freely pardon all your fins; would renew you in the fpirit of your minds; would fit you for his fervice on earth, and for his prefence and enjoyment in heaven.

Thus I have explained at confiderable length, and with all the care and accuracy in my power, the great and general evidence of regeneration, viz. the fuperiority of the intereft of God and the Redeemer in the heart, above the intereft of inferior good. This, I hope, will be of ufe in itself, to diftinguish the precious from the vile, to preferve you from fin, and excite you to diligence in every part of your duty, that it may be more and more manifeft. At the fame time, it will be of the greatest fervice, in the use and application of other figns of real religion, by fhewing when they are conclufive, and when they are not.

CHA P. III.

Of the steps by which this change is accomplished.

WE

E proceed now to confider by what steps, and by what means, this change is brought about. I am deeply fenfible how difficult a part of the fubject this is, and how hard it will be to treat of it in a diftinct and precife, and at the fame time, in a cautious and guarded manner. It is often complained of in thofe who write on this fubject, that they confine and limit the HOLY ONE, and that they give unnecessary alarms to thofe who have not had experience of every particular which they think proper to mention. There is no doubt but God acts in an* abfolute and fovereign manner in the difpenfation of his grace, as in every other part of his will. As he cannot be limited as to perfons, so neither as to the time and manner of their reformation. To this purpose, and in this precife meaning, our Saviour fays, "The wind bloweth where it "lifteth, and thou heareft the found thereof, but canst not "tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: fo is every "one that is born of the Spirit."+

Sometimes it pleaseth God to fnatch finners from the very brink of the pit, to raise up fome of the most abandoned profligates, as trophies of his victorious grace and mercy; while he suffers others, far more moderate and decent, who are "not far from the kingdom of God," finally to fall fhort of it. He fometimes glorifies his power and

It will be proper to inform the reader, that the word "abfolute" ufed here, and in fome other places of this difcourfe, is by no means to be understood as fignifying the fame thing with "arbitrary." He who acts arbitrarily, as without any reafon at all. To fay this of the divine procedure, would be little less than blafphemy. When we fay that Goi acts in an abfolute and fovereign manner," the meaning is, that he acts upon the beft and strongest reafons, and for the noblest and most excellert ends; but which are many or moft of them beyond our reach and comprehenfion; and particularly, that there is not the leaft foundation for fuppofing that the reafons of preference are taken from comparative human merit.

+ John iii. 8.

mercy at once, by converting his most inveterate enemies, and making them the most zealous, active, and fuccefsful advocates for his caufe. Such an inftance was the apostle Paul, who from a perfecutor become a preacher. Sometimes converfion is fpeedily and fuddenly brought about, and the times and circumftances of the change may be eafily afcertained. This was the cafe with the jailor recorded in the hiftory of the Acts of the Apoftles. The fame may be faid of the apoftle Paul; and there have been particular examples of it in every age. Sometimes, on the other hand, the reception of the truth, and renovation of the heart, goes on by flow and infenfible degrees; nor is it eafy to fay by what means the change was begun, or at what time it was compleated. This was perhaps the cafe with most, if not all, the difciples of our Lord, during his perfonal ministry.

Sometimes the change is very fignal and fenfible, the growth and improvement of the fpiritual life fpeedy and remarkable, the greateft finners becoming the moft eminent faints; like the woman mentioned in the gofpel, to whom many fins were forgiven, and who loved her Redeemer much. Sometimes, on the other hand, the change is very doubtful, and the progrefs of the believer hardly difcernible. Some of this fort are reproved by the apoftle Paul in the following words, which are but too applicable to many profeffing Chriftians of the prefent age: "For "when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need "that one teach you again, which be the first principles "of the oracles of God, and are become fuch as have need "of milk, and not of ftrong meat."*-Sometimes the convert hath much peace and fenfible comfort, rejoicing with joy unfpeakable and full of glory; and fometimes, on the other hand, he is diftreffed with doubts and fears, and made to walk in darknefs. Once more, fome finners are brought in by deep and long humiliation, and are almoft diftracted with legal terrors, while others are powerfully, though sweetly, conftrained by the cords of divine love. All thefe "worketh the felf fame fpirit, who divi

* Heb. v. 12.

"deth to every man feverally as he will." I defire, that what has now been faid, may be ftill kept in mind; fo that if the evidences of a faving change can be produced, there need be little folicitude about the time or manner of its being wrought.

What I propofe to offer on this part of the fubject, is not to be confidered as in the leaft degree contrary to, or inconfiftent with, thefe truths. Nay, I am not to lay down a plan and fay, this is the ordinary way in which finners are brought to the faving knowledge of God, leaving it to him, in fome few, uncommon, and extraordinary cafes, to take fovereign fteps, and admit exceptions from the ordinary rules. This is a way of speaking common enough; but though it may be very well meant, I apprehend it hath not in it much, either of truth or utility. The falvation of every child of Adam is of free, abfolute, sovereign grace: and the actual change may be wrought at any time, in any manner, by any means, and will produce its effects in any measure, that to infinite wifdom fhall feem proper. Neither ought we to pretend to account for the diverfity in any other manner than our Saviour does: "Even fo, Father, "for fo it feemed good in thy fight." Therefore what I have in view, is to fpeak of fuch fteps in the change as are, in fubftance at least, common to all true converts. It will be a fort of analysis, or more full explication of the change itfelf, and ferve, among other ufes, further to diftinguish the real from the counterfeit. Too much can hardly be faid on this fubject: "For what is the chaff to the wheat? "faith the Lord." It will alfo illuftrate the divine wif dom, as well as fovereignty, by fhowing how that diverfity of operation, fo remarkable in different fubjects, produces in all at laft the fame bleffed effect.

SECT. I.

There must be a discovery of the real nature of God.

N the first place, one important and neceffary flep in bringing about a faving change, is that the finner get

• Luke x. 21.

a difcovery of the real nature, the infinite majefty, and tranfcendent glory of the living God! Perhaps fome will be furprifed, that, as ufual, a conviction of fin is not mentioned firft, as the preliminary ftep. I enter into no quarrel or debate with thofe who do fo; but I have firft mentioned the other, which is but feldom taken notice of, from a firm perfuafion, that a discovery of the nature and glory of the true God lies at the foundation of all. This alone

can produce falutary convictions of fin; for how can we know what fin is, till we know him against whom we have finned. The fame thing only will point out the difference between real conviction, and fuch occafional fears as never go farther than a spirit of bondage.

In fupport of this, you may obferve, that in fcripture, those who are in a natural or unconverted ftate, are often defcribed as lying in a state of ignorance or darkness. They are faid to be fuch as know not God: "Howbeit then "when ye knew not God, ye did fervice unto them which by nature are no gods."* See alfo the following defcription: "Having the understanding darkened, being "alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance "that is in them, becaufe of the blindnefs of their hearts."+ Agreeably to this, the change produced in them is reprefented as giving them light or understanding, in oppofition to their former ignorance; "to open their eyes, and "to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power "of Satan unto God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid "to them that are loft, in whom the god of this world hath “blinded the minds of them which believe not, left the

light of the glorious gofpel of Chrift, who is the image "of God, fhould fhine unto them. For God, who com"manded the light to fhine out of darkness, hath fhined “in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jefus Chrift." In this way is the matter reprefented in fcripture, much more frequently than is commonly obferved; and, as the underftanding is the leading faculty in our nature, it is but reafonable to fuppofe that the change fhould begin there, by

Gal. iv. 8. † Eph. iv. 18. Acts xxvi. 18. 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6.