PART II.

THE WORD THE INSTRUMENT OF

REGENERATION.

CHAPTER I.

STATE OF THE QUESTION.

GOD works by external means in the application of redemption. For although he "is free to work without, above, and contrary to them at pleasure," still," it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe," 1 Cor. i. 21: and thus to make the gospel "the POWER of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth." Rom. i. 16.

I. The gospel, taken in its broadest signification, is the external means of regeneration. Strictly speaking, the gospel being a proclamation of the good tidings of a free pardon to the guilty, is the reverse of the law. But in

preaching the gospel the law must be proclaimed in conjunction with it, for various reasons: 1. As it is the rule of perfect and perpetual obedience: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." Luke x. 27. 2. As it is an exhibition of the initial holiness communicated in the regenerating act, and without which no man shall see the Lord. 3. As it exacts its full penalty upon transgressors; "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezek. xviii. 4. "For the wages of sin

is death." Rom. vi. 23. 4. As it rewards the

righteous: "He shall reward every man according to his works." Matt. xvi. 27. 5. As it commands faith in Christ: "This is his commandment, that we should believe on his Son Jesus Christ." 1 John iii. 23. 6. As it is a rule of life to believers: "Being not without law to God, but under law to Christ." 1 Cor. ix, 21. 7. As it is the measure of sanctification: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord." Ps. cxix. 1. 8. As it is in conjunction with the gospel, the means of sanctification: "Sanctify them through

thy truth; thy word is truth." John xvii. 17. 9. As obedience to the law is the evidence of regeneration: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." 1 John iii. 9. It is in. this sense the terms "gospel," and "word," are used indiscriminately in the present discussion. The word, then, as it includes all that portion of revealed truth which is moral in its own nature, in opposition to positive institutions, is the instrument of regeneration.

II. The word, however, is not a natural instrument, which operates necessarily as the sun gives light; nor is it like a sharp knife which necessarily cuts if applied to a suitable material with sufficient power; but it is a moral instrument in the hand of the Spirit, made efficacious by Almighty power, in a manner unknown to us. Consequently it is called the instrument of regeneration, as it is the external means employed by the Spirit in the proposition of spiritual life, to the intellectual powers; and doctrinally the internal means of the conveyance of that life into the soul, in the regenerating act; for it is in this act the doctrine of the word is indelibly imprinted upon the soul, and the new creature brought into being. It is not

supposed that the word, considered simply in the letter of it as clothed in words, or as it conveys ideas to the intellectual faculty, is the instrument of regeneration. But it is so, as the words are the words of the Holy Ghost, and as the ideas are the wILL of God. These ideas are presented to the minds of all men, who live under a gospel dispensation, by reading and hearing the word. But they are presented to the mind by the same outward and ordinary means as is any other subject of human knowledge, and operate much in the same way. Hence, though the word is God's, yet in this case, it is not God who speaks it directly to men. But in the regenerating act, God himself presents these ideas to the mind, that are a declaration of his will, which is made efficient by omnipotent power. In the preaching of the gospel, we have a general declaration of his will in the word, made indefinitely to all who hear it; in the regenerating act, we have a special declaration of his will made to the soul in particular, through the word, the doctrine of which is his will. Thus, his will is made known to the soul through the word; is efficacious through the word; and the new creature which was not, now Is.

"Be