perfectly and inadequately received by "his own," is a fact but too obvious to common experience; yet, melancholy as this fact is, it is to be accounted for, probably, from various other causes besides the wilful blindness and corruption of the human heart. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do," is the prayer which even the agonies of his Cross could not restrain from bursting from the lips of Him" who knew what was in man ;" and it would be well if we would ever accustom ourselves to look upon human nature with that tenderness and gentleness which the greatest contradiction of sinners could not eradicate from his compassionate bosom! So far is He from encouraging the supposition, that there is, in the soul of man, corrupt as it is, any fixed obstacle to the reception of Him and of his laws, that he never ceases to implore "his own" to receive Him, and for this purpose he makes use of all those persuasions and incitements which are the best adapted to influence our reason, and to awaken our affections. In the text we are informed, that " as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God," a lofty designation, my brethren, which

suggests to our thoughts every thing that is most worthy of human ambition: and it is well deserving of our consideration what are the characteristics included under it. Were men once distinctly to perceive the high attainments which it is in their power to make if they will receive Him, and the great rewards to which He will conduct them, we may reasonably believe, that the chief obstacle in the way of His Religion would be removed, and that Nature herself would almost go hand in hand with Grace.

I. In explaining what he means by this exalted title, the Apostle first shews in what respect it differs from the common designations under which men may be classed. For this purpose, He casts a rapid view over some of the most distinguishing characteristics of human nature, and without throwing any aspersion upon these, or hinting that they ought to be rooted out or expunged, he yet affirms, that something more is required to elevate man to his highest point of exaltation.

1. "The sons of God (he says) are born not of blood." Here, then, in the first place, one great source is opened to our view, of those

qualities which make us to be what we are. All men possess certain common attributes and affections, which may be said, accordingly, to run in the blood of the Human Race. All possess the principles of natural reason; an aversion for misery, and a desire of happiness, and many social affections which connect man with man. In every Human Being, too, perhaps there is something peculiar; some circumstance of temper, or of genius, which distinguishes him from his fellow men; and, which, without being in itself either virtuous, or vicious, may, according as it is neglected, or wisely used, be productive of much evil, or be the foundation of eminent excellence. In all these general or particular qualities, we see the origin of what we are; these are the fountains of good and of evil in our souls; the waters which flow from them sparkle in the brilliance of the sun, and enrich and beautify the region through which they wind, or roll on in a dark and muddy torrent, and spread around them desolation and deformity. This, then, is one of the most interesting and important aspects in which we can contemplate man; nor surely, in this contemplation, is it a happy or a reasonable view to see

nothing but evil, to overlook all those concep tions of Truth, and of Good, and all those kind and beautiful affections which God has interwoven with our frame, and which throw almost a divine glory over the most clouded features of the history of our kind; or, to behold only, in that varied and wonderful History, the traces of a ruined and degraded Being, and to pray as its noblest consummation, that all its future pages may exhibit the aspiring faculties of human genius bound down under one narrow system of contracted thought, and the natural flow of human affections creeping on in one dull and artificial channel. It is not, my brethren, to disparage the faculties and the sentiments of our nature, that the Apostle tells us, that by their means alone we cannot have power to become the sons of God;-he tells us, indeed, that for this glorious birth the womb of Nature is not sufficient ;-that the best use of reason and of affection will but darkly trace the connecting tie which binds us to a heavenly Father; but he does not insinuate, as may seem to have been done by teachers of less sacred authority, that the higher birth in which we open our eyes to the approving smile of that

gracious Father, instead of invigorating and purifying our previous faculties and sentiments is destined to absorb and annihilate them. No, -the blood of the natural man does not surely freeze in the veins when the sublimer principles of Faith are impressed upon the soul, but continues to flow, as it did before, through their multiplied branches and windings; neither is it meant that these principles of a higher and more expanded character of being, should impede one rush of genuine affection from the heart, one legitimate employment of our intellectual powers, or even one innocent play of fancy, but that they should guide them all to right ends, and guard them with the shield of their own peculiar sanctity.

2. If, in one view, the Apostle instructs us, that the feelings of nature alone will not enable us to become the sons of God; he teaches us, in the second place, that, we can still less hope to reach that high relationship by means of those strong propensities and passions which arise, chiefly, in the contagion of human society, and which so powerfully influence the course of our lives in this world. This he expresses, by saying, that we were not born the sons of God, "of the will of