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I. THE RENEWING.

1. It creates a new thing in man (2 Corinthians 5:17). Like a vessel with a new commander, steering a new course, by a now compass, to a new haven. The old nature remains, though the new nature has come, and there are now in the one man the carnal and the spiritual mind — the human and the Divine life — that which is born of the flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit — the old man of sin that is to be crucified, and the new man that is to be renewed daily in the image of Him that created him, until he shall come to the full stature of a man in Christ Jesus.

2. It is a restoration of a former state. That which was lost by sin is restored by regeneration,

3. It is a renovation of the whole man. Though every part be not thoroughly sanctified, yet the regenerate are sanctified in every part. They have a perfection of parts, though not of degrees. The renewing is going on in every part, though every part is not perfectly renewed. The seat and centre of this renewing work is the heart. The might of the Spirit is exerted in the inner man. And from thence He works outwardly to the utmost extremity. Just as the vital fluid is driven by the propelling power of the animal heart to every extremity of the body, so is the renewing energy sent forth from the centre of moral and spiritual life — the inner man by the power of the indwelling spirit. And so will He continue to work until the day of perfection shall come, when we shall be presented faultless before the throne of glory, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing,

II. THE RENEWER. "The Holy Ghost."

1. Not an influence, but a Person, having ascribed to Him in Holy Scripture the attributes and actions of a person, and that a Divine and omnipotent person. To Him is confided the work of carrying out the purposes of the Father by applying the truth and work of the Son. It is by the Spirit's overshadowing of the soul that the new creature is conceived and brought forth. The babe of grace can call no man on earth father. And while a man's regeneration is not of his fellow man, neither is it of himself. They which are born of the flesh contribute nothing to their own being, neither do they that are born of the Spirit; they are begotten of God.

2. But the Holy Ghost, in His renewing, uses — Instrumentality. The one grand instrument is the Word (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23).

(1) It may be by the Word read. and Luther tell us they were converted by the reading of the Word; so have many thousands of others. In Madagascar we have a striking illustration of this, in the conversion of many thousands by reading only fragments of the Word of God, left in their country by the banished missionaries.

(2) It may be by the Word remembered. I read once of an aged man, who had lived an ungodly life, and had wandered thousands of miles away from his native home, who one day, while he was sitting under a tree, had suddenly brought to his remembrance truths he had read and heard when a child and youth, but which had been long forgotten. They came with such irresistible power that his conversion was the result.

(3) It may be by the Word lived and acted out. There are those who will not read the written Word, neither will they go to hear the Word preached, but who are willing readers — unconscious readers of the lives of Christians among whom they dwell. God expects His people, whom He has regenerated, to be "living epistles of Christ, known and read of all men." Was it not in this sense that Paul exhorted believing wives to win their unbelieving husbands "without the Word," by their "chaste conversation, coupled with fear."(4) It may be by the Word spoken — as a man would speak to his friend. The kind and faithful teachings of friendship have often proved the instrument, in the hands of the Holy Ghost, for the accomplishment of this great object. "I owe much to the public ministry of the Word," said a recent convert to his minister; "but it was the Word spoken by a friend that was made by God the immediate instrument of my conversion."(5) But it is principally by the preached Word that God works. The public ministry of the Word is God's appointed institution for the accomplishment of this glorious end. The preacher is the spiritual husbandman, sowing broadcast the incorruptible seed of the Word, which shall spring up and bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred-fold. This is all the minister can do; sow the seed in prayer, and faith, and hope — God must give the increase.

(H. Quick.)

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KJV: But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

WEB: But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared,