power of Satan to God. 3. From the law, and from the bondage of it. From the moral law, as a covenant of works, obliging to work for life; but not from it as a rule, walk, and conversation; from it as the ministration of Moses; but not from it as in the hands of Christ. 2. Christian liberty, consists in a freedom from all traditions of men; such as those of the Pharisees among the Jews, which were before the times of Christ, Matt. xvi. 1-6. and such as among heath: St and false teachers, which the apostles exhorts to beware of, and calls philosophy and vain deceit, Col. ii. 8, 80-23. and such as the unwritten traditions of the Papists, respecting their hierarchy; doctrines and practices. which have no foundation in the word of God. 3. Chrisan liberty lies in the free use of the creatures, which God has provided for food and nourishment: Peter, by ne vision, was taught to call nothing common and unclean: we may be persuaded with the apostle Paul, that then is nothing common and unclean of itself; but that evay creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. The injunc tion by the synod of Jerusalem, to abstain from blood, and thing strangled, was only pro tempore, for the peace of the churches, till things could be settled in them, between Jews and Gentiles, to mutual satisfaction. 4. Another part of christian liberty, respects things indifferent; for the kingdom of God, true, real religion, and godliness is not meat and drink; it does not lie in what a man eats, or drinks, or wears, provided, moderation, decency, and circumstances, are attended to, Rom. xiv. 17. Care should be taken, on the one hand, lest such things should be reckoned indifferent, which are not 30; and on the other hand, such as are indifferent, should not be imposed as necessary. 5. Christian liberty lies in the use of gospel ordinances which God has enjoined, it is a privilege to come to mount Zion, the city of the living God; to have a place and a name in the church of Christ; to be of the family and houshold of God, and partake of the provisions which are there made for spiritual refreshment. Christian liberty

does not lie in a neglect of gospel ordinances, or in an attendance on them at will and pleasure; men are not to come into a church, and go out when they please, or attend an ordinance now and then, or when they think. well: this is not liberty, but licentiousness. The ordinances of Christ, particularly the supper, are perpetual things, to be observed frequently and constantly, unto the second coming of Christ. 6. Christian kiberty lies in worshipping God according to his word, and the dictates of conscience, without the fear of men, which indulged, brings a snare, and leads to idolatry, superstition, and will-worship. The apostles, martyrs, and confessors, in all ages chose rather to suffer imprisonment, confiscation of goods, and death itself, han part with this branch of christian liberty. 7. Another glorious part of christian liberty, is freedom of access to God, through Christ the Mediator, under the influence of the blessed Spirit, Eph. ii. 18. 8. It also lies in a freedom from the fear of death, both corporal and eternal: the believer can sit and say, O death where is thy sting! O grave where is thy victory!

*

II. The liberty of glory, or that which the sons of God will be possessed of in the world to come; and this will be entire ly perfect.

The author, or efficient cause, of this liberty, is Christ: it is a liberty with which Christ has made his people free, Gal. v. 1. it is of his procuring, he has obtained it with the price of his blood, by which he has redeemed them from sin, Satan, and the law.

The instrumental cause, or the means by which liberty is conveyed to the sons of God, is the word of God, the truth of the gospel; which is not only a proclamation of this liberty made by Christ, the great Prophet, in the church, and by his apostles, and ministering servants; and was prefigured by the jubilee. But is the means, attended with the Spirit and power of God, of freeing souls from the bondage they are in by na ture, and when first under a work of the law; Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, John viii. 32.

Both from the nature of this liberty, and from the influence the spirit of God has in it, it may be with great propriety cail. ed spiritual liberty; as well as from its having its seat in the spirits, or souls of men; and may be distinguished from corporeal liberty, and from civil liberty. It is a real liberty and not a shadow, an appearance of one; If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed: and it is perpetual; such who are once made free, shall never more come into a state of bondage.

OF REGENERATION.

CONCERNING regeneration, the following things may be in quired into.

I.What regeneration is, or what is meant by it, the nature of it; it may be the better understood by observing the phases, and terms, by which it is expressed. 1. It is expressed by being born again, which regeneration properly signifies; see John iii. 3, 7. and this supposes a prior birth, a first birth, to which regeneration is the second: the birth is of sinful parents, and in their image; the second birth is of God; the first birth is of corruptible, the second birth of incorruptible seed; the first birth is in sin, the second birth is in holiness; by the first birthmen are unclean, by the second birth they become holy; the first birth is of the flesh, the second birth is of the Spirit; by the first birth men are foolish and unwise, by the second birth they become wise unto salvation; by the first birth u en are children of wrath, at the second birth they appear to be the objects of the love of God. 2. It is called a being born from above, John iii. 3, 7. The author of this birth is from above ; the grace given in regeneration is from above, John iii. 27. such that are born again, are partakers of the heavenly and high calling of God in Christ Jesus, 1 Pet. i. 3, 4. 3. It is commonly called the new birth, and with great propriety; since the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the holy Ghost, are joined together as meaning the same thing; and what is produced in regeneration is called the new crea.

ture and the new man, Tit. iii. 5. Eph. iv. 24. it is a new mat in distinction from the old man, or the principal of corrupt nature, which is as old as a man is. In this new man, are new eyes to see with; to some God does not give eyes to see divine and spiritual things; but to regenerated ones he does; they have a seeing eye, made by the Lord, Deut. xxix. 4. New ears to hear with, Matt. xiii. 16, 17. new hands to handle and work with; new feet to walk with, to flee to Christ, the city of refuge, to run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint. 4. Regeneration is expressed by being quickened; You hath he quickened, Eph. ii. 1. Previous to regeneration, men are dead whilst they live; dead in a moral sense: Christ is the resurrection and life unto them, and the spirit of life, from Christ, enters into them. So the spirit of God breaths on dry bones, and they live, and breathe again. Prayer is the spiritual breath of a regenerate man; Behold he prayeth. A regenerate man pants after Christ; sometimes these breathings and desires are only expressed by signs aud groans; yet if a man groans, it is plain he is alive. There are in a regenerate man, cravings after spiritual food; a spiritual taste for spiritual things; the word of Christ is sweeter to their taste, than honey, or the honey comb. 5. Regeneration is signified by Christ being formed in the heart, Gal. iv. 12. his image is enstamped in regeneration; yea, Christ himself lives in them; Not I, says the apostle, but Christ lives in me. 6. Regeneration is said to be a partaking of the divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4. In regeneration there is that wrought in the soul, which bears a resemblance to the divine nature, in spirituality, holiness, goodness, kindness, &c. and therefore is so called. 7. There are also several terms, or words, by which the grace of regeneration is expressed; as by grace it. self, 1 Pet. i. 3. It is called spirit, John iii. 6. It is also signified by seed, 1 John iii. 9. Whosoever is born of God-his seed remaineth in him; as seed contains it virtually, all that af ter proceeds from it, the blade, stalk, ear, and full corn in the ear; so the first principal of grace implanted in the heart,

seminally contains all the grace which afterwards appears, and all the fruits, effects, acts, and exercises of it.

II. The springs and causes of regeneration; efficient, moving, meritorious, and instrumental.

First, The efficient cause of it. 1. Not man; he cannot regenerate himself; his case, and the nature of the thing itself, shew it; and it is indeed denied of him. 1. The case in which men before regeneration are, plainly shews that it is not, and cannot be of themselves; they are quite ignorant of the thing itself. 2. The nature of the work clearly shews that it is not in the power of men to do it; it is represented. as a creation; it is called a new creature, the workmanship of God created in Christ, the new man after God, created in righteousness. Now creation is a work of almighty Power: it is spoken of as a resurrection from the dead; this requires a power equal to that which raised Christ from the dead, and is done by the same. Its very name, regeneration, shews the nature of it, and clearly suggests, that it is not of the power of man to effect it: as men contribute nothing to their first birth, so neither to the second. It is an implantation of that grace in the hearts of men, which was not there before; faith is one part of it, said to be not of ourselves, but the gift of God. He who sits upon the throne, and says, Behold I make all things new. To say no more, it is a transforming of men, by the renewing of their minds, making them other men than they were before; the change of an Ethiopian's skin,and of the leopard's spots, is not greater, nor so great, as the change of a man's heart, which indeed is not a change of the old man or corruption of nature, which remains the same; but the production of the new man, or a new principle, which was not be. fore. 3. Regeneration is expressly denied to be of men; it is said to be nut of blood, the blood of circumscision, which availeth not any thing, but a new creature is of avail, when that is not. Wherefore, 11. The efficient cause of regeneration is God only; hence so we often read, which were born of God, and whosoever and whatsoever is born of God, John i. 13.