clean," and faithfully waits for the promised blessing: "Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily He is a God that judgeth the earth."§ * Rom. viii. 32. † Tit. ii. 11. 1 John i. 7. § Psalm lviii. 11. SERMON XII. THE NEW MAN. EPн. iv. 24. That ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. IN treating of these words, it shall be my first object to explain their real nature and import. St. Paul has been describing, in this chapter, the character of the unregenerate Gentiles, who "walked in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." And this description applies, with almost equal force and truth, to a considerable portion of those who have "named the name of Christ:" though they acknowledge with their lips the truth and obligation of the christian religion, they still "walk in the vanity of their minds." As to any saving view of the truth, "the understanding is yet darkened:" and though their ignorance be removed, with respect to a revelation of the divine will, they are as far as ever from "the life of God;" though the mind is enlightened with the knowledge of the fact, the blindness of the heart remains. The Apostle proceeds to say of his Ephesian converts, "but ye have not so learned Christ"-"if so be, that ye have heard Him" (or rather, as the phrase may properly imply, forasmuch as ye have heard Him) and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus." And what had they heard, as necessary to their salvation by His name, and what is the truth they had been taught ?" that ye put off, concerning the former conversation (the former life and conduct), the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts" (the worldly principles and the sinful habits above described, to which you were addicted before your conversion); and "be renewed (or made new) in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness;" the change thus produced being so great and important as to be compared to a new creation; the inner man being totally different from what he was before. It is said, moreover, that the new man "is created after God in righteousness ;" this is fully explained by the same Apostle, in his Epistle to the Colossians, where he is treating on the same subject; he there speaks of the converts being renewed "after the image of Him who created them."* At the creation of Adam, God is represented as saying, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," that is, in perfect innocence and purity. Thus was Adam formed, perpectly upright and * Col. iii. 20. THE NEW MAN. holy by disobedience his nature was changed; he became sinful and unholy; and this change was entailed upon all his posterity. The object, therefore, of the new creation is to restore in us, as far as we are now capable of it, that image of divine righteousness, which man lost by the fall. On considering, then, the holy nature of God, we are at once made acquainted with that change, in the natural man, which the gospel teaches and requires; we are brought to perceive and acknowledge that "true holiness," which as Christians we are bound to desire and attain. The same truth may be said to have been substantially revealed to the servants of God under the old dispensation: there is no express mention indeed of a new creation of the individual; but the prophets every where assert, what is similar in effect, that no wicked person, without hearty repentance and an entire change of character, must expect the divine favour. To this purpose is the language of |