assunder, and in the awful bosom of
death, be extinguished forever!--Suppose your guardian angel smiling
over the ruins of death, should point you far beyond these changing
scenes, and with rapture exclaim, you shall meet this darling child
again and commingle with your little fallen flock in glory! You and
they and all mankind shall be born from the dead into the kingdom of
God, and be new creatures free from sin and pain, and "be the children
of God being the children of the resurrection." Jesus your Lord "was
the first born from the dead," and you shall pass from death to life
and live forever.
Now suppose you positively believed his words; could you not say in
the scripture form of the expression that through faith you was
already "passed from death to life?"--that you was born of faith, and
by faith was in the kingdom of God? You certainly could, and it would
in every sense of the word be true. Through faith, you would be
justified, through faith sanctified; through faith you would enjoy
eternal life--in fine, through faith you would be saved. This faith
would give love unmeasured to your Creator, and fill your soul with
joy unspeakable and full of glory. "Faith works by love, purifies the
heart and overcomes the world."
Reader, do you not love the Lord for his wonderful goodness to his
children? What glorious hopes are here! "and he that hath this hope in
him purifieth himself even as he is pure"--you now see why the gospel
rings with the word _faith_ from one end to the other.
The world previous to the coming of Jesus Christ had no knowledge of
immortality through a resurrection, into the kingdom of God. The
phrase "_born again_" is not mentioned in the Old Testament, and of
course means something more than a _conversion_. This subject will be
continued in our next.
SERMON X
"Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John
iii. 3.
The literal rendering of this passage seems to be--"_except a man be
born above_." The word _above_ being substituted for _again_ more
forcibly demonstrates the correctness of my views in the two former
discourses.
Many charge the Universalists with denying the necessity of a new
birth, or regeneration. But take from me my faith and hope in that
glorious truth, and I must at that moment resign the salvation of
every human being. Convince me that not another child will be born
into t
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