THIRD EXERCISE REPETITION OF THE FIRST AND SECOND EXERCISE - FOURTH EXERCISE SUMMARY OF THIRD

 

THIRD EXERCISE

IT IS A REPETITION OF THE FIRST AND SECOND EXERCISE, MAKING THREE COLLOQUIES

After the Preparatory Prayer and two Preludes, it will be to repeat the First and Second Exercise, marking and dwelling on the Points in which I have felt greater consolation or desolation, or greater spiritual feeling.

After this I will make three Colloquies in the following manner:

First Colloquy. The first Colloquy to Our Lady, that she may get me grace from Her Son and Lord for three things: first, that I may feel an interior knowledge of my sins, and hatred of them; second, that I may feel the disorder of my actions, so that, hating them, I may correct myself and put myself in order; third, to ask knowledge of the world, in order that, hating it, I may put away from me worldly and vain things.

And with that a HAIL MARY.

Second Colloquy. The second: The same to the Son, begging Him to get it for me from the Father.

And with that the SOUL OF CHRIST.

Third Colloquy. The third: The same to the Father, that the Eternal Lord Himself may grant it to me.

And with that an OUR FATHER.

FOURTH EXERCISE

IT IS A SUMMARY OF THIS SAME THIRD

I said a summary, that the understanding, without wandering, may assiduously go through the memory of the things contemplated in the preceding Exercises.

I will make the same three Colloquies.

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SECOND EXERCISE - IT IS A MEDITATION ON THE SINS AND CONTAINS IN IT AFTER THE PREPARATORY PRAYER

Prayer. Let the Preparatory Prayer be the same.

First Prelude. The First Prelude will be the same composition.

Second Prelude. The second is to ask for what I want. It will be here to beg a great and intense sorrow and tears for my sins.

First Point. The first Point is the statement of the sins; that is to say, to bring to memory all the sins of life, looking from year to year, or from period to period. For this three things are helpful: first, to look at the place and the house where I have lived; second, the relations I have had with others; third, the occupation in which I have lived.

Second Point. The second, to weigh the sins, looking at the foulness and the malice which any mortal sin committed has in it, even supposing it were not forbidden.

Third Point. The third, to look at who I am, lessening myself by examples:

First, how much I am in comparison to all men;

Second, what men are in comparison to all the Angels and Saints of Paradise;

Third, what all Creation is in comparison to God: (--Then I alone, what can I be?)

Fourth, to see all my bodily corruption and foulness;

Fifth, to look at myself as a sore and ulcer, from which have sprung so many sins and so many iniquities and so very vile poison.

Fourth Point. The fourth, to consider what God is, against Whom I have sinned, according to His attributes; comparing them with their contraries in me -- His Wisdom with my ignorance; His Omnipotence with my weakness; His Justice with my iniquity; His Goodness with my malice.

Fifth Point. The fifth, an exclamation of wonder with deep feeling, going through all creatures, how they have left me in life and preserved me in it; the Angels, how, though they are the sword of the Divine Justice, they have endured me, and guarded me, and prayed for me; the Saints, how they have been engaged in interceding and praying for me; and the heavens, sun, moon, stars, and elements, fruits, birds, fishes and animals -- and the earth, how it has not opened to swallow me up, creating new Hells for me to suffer in them forever!

Colloquy. Let me finish with a Colloquy of mercy, pondering and giving thanks to God our Lord that He has given me life up to now, proposing amendment, with His grace, for the future.

OUR FATHER.

 

FIRST EXERCISE - IT IS A MEDITATION WITH THE THREE POWERS ON THE FIRST, THE SECOND AND THE THIRD SIN

 

It contains in it, after one Preparatory Prayer and two Preludes, three chief Points and one Colloquy.

Prayer. The Preparatory Prayer is to ask grace of God our Lord that all my intentions, actions and operations may be directed purely to the service and praise of His Divine Majesty.

First Prelude. The First Prelude is a composition, seeing the place.

Here it is to be noted that, in a visible contemplation or meditation -- as, for instance, when one contemplates Christ our Lord, Who is visible -- the composition will be to see with the sight of the imagination the corporeal place where the thing is found which I want to contemplate. I say the corporeal place, as for instance, a Temple or Mountain where Jesus Christ or Our Lady is found, according to what I want to contemplate. In an invisible contemplation or meditation -- as here on the Sins -- the composition will be to see with the sight of the imagination and consider that my soul is imprisoned in this corruptible body, and all the compound in this valley, as exiled among brute beasts: I say all the compound of soul and body.

Second Prelude. The second is to ask God our Lord for what I want and desire.

The petition has to be according to the subject matter; that is, if the contemplation is on the Resurrection, one is to ask for joy with Christ in joy; if it is on the Passion, he is to ask for pain, tears and torment with Christ in torment.

Here it will be to ask shame and confusion at myself, seeing how many have been damned for only one mortal sin, and how many times I deserved to be condemned forever for my so many sins.

Note. Before all Contemplations or Meditations, there ought always to be made the Preparatory Prayer, which is not changed, and the two Preludes already mentioned, which are sometimes changed, according to the subject matter.

First Point. The first Point will be to bring the memory on the First Sin, which was that of the Angels, and then to bring the intellect on the same, discussing it; then the will, wanting to recall and understand all this in order to make me more ashamed and confound me more, bringing into comparison with the one sin of the Angels my so many sins, and reflecting, while they for one sin were cast into Hell, how often I have deserved it for so many.

I say to bring to memory the sin of the Angels, how they, being created in grace, not wanting to help themselves with their liberty to reverence and obey their Creator and Lord, coming to pride, were changed from grace to malice, and hurled from Heaven to Hell; and so then to discuss more in detail with the intellect: and then to move the feelings more with the will.

Second Point. The second is to do the same -- that is, to bring the Three Powers -- on the sin of Adam and Eve, bringing to memory how on account of that sin they did penance for so long a time, and how much corruption came on the human race, so many people going the way to Hell.

I say to bring to memory the Second Sin, that of our First Parents; how after Adam was created in the field of Damascus and placed in the Terrestrial Paradise, and Eve was created from his rib, being forbidden to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, they ate and so sinned, and afterwards clothed in tunics of skins and cast from Paradise, they lived, all their life, without the original justice which they had lost, and in many labors and much penance. And then to discuss with the understanding more in detail; and to use the will as has been said.

Third Point. The third is likewise to do the same on the Third particular Sin of any one who for one mortal sin is gone to Hell -- and many others without number, for fewer sins than I have committed.

I say to do the same on the Third particular Sin, bringing to memory the gravity and malice of the sin against one's Creator and Lord; to discuss with the understanding how in sinning and acting against the Infinite Goodness, he has been justly condemned forever; and to finish with the will as has been said.

Colloquy. Imagining Christ our Lord present and placed on the Cross, let me make a Colloquy, how from Creator He is come to making Himself man, and from life eternal is come to temporal death, and so to die for my sins.

Likewise, looking at myself, what I have done for Christ, what I am doing for Christ, what I ought to do for Christ.

And so, seeing Him such, and so nailed on the Cross, to go over that which will present itself.

The Colloquy is made, properly speaking, as one friend speaks to another, or as a servant to his master; now asking some grace, now blaming oneself for some misdeed, now communicating one's affairs, and asking advice in them.

And let me say an  "OUR FATHER."

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GENERAL CONFESSION WITH COMMUNION

Whoever, of his own accord, wants to make a General Confession, will, among many other advantages, find three in making it here.

First. The first: Though whoever goes to Confession every year is not obliged to make a General Confession, by making it there is greater profit and merit, because of the greater actual sorrow for all the sins and wickedness of his whole life.

Second. The second: In the Spiritual Exercises, sins and their malice are understood more intimately, than in the time when one was not so giving himself to interior things. Gaining now more knowledge of and sorrow for them, he will have greater profit and merit than he had before.

Third. The third is: In consequence, having made a better Confession and being better disposed, one finds himself in condition and prepared to receive the Blessed Sacrament: the reception of which is an aid not only not to fall into sin, but also to preserve the increase of grace.

This General Confession will be best made immediately after the Exercises of the First Week.

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GENERAL EXAMEN OF CONSCIENCE TO PURIFY ONESELF AND TO MAKE ONE'S CONFESSION BETTER

 

I presuppose that there are three kinds of thoughts in me: that is, one my own, which springs from my mere liberty and will; and two others, which come from without, one from the good spirit, and the other from the bad.

THOUGHT

There are two ways of meriting in the bad thought which comes from without, namely:

First Way. A thought of committing a mortal sin, which thought I resist immediately and it remains conquered.

Second Way. The second way of meriting is: When that same bad thought comes to me and I resist it, and it returns to me again and again, and I always resist, until it is conquered.

This second way is more meritorious than the first.

A venial sin is committed when the same thought comes of sinning mortally and one gives ear to it, making some little delay, or receiving some sensual pleasure, or when there is some negligence in rejecting such thought.

There are two ways of sinning mortally:

First Way. The first is, when one gives consent to the bad thought, to act afterwards as he has consented, or to put it in act if he could.

Second Way. The second way of sinning mortally is when that sin is put in act.

This is a greater sin for three reasons: first, because of the greater time; second, because of the greater intensity; third, because of the greater harm to the two persons.

WORD

One must not swear, either by Creator or creature, if it be not with truth, necessity and reverence.

By necessity I mean, not when any truth whatever is affirmed with oath, but when it is of some importance for the good of the soul, or the body, or for temporal goods.

By reverence I mean when, in naming the Creator and Lord, one acts with consideration, so as to render Him the honor and reverence due.

It is to be noted that, though in an idle oath one sins more when he swears by the Creator than by the creature, it is more difficult to swear in the right way with truth, necessity and reverence by the creature than by the Creator, for the following reasons.

First Reason. The first: When we want to swear by some creature, wanting to name the creature does not make us so attentive or circumspect as to telling the truth, or as to affirming it with necessity, as would wanting to name the Lord and Creator of all things.

Second Reason. The second is that in swearing by the creature it is not so easy to show reverence and respect to the Creator, as in swearing and naming the same Creator and Lord, because wanting to name God our Lord brings with it more respect and reverence than wanting to name the created thing. Therefore swearing by the creature is more allowable to the perfect than to the imperfect, because the perfect, through continued contemplation and enlightenment of intellect, consider, meditate and contemplate more that God our Lord is in every creature, according to His own essence, presence and power, and so in swearing by the creature they are more apt and prepared than the imperfect to show respect and reverence to their Creator and Lord.

Third Reason. The third is that in continually swearing by the creature, idolatry is to be more feared in the imperfect than in the perfect.

One must not speak an idle word. By idle word I mean one which does not benefit either me or another, and is not directed to that intention. Hence words spoken for any useful purpose, or meant to profit one's own or another's soul, the body or temporal goods, are never idle, not even if one were to speak of something foreign to one's state of life, as, for instance, if a religious speaks of wars or articles of trade; but in all that is said there is merit in directing well, and sin in directing badly, or in speaking idly.

Nothing must be said to injure another's character or to find fault, because if I reveal a mortal sin that is not public, I sin mortally; if a venial sin, venially; and if a defect, I show a defect of my own.

But if the intention is right, in two ways one can speak of the sin or fault of another:

First Way. The first: When the sin is public, as in the case of a public prostitute, and of a sentence given in judgment, or of a public error which is infecting the souls with whom one comes in contact.

Second Way. Second: When the hidden sin is revealed to some person that he may help to raise him who is in sin -- supposing, however, that he has some probable conjectures or grounds for thinking that he will be able to help him.

ACT

Taking the Ten Commandments, the Precepts of the Church and the recommendations of Superiors, every act done against any of these three heads is, according to its greater or less nature, a greater or a lesser sin.

By recommendations of Superiors I mean such things as Bulls de Cruzadas and other Indulgences, as for instance for peace, granted under condition of going to Confession and receiving the Blessed Sacrament. For one commits no little sin in being the cause of others acting contrary to such pious exhortations and recommendations of our Superiors, or in doing so oneself.

METHOD FOR MAKING THE GENERAL EXAMEN

It contains in it five Points.

First Point. The first Point is to give thanks to God our Lord for the benefits received.

Second Point. The second, to ask grace to know our sins and cast them out.

Third Point. The third, to ask account of our soul from the hour that we rose up to the present Examen, hour by hour, or period by period: and first as to thoughts, and then as to words, and then as to acts, in the same order as was mentioned in the Particular Examen.

Fourth Point. The fourth, to ask pardon of God our Lord for the faults.

Fifth Point. The fifth, to purpose amendment with His grace.

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PARTICULAR AND DAILY EXAMEN

 

PARTICULAR AND DAILY EXAMEN

It contains in it three times, and two to examine oneself.

The first time is in the morning, immediately on rising, when one ought to propose to guard himself with diligence against that particular sin or defect which he wants to correct and amend.

The second time is after dinner, when one is to ask of God our Lord what one wants, namely, grace to remember how many times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect, and to amend himself in the future. Then let him make the first Examen, asking account of his soul of that particular thing proposed, which he wants to correct and amend. Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make in the first line of the G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make.

The third time: After supper, the second Examen will be made, in the same way, hour by hour, commencing at the first Examen and continuing up to the present (second) one, and let him make in the second line of the same G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect.

FOUR ADDITIONS FOLLOW TO RID ONESELF SOONER OF THAT PARTICULAR SIN OR DEFECT

First Addition. The first Addition is that each time one falls into that particular sin or defect, let him put his hand on his breast, grieving for having fallen: which can be done even in the presence of many, without their perceiving what he is doing.

Second Addition. The second: As the first line of the G------- means the first Examen, and the second line the second Examen, let him look at night if there is amendment from the first line to the second, that is, from the first Examen to the second.

Third Addition. The third: To compare the second day with the first; that is, the two Examens of the present day with the other two Examens of the previous day, and see if he has amended himself from one day to the other.

Fourth Addition. The fourth Addition: To compare one week with another, and see if he has amended himself in the present week over the week past.

Note. It is to be noted that the first (large) G------- which follows means the Sunday: the second (smaller), the Monday: the third, the Tuesday, and so on.

G

G

G

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The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola - PREFACE

 

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola

These are the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a plan of contemplation to be carried out over about a month. St. Ignatius of Loyola (1419-1556) was the founder of the Jesuits, and was canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. He published the Spiritual Exercises in 1548. The Exercises were intended for use during a retreat; and are a central part of the first year training of Jesuit novitiates. However, one does not have to be a Jesuit-in-training to take advantage of the Exercises: Increasingly, lay people and even non-Catholics follow this path.

PREFACE

THE present translation of the Exercises of St. Ignatius has been made from the Spanish Autograph of St. Ignatius. The copy so designated is not indeed in the handwriting of the Saint, but has a good number of corrections made by him and is known to have been used by him in giving the Exercises.

St. Ignatius of Loyola was a man without any great pretensions to education at the time he wrote this book. His native language was not Spanish, but Basque. His lack of education and his imperfect acquaintance with pure Spanish are enough to make it clear that a refined use of any language, and more especially of the Spanish, or, in general, anything like a finished or even perfectly correct, style is not to be expected in his work. Literary defects he removed to some extent, perhaps, as he continued to use and apply the book, but he is known never to have been fearful of such faults. His corrections found in this text are clearly made with a view to precision more than to anything else.

The Autograph of St. Ignatius was translated by Father General Roothaan into Latin and was reproduced by Father Rodeles in his edition of the Spanish text. But the original was not available to ordinary students. In 1908, however, Father General Wernz allowed the entire book to be phototyped, and in this way it was spread throughout the Society of Jesus in a large number of copies. It is one of these which has been chiefly employed by the present translator, who has, besides, made frequent use of the Manuscript itself.

After considerable study of the matter, it seemed best to make this translation as faithful and close a reproduction of the Spanish text as could be. To do so it was necessary at times to sacrifice the niceties of style, but it was thought that those who would use the book would easily forego the elegancies of diction if they could feel sure they were reading the very words of St. Ignatius. Any other form of translation than the one adopted could hardly be kept from being a partial expansion, illustration or development of the original, and would therefore have proved, to some extent, a commentary as well as a translation. This the translator has earnestly sought to avoid, preferring to leave the further work of commentary to another occasion or to other hands.

Another reason for aiming at absolute fidelity rather than style was the fact that the Exercises are mostly read, not continuously for any time, but piecemeal and meditatively. Literary finish would therefore not be much sought or cared for in the book, but accuracy is. For this a certain neglect of style seemed pardonable in the translation, if only the real meaning of the writer could be made clear. Perhaps some may even find a charm in the consequent want of finish, seeing it reproduces more completely the style of St. Ignatius.

The process of translating in this way the Autograph text is not as simple as it might seem. The first difficulty is to make sure of the exact meaning of St. Ignatius. This is obscured, at times, by his language being that of nearly 400 years ago and being not pure Spanish. Occasionally, in fact, the Saint makes new Spanish words from the Latin or Italian, or uses Spanish words in an Italian or Latin sense, or employs phrases not current except in the Schools, and sometimes even has recourse to words in their Latin form. To be sure, then, of the meaning, one must often go to other languages and to the terms adopted in Scholastic Philosophy or Theology. The meaning clear, the further difficulty comes of finding an exactly equivalent English word or phrase.

In accomplishing his task, the translator has made free use of other translations, especially of that of Father General Roothaan into Latin, that of Father Venturi into Italian, and that of Father Jennesseaux into French, and has had the use of the literal translation into Latin made, apparently, by St. Ignatius himself, copied in 1541, and formally approved by the Holy See in 1548.

Besides the last-mentioned Manuscript and printed books, the translator has to acknowledge, as he does very gratefully, his obligations to the Very Rev. Father Mathias Abad, Father Achilles Gerste and particularly Father Mariano Lecina, Editor of the Ignatiana in the MONUMENTA HISTORICA S.J., for aid in appreciating the Spanish text, to Fathers Michael Ahern, Peter Cusick, Walter Drum, Francis Kemper and Herbert Noonan for general revision of the translation, and above all to Father Aloysius Frumveller for an accurate collation of the translation with the original.

In conclusion, it is well to warn the reader that the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are not meant to be read cursorily, but to be pondered word for word and under the direction of a competent guide. Read straight on, it may well appear jejune and unsatisfactory; studied in the actual making of the Exercises, the very text itself cannot fail to yield ever new material for thought and prayer.

ELDER MULLAN, S.J.

GERMAN COLLEGE, ROME,

Feast of St. Ignatius, 1909.

Oh, the infinite patience of our loving Lord

My very Dear Brother in our precious Lord,

It was the end of the Redeemer's love and death, to purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works. What a shame is it that we love Christ no more—that we can bear to think, speak, or act for any other end than His honor! Oh, what black creatures are we! And yet our Lord calls us fair—and all-fair—His fair one! Oh, stupendous grace! Wonder at it, you blessed angels! Praise Emanuel's love, you winged flames!

And let us, the objects of His heart's delight, that wound and pierce Him daily by our sins, blush and be ashamed! Let us loathe ourselves in our own sight, for all our abominations, for lo! the Lord is pacified towards us for all that we have done! Oh, let us mourn like doves in the valleys, everyone for his own iniquities, while pardoning love, through the Lamb's blood, cleanses us from all sin, and grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall be done to such backsliders in heart and ways—to such as have dealt very treacherously, aye, and do still, with our Maker, our Husband; that slight His manifested love, and practically count Him not worthy of our poor, base, little selves, who gave, who gives His great, His glorious, matchless Self for us, and to us!

If our Lord were to smite us dead, yes, to the lowest hell, we have deserved it. But oh! nothing but His love can cure us; though in ourselves unlovely, loathsome creatures. Oh, the infinite grace of our Lord's heart! Rather than lose us in the fall, Himself would take our room, our nature, our law-place, yes, and our sins too, upon His holy, harmless, spotless, glorious Self! that by His great and righteous Self, sacrificed for us, He might purge us from all iniquity, make us perfect in beauty, and exalt us in and with Him, to inherit the throne of glory! and having finished this glorious work of unparalleled love in Himself for us, He will finish it by Himself upon us.

Oh, the infinite patience of our loving Lord—a patience worthy of God—a patience that flows from, is maintained by, and resolved into, an infinity of love! But, oh! if our Lord bears with us, and does not cast us off for our great provocation, if He pities and pardons us, is not that enough? Oh, this is ten thousand times more than we deserve! It is grace worthy of Himself, that none could show but the God of all grace, that is higher than the heaven, deeper than the sea, broader than the earth, longer than time, long and boundless as eternity!

But, oh! it is not enough to answer the ends of our Lord's love, for Him only to bear with, to pity, and pardon us—for to show His glory, and vent His heart, He will kiss and embrace us! He will rest in His love with infinite complacency, and rejoice over us with joy and singing, as if we were altogether lovely, and ravishingly fair! "How fair, and how pleasant are you," says the Prince of grace, the Lord of glory—to an Ethiopian, a black sinner. O love, for delights! "You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck." This is our God, our Maker, our Husband! This is His voice to the most vile, ungrateful worms, whom He loves and calls His bride! Oh, for melting, broken, loving hearts, under this all-penetrating, all-subduing, and all-surpassing love! Glory to the Lord our Lover!

And when we are made perfect in love, then we will love Him with our whole heart, soul, and strength—without weakness, without weariness—all love, all duty, all obedience. We will cast down our crowns at His royal feet—at His feet once pierced for us—adoring the Prince of life, and shouting the praises of His knowledge-passing love unto ages without end!

 

Dreams

Dear Sir,

As to the person you wrote me of, by the hints you give, I think he is erroneous. It is possible that God may give us notice of some things by dreams, but no article of faith, nor rule of practice, ought to be founded on nor drawn from dreams; for since the canon of the Holy Scriptures is complete, and God in these last days has spoken unto us by His Son, we are to have recourse thereto in all things which relate to faith and practice. And we ought to receive no intimation given us in dreams as if it was the will of God concerning us, until we have first tried it by the sacred oracles; and if it speaks not according to this word, there is no light in it, or no light of the divine Spirit given thereby, but we must conclude that it is from the evil and delusive spirit.

And if any hint should be given as in a dream that agrees with the word of God, and excites our faith in Him, and obedience to Him, yet is it not to be received as a rule of our faith and practice because it was hinted to us in a dream, but as it stands in the perfect rule of the word, which alone is sufficient, and appointed of God for our direction both as to what we are to believe and what to do. And if by any dream our minds are brought to the word of God, we ought to be thankful unto Him for it. If this man thinks "that our Lord told him in a dream he should live to see His coming," it seems to me a mere delusion, for he can form no such conclusion from the Holy Scriptures. It has no support there, and therefore ought to fall to the ground and be utterly rejected. So far as he adheres to the dream as his rule what to believe and do, so far he rejects the word of God, is drawn off from the rule which God has fixed, and has cause to suspect his dream to be from a delusive spirit.

That the Lord may establish your heart in faith and holiness, preserve you blameless, and present you faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy, is my earnest desire.

 

Regeneration- In what does regeneration consist?

Dear Sir,

What shall we say to these things? Where grace and gifts meet, and God calls to ministerial work, that person should be used by Him—whether school-educated or not.

I have, dear sir, a great veneration for learning, and think it a great advantage to the gospel minister, but not that it is essentially necessary to a person's call to the gospel ministry; for let a man have ever so perfect an understanding of the original languages in which the mysteries of God are written—if he is not blessed with a spiritual, supernatural understanding—while he knows perfectly the words, he is quite ignorant of the power of the spiritual truths. This is evident from what the apostle Paul says, "The natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." And he spoke this by experience, for by the natural man he intended not only the profane, wicked man, nor yet the weak and ignorant man, that has but little natural capacity for understanding spiritual mysteries—but also the moral man, the learned man, the man of sagacity; with the utmost natural capacity—even this man, the man of great learning, while natural, receives not the things of the Spirit of God—for they are foolishness unto him—neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The apostle Paul was far from being a profane man, a weak, or unlearned man, while a natural man; he was a Pharisee, one of the strictest sect of the Jewish religion, perfectly taught in, and exceedingly of, the law of the Fathers; he was perfectly learned in the law of Moses, who spoke of the things which concern the Lord Jesus; he was brought up in Jerusalem, at the feet of Gamaliel, insomuch that it was said unto him after his conversion, "Much learning has made you mad." And yet this man of sagacity, of morality, of much learning—while a natural man, or in his unconverted state—was quite ignorant of Christ—until God made him a spiritual man—and in a supernatural way revealed His Son in him—or gave him a spiritual capacity to understand spiritual mysteries—and then was he fit to preach the Lord Jesus. And God may thus call and use an unlearned man—if He pleases. And most of the apostles were such when our Lord first sent them out to preach.

And on the contrary, how was it with Nicodemus—a Pharisee, a strict moralist, a learned man, a teacher of the law of Moses, a ruler in Israel, one of the Jewish Sanhedrin? Alas! yet being but a natural man, how ignorant was he of the doctrine of regeneration, when our Lord preached it to him?

And how many are there, Sir, at this day, of the masters of our Israel that have not so much as a true notion of this important doctrine of regeneration, and much less a blessed experience thereof in their hearts? How many are there that think baptism is regeneration; or, at most, a wicked man's external reformation from gross immoralities, to practice the duties of morality? Is it not for this reason that they are entirely ignorant of the work of regeneration, as it is God's work upon us? They set people to amend their lives and make themselves new creatures, "which," as a worthy clergyman well says, "is preaching a way of salvation that is impracticable to fallen man." So that a person must be born again, or be a spiritual man, and as such taught of God, whether school-educated or not, before he can spiritually know or truly preach the gospel of Christ.

But, Sir, if regeneration is thus necessary, and any should say—If we cannot make ourselves new creatures, how must we become such? And in what does regeneration consist? I answer, No man can make himself a new creature; he must be wholly beholden to the Holy Spirit for that work, in which the creature is wholly passive. It is the duty of every natural man to reform his life, and abstain from every known sin, as by every sin he commits be brings more dishonor to God, and treasures up for himself more wrath against the day of vengeance. But nothing that any natural man can do will make him a new creature. As he could not give himself a being in nature—neither can he give himself a being in grace; this is God's sole prerogative, to work by His Holy Spirit on whom He pleases; for those that are new creatures are said to be "God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works," to be by Him "begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead."

And who can create a new and spiritual nature in the heart but God? What man can beget himself unto a lively hope? And yet if he is not blessed with this work of God, he will not, cannot, be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light, having no fitness in himself for that glorious enjoyment. And as all enjoyment springs from the agreeableness of the object to the subject, and a natural man is an unholy man—what enjoyment can he have of an infinitely Holy God? How can he who loves sin, delight in a perfect conformity to God's holy image, and an entire and eternal dedication to His sole praise, which are the felicities of saints in bliss while they behold Jehovah's face? And if these holy tempers are not wrought in our hearts here, in a begun-measure, which shall be completed hereafter—our souls will be miserable forever, for no unclean person or thing shall enter into the new Jerusalem. But, Sir, to the next thing, In what does regeneration consist? Permit me to answer briefly:

Regeneration consists in a universal change wrought upon our souls in all their powers and faculties by the Spirit and word of grace—or in the gift of a new nature, a spiritual nature, in the soul's being renewed after the image of God in knowledge and true holiness, which new nature contains in it faith and love, hope and every grace—and is our fitness for converse with new and spiritual objects. And this new and spiritual principle of grace has its seat in all the powers of the soul. The understanding, which before was darkness, then is made light in the Lord. The will, that was all rebellion against God's salvation in Christ, which is all of free grace, is then made willing to trust upon free grace in Christ for all salvation-bliss. The conscience, which was full of guilt and fear, is then sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and thus blessed with peace. The affections, which were staked down to an earthly, sensual propensity, are then raised to spiritual and heavenly objects In a word, "old things are passed away; behold all things are become new"—in every man, who in Christ is a new creature.

That man can say in a spiritual respect, as the man who was born blind, whose eyes our Lord opened, "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind—I now see." Faith is the soul's new eye, to discern sin in quite another light than what the man did before; to discern heart-sin in its hateful nature and woeful consequences; to discern God's law in its spirituality, as extending to thoughts as well as acts, in the equity of its requirement of perfect obedience, and in the righteousness of its curse for every, even the least, disobedience; and hence, to discern the insufficiency of its own obedience for the soul's justifying righteousness before a God of infinite holiness; to discern by the gospel the all-sufficiency, the all-transcendent excellency of Christ. Faith which works by love to its glorious object, the altogether lovely Jesus, submits to His perfect righteousness, disclaims its own, esteems it but loss and rubbish, and desires to be found in Him, and in His righteousness alone; and approving of the Savior, as the soul's new Head, it receives Him in His Person and office unto all the ends of grace as God's free gift to the chief of sinners, and gives up itself to be entirely His in all holy obedience unto Jehovah's praise, and the soul's present and eternal bliss.

Faith bows the knee to Christ, and reveres the Savior in all His salvation-fullness; and faith in the affections wings the soul upwards unto all heavenly objects, unto all those superior delights which are to be enjoyed in God, partially here, and completely and eternally hereafter; with a "Whom have I in heaven but You? and there is none on earth that I desire besides You." The desires of that soul center in Christ, as its present and eternal portion; and delight in all things that bear His image, His word, His works, His ways and ordinances, and all His saints; and the abhorring powers of that soul resist with indignation, whatever God abhors—all sin is an abomination to that man so far as he is born again. For, Sir, the man that is a new creature in Christ is such really in all his powers and faculties, though this work as yet is but a begun-work, which is to be completed at his body's dissolution to his full salvation.

The work is perfect as to kind, and perfect as to parts, extending to all his powers and faculties—but is not yet perfect as to degree—as an infant has all the parts of a man, though it is not arrived at the full stature of the perfect man. And thus it is with souls that are new-born, which made a worthy divine say, "every regenerate man is two men"—that is, he has a new nature in him, which is wholly for God, and an old nature still in part remaining, which is wholly for sin. And these two natures residing in the same soul and in all of its faculties, which are but in part sanctified—the corrupt nature, the flesh, lusts against the spirit, or holy nature in his heart—and the spirit against the flesh; and these being contrary, the one to the other, souls that are born again cannot do perfectly the things that they desire, because of sin that dwells in them. This made holy Paul say, "When I would do good, evil is present with me." And how did he groan under this misery, with an "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And these groans under the remaining power of sin are peculiar to the new-born; to those who have a holy, spiritual nature in them, by virtue of regeneration. And this new and holy nature in them is their fitness for discerning spiritual things, which can be known by no natural man—for begun-communion with God in Christ, and a solemn dedication to His praise, as its completion, will fit them for the beatific vision of His face unto endless ages!

Happy, thrice happy then, are those who are born again! They are heirs of that glorious inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for them!