+II. What true religion is.+--1. It is not an outward but an inward thing. It is not a new name, but a new nature. A _new creation_ describes a great change in man. 2. The greatness of this change shows also the power by which it is wrought. Creation is a Divine work. 3. The rite of circumcision taught the necessity of the change. Though it was a _seal_ of the righteousness of faith, it was also a sign of the inward renewal and purification of the heart. Baptism in the Christian Church teaches the same truth. The texts of Scripture which set forth the evil nature of man set forth the necessity of this great change.--_Edward Cooper._ _The New Creature._--The new creature is the only thing acceptable to God. It is the renovation of the whole man, both in the spirit of our minds and in the affections of our heart. Neither the substance nor the faculties of the soul are lost by the Fall, but only the qualities of the faculties, as when an instrument is out of tune the fault is not in the substance of the instrument, nor in the sound, but in the disproportion or jar in the sound: therefore, the qualities only are renewed by grace. These qualities are either in the understanding or the will and affections. The quality in the understanding is knowledge; in the will and affections they are righteousness and holiness, both which are in truth and sincerity. Holiness performs all the duties of piety, righteousness the duties of humanity, truth seasoning both the former with sincerity.--_Ralph Culworth._ _The Necessity of a New Nature._--The raven perched on the rock where she whets her bloody beak, and with greedy eye watches the death-struggles of an unhappy lamb, cannot tune her croaking voice to the mellow music of a thrush; and since it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh, how could a sinner take up the strain and sing the song of saints?--_Guthrie._ _The New Birth begins our True Life._--A stranger passing through a churchyard saw these words written on a tombstone: "Here lies an old man seven years old." He had been a true Christian only for that length of time. _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 16-18. _A Dignified and Touching Farewell_--