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way; and there is life in all those three graces; so that we may well call this a living way, and say, with the wise man, that in this way of righteousness there is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death, Prov. xii. 28. Faith, hope, and love, are admitted, through Christ, to centre in God. Prayers, praises, and thank-offerings, go through this vail; and all grace, and gracious answers to prayer, and every good and perfect gift, and all the spiritual blessings of the covenant, flow to us in this same channel. And, as this is the living way, the sins that attend our most holy things shall not pass to God through a mediator; nor shall any wrath or curse from God pass through Christ to them that believe; for God has sworn that he will not be wroth with us, nor rebuke us.

"A highway shall be there, and a way; and it shall be called, The way of holiness." Having showed, as well as I can, the highway, I shall now show this way, which is called The way of holiness. Christ is the highway of life; and this is the way of holiness; there shall be a highway, and a way. This holy way is regeneration, and nothing else. "Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judg

ing the twelve tribes of Israel. This following Christ in the regeneration signifies two things.

The

1. In the days of Christ the old dispensation passed away, and all things became new. new covenant took place, new ordinances were brought in, and the Gentiles, a new people, were called to the fellowship of Christ; a new heart and a new spirit were given; and service in the newness of the spirit was required; and all service in the oldness of the letter was rejected. Here is a new birth of things, a regeneration of ordinances and institutions. Now, the apostles followed Christ into these things; but the scribes and pharisees abode by the old types and shadows, until God put a final stop to their proceedings by the Roman sword. And though their heart is still inclined to the offering of sacrifices, yet they are prevented by two things:

1. Their genealogies are all burnt, so that they are at no certainty who is and who is not of the tribe of Levi; and they are threatened with the destruction of Korah and his company if any stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, offer incense, Num. xvi. 40.

way

2. There is an interdiction that lies in the of sacrificing, which is, "Take heed to thyself, that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest: but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, and there thou

shalt do all that I command thee." The genealogies being burnt, the tribe of Levi not known, and Jerusalem, where God put his name, being now in the hand of strangers; and the Jews in a land not theirs; and the above threatenings and prohibitions lying in the way; and Christ's sacrifice being rejected by them; an ancient prophecy is fulfilled in them, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a. sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim, " Hosea iii. 4. These elder sons abode without, they came not into a compliance with the will of God; but the apostles did; they followed Christ into this change, into this regeneration of things, when old things passed away, and all things be

came new.

Furthermore, they followed Christ out of the old Adam's family, even out of the flesh; and they passed into the adopted family of God, and into the household of faith, by a regeneration of soul; they followed Christ in the regeneration, by which they were made new creatures in him, and so passed as such into a new family. And as Christ is the highway that leads to God, so this is the way of holiness, which leads us to the enjoyment of God, and makes us meet for the heavenly inheritance. We cannot follow Christ spiritually without partaking of his Spirit; nor will Christ own any but such; for "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

Regeneration is a change wrought in every part or faculty of the soul by the Holy Spirit of God; in which some things are removed, and things that were corrupted by sin are set right again; hence it is called washing and renewing; that is, cleansing and making new again. “According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." And, as God is said to give testimony to the word of his grace, this he does by causing his Spirit to attend and apply the word preached, which is God's seal to the message. You received the Spirit, says Paul, not by the works of the law, but by the preaching of faith. Hence the word goes to God's elect, as it doth not to others; to others it goes in word only, but to the elect in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; which makes manifest who are the elect and who are not. The word preached is the means of conveying the Spirit; hence it is said, that "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish." Now, as this way is to be called the way of holiness, it shows that sin is purged and removed out of the way, and real holiness brought into the soul of those who follow Christ in the regeneration.

1. There is a cleansing of us by the Spirit of

God. "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." They must be cleansed that walk in this way; as the prophet says, "It shall be called, The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it;" but they that are cleansed shall. There is no one thing that the Holy Ghost does in the souls of God's children, but that work is put, as a name, upon the way in which they walk; as, in the above, the prophet says the unclean shall not pass over the way of holiness. But the regenerated soul walks in a clean way, because he is clean." "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word."

2. The Holy Spirit, in his work of regeneration, removes the vail of ignorance from the understanding; hence our Lord tells the Laodicean church that he counsels her to buy of him eyesalve to anoint her eyes, that she may see. And, when this anointing takes place, we have some glimmering views of God's ways, and not till then; for we are expressly said to be blind before, and to be going we know not whither. "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them," Isa. xlii. 16. And this light which breaks into us, and breaks out before us, is called the morning-star, the be

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