portant that we should hold the truth. Granted; but it is much more important that you should preserve charity. A man may be quite firm in maintaining his own opinions, yet perfectly free from ill will towards his opponents; otherwise his religion is vain, and profiteth nothing. Error with charity, is better than truth with malice.

Now I would rather be conformable to the Gospel doctrine of brotherly love and kindness, than to any other doctrine it contains, with the sacrifice of the former, for two good reasons; first, because I may have misunderstood the Scriptures on some other points, but I am sure I have not on the subject of Charity, nor is there one individual out of the multitudinous denominations of Christians, who would differ from me in opinion upon that head; and secondly, because, though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, "and though I am ready to give my body to be burned," in testimony of my sincerity, and yet have not charity, "I am nothing," I am no true Christian, I have no just hope of salvation. God only knows what errors are pardonable; he only knows what is absolutely true, unmixed with falsehood; we are all ignorant in many things; we have all prejudices, imbibed from education, which it is hopeless to remove; we now "see

through a glass darkly; " we are but children in knowledge, we "know but in part, when that which is perfect is come, then we shall know, even as we are known;" when the veil shall be removed from our eyes, which now throws a shade of obscurity over perhaps the plainest truths, and doubtless we shall all find that we were before in many things erroneous, and misinformed.

"

But now remaineth Faith," to guide us in our passage through the mazes and perplexities of this confused and intricate world, "Hope," to cheer and comfort us on our journey, with the prospect of a clearer day beyond the grave, and

Charity," to smooth the way, by cultivating kindness and friendship with the various companions of our pilgrimage; “but the greatest of these is Charity;" because, without it, Faith and Hope are worthless; for in that case, Faith will never attain a sight of the glories of heaven, and Hope will end in utter despair; but Charity will survive and increase to all eternity, being extended to the whole company of Saints and Angels in heaven, wrought up into the most intimate union with God the Father who loved us, God the Son who redeemed us, and God the Holy Ghost, who first poured into our hearts that most excellent gift, the very bond of peace, and of all virtue.

SERMON XXIII.

REGENERATION.

2 COR. v. 17.

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ;— old things are passed away, behold, all things are become

new.

THE sole end of preaching is, that men may be saved, that they may become on earth meet to be partakers of the happiness of heaven hereafter. This is the ultimate object at which we aim; we can have no other view or desire, if we are sincere in the exercise of our holy and most important functions. But although this is the acknowledged end, it behoves us also to speak of the means, which God has appointed to conduce to that end. And more than this, it is our duty earnestly and continually to exhort men to the

diligent use of those means, through which the grace of God is ordinarily communicated. We are not merely to inform them in general terms, that they are to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, but to remind them also of the various and particular channels, through which that blessed gift is most commonly imparted. I trust, my brethren, that you who have been in the habit of frequenting this "house of prayer," will not accuse me of having kept back that most essential doctrine of the gospel, which teaches us, that in the generality of cases, (you will hear presently what I mean by thus qualifying the assertion,) no man can be a real Christian, without a thorough conversion of heart, and of life too, as a necessary consequence; and that this conversion is the effect of a spiritual operation upon his soul, renewing him to the likeness and image of God.

I confess that I have hitherto been designedly cautious in the use of one expression to denote that change, because it is made a common handle for dispute and controversy, and I wish, as much as possible, to remove all grounds of religious contention, which serves only to irritate, without instructing or improving. The term to which I allude, is Regeneration; and no word has been more unfortunate in giving occasion to that bane of all true piety, party spirit. There

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are endless disputes about what it means, and when the effect signified by it takes place. Does it in the Scriptures mean conversion? and if so, does it in that sense take place necessarily at baptism, or at some other uncertain period? You know that our blessed Saviour has said, "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God; "-that St. Paul speaks of the "washing of regeneration; "—that our church in her Offices, also connects regeneration with the ceremony of baptism. you may know also, that the most antient Christian writers very commonly use the term "regeneration," or "the sacrament of regeneration," when they mean baptism. It is plain therefore, to me, that regeneration, in some sense, takes place at baptism; and I do not hesitate to affirm, that, in the sense of conversion, it never takes place on that occasion. For people are baptized, either as adults, when their reason is ripe, and they are able to distinguish between right and wrong, truth and error, or as infants, when they have no knowledge, no powers of mind whatever. Now, in the former case, when persons of maturer years are baptized, their conversion must take place before baptism; otherwise they are not qualified to be baptized at all; for repentance and faith are absolutely necessary in those who