children of wrath, even as others'^. But a great change has been wrought in them : they have been " turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God." They are become " new creatures :" their views, their desires, their pursuits, are all new. The change that has taken place in them is not unlike that of a river, which, from flowing rapidly towards the ocean, is arrested in its course, and made by the refluent tide to return with equal rapidity towards the fountain- head. Thus are these turned " in the spirit of their minds," the whole bent of which was formerly after the things of time and sense, but is now directed to the service of the living God^ These being still in the world, though not of it, are living instructors to all around them : they are epistles " known and read of all men." From the Scriptures men will turn their eyes ; but from these epistles they cannot : they are constrained to see the truths recorded in them : and, however they may hate the change which they behold, they are compelled to acknowledge it : and they are admonished by it, that, without such a change, they themselves can never be partakers of the kingdom of heaven. In a word, by every true convert, Christ speaks to all, as once he did to Nicodemus, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven."]
2. By what means that change is to be effected —
[However the followers of Christ may differ from each other in minor points, they all agree in founding their hopes of salvation entirely on his atoning blood, and on the effectual operation of his Spirit within them : the declaration of every one amongst them is, " Surely in the Lord, and in him alone, have I righteousness and strength^."
These things then does the Lord Jesus Christ proclaim to the world by them. By them he says, " I am the way, the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." " There is no other name but mine given under heaven whereby men may be saved ;" " nor is there any other founda- tion whereon any man can build " his hopes. ' And, as they look to me for their acceptance with God, so must they also do for the gift of my Spirit, who alone can begin, or carry on, or perfect, a work of grace in their souls.' It is in reality this testimony which so offends the world. If they were taught to rely on their own merits, or to depend on their own arm, they would extol the persons who thus distinguished themselves by their superior attainments in holiness: but, when they are told that all their hope must be in the righteousness of another, and in strength communicated from above, they pour contempt
d Eph. ii. 2, 3. el Thess. i. 9. ^ Isai. xlv. 24.