our souls, even that we might be " created anew after Ids image, in righteousness and true holiness s." And, if our hearts be upright before God, this is the thing which we shall pant after, no less than after heaven itself. Sin will be our burthen and aversion ; and a conformity to God will be regarded as the first object of our desire. Yea, to be " like him" will be contemplated by us as the perfection of our happiness, in " seeing him as he is'."]
Address —
1. Those who are yet in nature's "ignorance" —
[To exhort you to holiness were a vain attempt. You have no eyes to discern, no heart to appreciate its excellence. You must have the eyes of your understanding enlightened by the Spirit of God, before you can form any just conception of the beauty of holiness : you must have your heart of stone removed, and a heart of flesh given you, before you can be capable of bearing on you any lineaments of the Divine image. Let your first concern, therefore, be to become regenerate : for most assuredly, except ye be born again, you can never enter into, nor ever see, the kingdom of God. Remember, I say not this to those only who are openly and grossly wicked : I say it to the most moral amongst you : if you were as moral and amiable as Nicodemus himself, I would say to you, " Ye must be born again11." " A new heart must be given you, and a new spirit must be put within you," ere you can have the very first principles of holiness in your souls. I pray you, therefore, to seek this first of blessings at the hands of God ; and not to rest, till, through the operation of his Spirit upon your souls, " old things are passed away, and all things are become new."]
2. Those who have been " called " out of darkness into God's marvellous light —
[You are longing for the very blessing of which we have spoken. But in many of you there yet remains a considerable degree of ignorance respecting the appointed method of obtain- ing it. You are looking too much to your own exertions, and too little to the Saviour : and hence you make but little pro- gress in the divine life. Hence, also, you obtain but little comfort in your own souls. You are ready to say, How can I be a child of God, when I bear so little of his image ? and how can I venture to apply to myself his promises, whilst I am so unworthy of them. But these persons need to be informed, that they reverse God's method of making his people holy. They would become holy first, and then apply to themselves
s Eph. iv. 24. t 1 John iii. 2. u John iii. 0,
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