relate to the present life; and of these gifts St. James affirms, that every one of them "is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." Their origin is truly celestial: they are not capable of being communicated, like the good things of this life, by one human being to another; they are, strictly speaking, divine donations, which can only proceed from above. As a farther illustration of the proposition he had been laying down, he introduces the words of the text: "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." These words instruct us in the cause, the instrument, and the end, of the renovation of christians.

I. The cause is "the will" of God;-God operating by a free and spontaneous agency. His grace imparted in regeneration must be acknowledged to be grace the most free and unmixed, the fruit of his sovereign will, in opposition to any necessity of nature to which it may be ascribed: for though the nature of his agency cannot but be consonant to his character, though the fruit of his Spirit cannot but be most pure and holy, yet he was under no necessity to interpose at all. That the effect of his special operation on the hearts of the faithful should be sanctifying, is unavoidable; but his operating at all by his Spirit, in the restoration of a fallen creature, is to be ascribed solely to "his own good pleasure."*

*Phil. ii. 13.

It is of his own will, as opposed, not only to a necessity of nature in him, but to any claim of merit in the subject of this his gracious agency. No previous worthiness of ours, no attractive excellence in us, engaged his attention, or induced him to exert his power in our renovation: for whence could this arise in a creature so fallen and corrupt as to need so thorough a renovation? Or how, since "every good and perfect gift cometh from above," can it be supposed to subsist previous to, or apart from, his donation? In the context the apostle has been strongly insisting on it, that the beginning of all moral evil is to be ascribed to man; the beginning of all good to the Supreme Being; and it is in supporting this assertion he introduces the words of the text, "Of his own will begat he us."

No signs of virtuous and laudable conduct had ensued to procure the communication of divine grace, agreeable to what another apostle observes, in his epistle to Titus: "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."*

The production and maintenance of religion is styled, by the same writer, "the good pleasure of his will."†

II. The instrument of this renovation is "the word of truth." In infusing the principle of divine life into the soul, God is wont to employ the gospel † 2 Thess. i. 11.

as the instrument, styled, with the utmost propriety, "the word of truth:" not only on account of the infallible truth and certainty of all its declarations, but on account of its high dignity and excellence, as a revelation from God, it is "the truth;" to which whatever is contrary is imposture, and whatever is compared to it insignificant.*

It falls not within the limits of this discourse to illustrate, at large, the manner in which the word of God produces a saving change: two circumstances may suffice to establish the fact. The first is, that where the light of the gospel is unknown, no such beneficial alteration in the character is perceived, no features of a renewed and sanctified mind are to be traced. The second is, that among those who live under the light of the gospel, the reality of such a change is less or more to be perceived, in proportion to the degree in which the gospel is seriously attended to, and cordially received. Every person who is deeply influenced by religious considerations, and enabled to live a holy and spiritual life, will acknowledge his deep obligations to the gospel; and that it is to its distinguishing discoveries he is, under God, indebted for the renovation he has experienced. "Being born again," saith St. Peter, "not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."+

III. We are directed to the consideration of the end proposed by this regenerating influence, + 1 Pet. i. 23.

*Gal. iii. 1.

"that we might be a kind of firstfruit of the creatures."

In the Jewish law, which was, in all its essential parts, a perpetual shadow of the gospel, the firstfruits of the earth were commanded to be dedicated in the temple, and presented by the priest as an offering to God: "The first of the fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God."* In the performance of this part of religious duty, an affecting form of words was prescribed, expressive of the humility and gratitude of the offerer. When a vineyard was planted, the Israelites were forbidden to partake of the fruits for the first three years; during which it was to be looked upon as uncircumcised and impure : "And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth

+ "Thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there.

"And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.

"And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God." Deut. xxvi. 2, 5, 10.

I

year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal."*

In allusion to this, the apostle observes, the design of christianity is, that being received into the heart as a renovating principle, we may become, in a spiritual sense, what the fruits presented in the temple were in a literal; "a certain firstfruits of his creatures:" in which representation, he meant, probably, to include the following ideas-that we should be dedicated to God as holy persons, separated from every unclean use; that we should be distinguished as the most excellent part of his creatures; as the firstfruits were ever considered as the best of the kind; and that our dedication to God should be a pledge and [earnest] of the universal sanctification of the

creatures.

1. This representation denotes our solemn dedication to God, as holy persons, as persons set apart for his use and service. Christians are not their own, and the method by which God claims and appropriates them to himself is that of regenerating grace.

The principle of regeneration is a principle which prompts men to devote themselves to God. They in whom it is planted "present themselves a living sacrifice,"† as "a reasonable service;" they present all their faculties and powers to him; their understanding, to be guided and enlightened by his truth; their will, to be swayed by his authority, * Lev. xix. 23, 24. † Rom. xii. 1.