SERMON VI.

NECESSITY OF A SPIRITUAL CHANGE.

ST. JOHN, iii. 6.

That which is born of the spirit, is spirit.

THE word of truth being given from heaven to promote our salvation, not to satisfy our curiosity, we shall find many things touched upon which we would gladly know more fully, but cannot until we enter the dwelling place of "good men made perfect." Amongst them, not the least interesting, is the nature of heavenly happiness, and the employments which occupy through all eternity, the sanctified and the holy angels. If we are only about to visit a new and distant country, we feel a desire to learn as much as we can respecting it; much

more if a residence there has been purchased for us: while therefore we are preparing ourselves to take possession of that eternal abode which Christ has purchased for us with his blood, we cannot be without an anxious wish to learn beforehand, and to become familiar with the habits and enjoyments of its inhabitants.

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Of heaven, the scriptures declare repeatedly that its joys are unspeakable: hath not seen, the ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man"the delight which shall for ever fill the souls of the chosen of the Lord. Every thing rich, every thing sweet, every thing glorious on earth, is used to represent to our minds the richness, the sweetness, the glory of Christ's kingdom; but the scriptures always avoid entering into a particular explanation of its nature. Our blessed Lord, however, and his apostles, occasionally tell us what we must not expect to find there; and upon this, a little reflexion may build up a correct idea respecting its general character. They hint, satisfactorily enough, that none of the habits, none of the enjoy

ments will be there in use, which relate to or arise from the mortal body. Whatever actions occupy the time of angels, they must be such as the soul or spirit, separated from a fleshly body, can perform. Whatever delights they feel are such as depend in no degree whatever upon that body; such as have no connexion with the appetites, senses, or feelings of flesh and blood. Whatever intercourse and communication may be between them, they cannot arise from any relationship or connexion that was purely earthly. Father, son, brother, wife, and husband, may meet, and with joy recollect each other in that place where "they neither marry nor are given in marriage;" but will know each other as brethren in the Lord, as those who walked together in the fellowship of the gospel of Christ! With the ties of marriage, or of kindred, which belong only to this our earthly condition, they will have nothing to do; a stronger, finer, holier bond will unite regained friends in the New Jerusalem, that of perfect love and mutual service to their Father which is in heaven. And

if our bodily senses and desires, together with those pleasures, habits, and employments which spring therefrom, however innocent, are banished from heaven, it is needless to say that those which partake in the slightest degree of human corruption must be unheard of. What then may we suppose to occupy the eternity, and to form the happiness of angels ?-participation in the bliss which Jesus Christ had with his Father before the world was; intimate communion with the Creator, whom they behold face to face; the delightful exercise of praise and adoration—the fulness of affection amongst themselves-knowledge of heavenly mysteries, perhaps gradually extended; and not improbably the pleasing care of watching over their yet mortal brethren, who are to be heirs of salvation.

Will it be asked to what end I have made these observations, or what they have to do with the text?-Every thing! They tend to show that "flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." "We must all be changed." They prepare us

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to receive our Saviour's remarkable and positive assertion, "Verily, verily I say unto you, except ye be born again ye cannot see the kingdom of God." "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." At the first indeed it was not so: man was made in the image of his glorious Creator; his body was always subject to his spirit, and he was spiritual. After his disobedience, the case was widely different: the image of God is blotted out from the soul of the natural man; his body lusts continually after evil things; his spirit delights no longer in that which is good and pure and heavenly, but partakes partly of the nature of that evil one by whom it was first corrupted, partly of the gross desires of the body in which it dwells: it is "earthly, sensual, devilish." Lust, pride, malice, and covetousness now form its natural character. How, in this condition, can it "see the kingdom of God?" Salvation, justification, forgiveness has been procured for him, and presented to him by Jesus Christ: true, it has been-but vain is the purchase, useless the offer, if man has neither the desire nor