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tive of His offices. He is "Emmanuel;' for he his God with us."-He is the True Light; "for He lighteth every man that cometh into the world." He is "Jesus ;' for "He shall save his people from their sins." He is the Lamb of God;" for He "taketh away the sin of the world." He is "the Lord our righteousness;" for "in Him shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." These are some of the Names of Christ and to believe on his Name, is to believe on Him as discharging for us those offices, which these Names describe to trust in Him as the Saviour, the Lamb of God, the Lord our righteousness. -But there is one expression in the text, which will convey a still clearer idea of that particular exercise of Faith, which we are now considering. The apostle says, "To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the Sons of God." Believing in Christ is here represented by receiving Him. This expression of receiving evidently implies the idea of a gift and such is the view in which Christ is frequently exhibited in Scripture. He is spoken of as a gift. God gives to us his Son. He offers Him to us in all his offices, to enlighten, justify, and save us. To believe then on the Son is to receive this gift. It is humbly and thankfully to acquiesce in the

salvation provided; it is cordially to appropriate to ourselves the blessings held out to us it is from the heart to take Jesus Christ as" of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."-This is that act and exercise of Faith, by which we become the children of God.

It must be obvious that this faith presupposes the existence of several important particulars. Before a person could have been induced thus to receive Christ, there must have been a Conviction of sin, and some measure of consequent alarm excited within him.

He must have so seen and felt his guilt and danger as a sinner, as to have utterly renounced his own righteousness, and for ever to have given up the hope of saving himself by his own works.

There must have been a Consciousness of his own spiritual blindness and weakness wrought in his soul. He must have so felt his own ignorance, as to be willing to be taught from above: so experienced his own helplessness, as to be thankful for the promise of supernatural strength.-There must have been a Distaste for sin, and a strong wish to break off from it produced in his heart. He must have so groaned under the burden of a depraved and corrupted nature, as anxiously to have desired deliverance from

it. There must have been a Persuasion wrought in his mind, of the sufficiency of Christ, of the certainty and suitableness of the salvation provided in Him: for without such a Persuasion how could the heart have been induced to accept His mediation, and to embrace His offers? In short, pride must have been humbled; Self must have been dethroned; spiritual apprehensions of sin must have been acquired; spiritual views of Christ must have been obtained; before there could have been that cordial acquiescence in his salvation, that personal appropriation of Him to the soul in all his offices, which the act of receiving Him implies; and which, in fact, is that very exercise of Faith, by which our adoption into the family of God is accomplished. Let us advert,

Secondly, To the Way in which this Faith tends to produce the effect ascribed to it.

This receiving of Christ, this Act of believing on Him, of which we speak, is the consent of the soul to the covenant of grace. And no sooner does the soul yield this consent, than its union with Christ is accomplished. The act of Faith is virtually the act of union. For whenever the soul thus surrenders itself without reserve to Christ, He takes it into union with Himself. This union is variously represented in Scripture, and illustrated by many different comparisons.

At one time it is likened to the engrafting of a branch into the tree at another to the incorporation of a limb into the body. But there is no resemblance more frequently employed on this subject, than the marriage union; "This," says the apostle, speaking of the union, which is effected by marriage, "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and his church." Christ is the bridegroom of his church, the husband of His people: and all true believers are married unto Him; and thus by the strongest and tenderest of all ties, are united to Him. And it is from this union, thus effected, and accomplished by faith, that all their interests in the blessings of the Gospel spring. They are "accepted in the Beloved," and stand complete in Him." Having united them to Himself, He regards and treats them as such an union imports. He takes their debts upon Himself, and confers his riches on them. He washes them from their sins in his own blood, and clothes them in the robe of his own righteousness. Thus being pardoned through his sufferings, and justified through his obedience, they are accounted as dear children in Him, are admitted as one with Him into the family of God, and are invested with all the privileges which that high distinction involves. When * Ephes. v. 32.

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the prodigal returned to his father's home, not only did he meet with every token of forgiveness and reconciliation, but in every respect he was welcomed and treated as a son; a son, who had been " dead, but was aliye again;" who had been "lost, but was found."

Thus Faith tends to produce the effect ascribed to it. By uniting the soul to Christ, it secures to it a name and a place among the children of God: and so may be justly regarded as the immediate Cause by which our adoption is accomplished. We consider,

II. The remote Cause of this effect, Regeneration. - St. John represents those who through faith have power to become the sons of God, not only as having believed on his name, but also as having been "born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

That the birth which the apostle here imputes to them was not their natural and original birth, is evident from the manner in which he speaks of it. That birth was of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man. But the birth of which the Apostle speaks was not of any of these, but "of God." Consequently it was another and a later birth; a second or a new birth; or, to make use of another term, a Regeneration. In discussing, then, the subject

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