7

ures, powers, and efforts. A loose, general, uninfluential belief may be otherwise entertained. But a conviction, which will be felt, will be gained only in this manner. I know not whether, in all ordinary cases, this conviction is not indispensable to the attainment of holiness.

In the conduct, and character, of Religious men, the actual ex. istence of religion is often, perhaps usually, first seen and believ ed. In the same manner is the dignity, the beauty, and the excellence, of religion usually first discerned, and acknowledged. The truth also, and especially the importance, of many primary doctrines of the Gospel, and the chief part of what is commonly intended by Experimental religion, are all principally learned, and realized, by means of their conversation.

These may serve as specimens, sufficient for the present purpose, of the Instruction, acquired in the use of the Means of Grace.

2. Means of Grace become such by the Impressions, which they make on the heart.

To a person, at all versed in human nature, it is perfectly evident, that, in every case where men are to be moved to any se. rious exertion, mere conviction will often be inefficacious. The Intellect is not the motive faculty of the mind. The Will, in which term I include all the affections, gives birth to every effort, which the mind makes concerning the objects of the present, or the fu ture, world. But the mere conviction of the Intellect is, of itself, rarely sufficient to move the Will, or engage the affections. Some thing further is, in a particular manner, necessary to engage man in the serious pursuit of spiritual and eternal objects, or to make him realize any serious interest in these objects. The mere proof, that a doctrine is true, is usually but one step towards persuading us to exertion of any kind. In addition to this, it is commonly necessary for the same end, that our imagination be roused, and our affections awakened and engaged.

In accordance with these observations, mankind, in their cus tomary language, regularly express the different states of the mind, when it is merely convinced, and when it feels the truth, of which it is convinced. To see a truth, and to feel it, are familiar expressions in our language, which denote ideas widely different from each other. So different are they, that we commonly see, without feeling at all; and, therefore, without being moved to exertion by what we see. All men use, all men understand, this language; and thus prove, that there is a solid foundation in the nature of things for the distinction, which it expresses.

In accordance with this scheme, Eloquence, both in speaking and writing, has ever been directed to the Imagination; and to the Passions, as well as to the Intellect: and that kind of elo quence, which has been employed in moving the heart, has been considered as possessing a higher, and more influential, nature than

that, which is addressed merely to the understanding. Hence, eloquence itself is commonly considered, rather as the power of Persuasion, than the power of Conviction.

That we are capable of being moved to a sense of spiritual objects, altogether different from a cold, unimpassioned conviction, as truly as to such a sense of temporal objects, cannot admit of a rational doubt. Every minister of the Gospel, every moralist, and every other man, who labours to amend the human character; even those, who deny the doctrine, for which I am contending; prove, that they adopt this opinion by using, to the utmost of their power, the means of Impression for this end, as well as those of Conviction. In this conduct they show, more evidently than is possible by any other method, that they realize this difference, and, to avail themselves of it, employ these means.

The Scriptures themselves are universally formed in this manner. They are every where filled with Instruction; but they are also filled every where with Persuasion. Instead of being a cold compilation of philosophical dogmas, they are filled with real life; with facts; with persons; with forcible appeals to the imagina tion; and with powerful applications to the heart. With these, the instruction is every where interwoven. By these, it is continually embodied. In the Bible, no affection of the human heart is unaddressed. Our hope and fear, our love and hatred, our sorrow and joy, our desire and aversion, nay, our taste for beauty, novelty, and sublimity, for moral glory and greatness, are all alternately, and most forcibly, applied to, in order that the whole man, as a being possessed of imagination and affections, as well as of understanding, may be alarmed, allured, and compelled, to return from sin, embrace holiness, and live for ever.

Now, the Scriptures were published to a world of sinners; and with the most merciful design of bringing them to repentance and salvation. To them, in a peculiar manner, is a great part of the Scriptures addressed. They are profitable in all their parts; and are contrived by Infinite Wisdom so, as best to compass the end, for which they were written. They teach, that we may see, they impress, that we may feel, divine truth in the most profitable

manner.

In the promotion of this end, all the Means of Grace conspire. By an early, and well-directed, Religious Education, such truths, as children can understand, are conveyed to their minds with a force, eminently impressive, and singularly lasting. The state of the mind itself is, here, peculiarly favourable to the design of making deep impressions; and has, hence, been particularly regarded by God in those precepts, which enjoin such an education at this period. The efficacy of these impressions is strongly declared in that remarkable passage, already quoted from the Book of Proverbs. Train up α child in the way he should go; and, when he is old, he will not depart from it.

What is true of Religious Education, is also true of all the Means of Grace, which I have specified. Public Worship is plainly formed, with a particular design to affect the heart of man by those truths, which are taught in the house of God. The Day, the Place, the Occasion, are all in the highest degree solemn and interesting. The numbers, united in the worship, necessarily communicate, and receive, the strong feelings of sympathy; and regard the subjects of instruction with emotions, widely different from those, which would be experienced in solitude. The nature of the Ordinances is also in a singular degree solemn, awful, and affecting. In a word, every thing, pertaining to the subject, is in the happiest manner fitted to move the mind, and deeply to enstamp on it the truths of the Gospel.

Prayer, in the like manner, is eminently fitted to teach, and not only to teach, but to make us feel, the various doctrines of Religion. Prayer, in every form, is a service, peculiarly impressive. In the Church, in the Family, and in the Closet, it is attended by pre-eminent advantages. When we retire to our closets, and shut the door on the world, and all it contains; and pray to our Father, who is in secret; we are withdrawn from all external things; are fixed on our own concerns; our guilt, our danger, our helplessness, our dependence on God alone for hope, sanctification, and deliverance; and our absolute necessity of being interested in Christ, as the only expiation for sin, and the only safety to man. We bring God before us, face to face; and see, eye to eye. The awful and transcendent character of this Great and Glorious Being rises up to our view in a manner, resembling that, in which the Israelites contemplated it at the foot, or Moses on the summit, of Mount Sinai. The nearness of the Judgment is realized with singular force, and the approach of the final Recompense, anticipated with profound awe, and most salutary apprehension.

Among the things, which, in the attempts to perform this duty, are deeply impressed on the soul of the sinner, his own Inability to pray, in a manner acceptable to God, is one of the most important and affecting. No sinner realizes this truth, before he has made the attempt in earnest. Nor does any thing appear to lay low the pride, and annihilate the self-righteousness, of the human heart in the same effectual manner. When he attempts to pray, and in the very act of attempting it, finds clear and practical proof, that his prayers are selfish, cold, and heartless; he first begins to feel, in a useful manner, his absolute dependence on God for every good disposition. Prayer is naturally the last hope, the last consolation, of man. So long as we can ask for Mercy, we never feel entirely unsafe. But when the soul becomes satisfied, by actual trial, that its prayers are such, as itself condemns; it becomes also satisfied, that its only ultimate dependence is on the mere Mercy of God.

Prayer also, in the same effectual manner, opens to the view of the soul, with peculiar power, its whole moral state; its guilt, its exposure, and its ruin. All these things, when brought up to view in its converse with God, in making them the subjects of its own confessions and requests, and in revolving them with the most solemn and interesting meditation, all enhanced by a realizing sense of the presence of God, are felt by the soul with a peculiar energy, usually followed by happy effects.

Each of the other Means of Grace, which I have specified, has its own, and that a very desirable, power of affecting the heart, We are so formed, as to be capable of deep impressions in various ways, and from many different sources. Each way has its peculiar efficacy; and every source is copious in its influence on the mind.

The great objects, concerning which these impressions are es pecially needed, and are actually made, are the guilt and danger of sin; the glorious mercy of God in redeeming, sanctifying, and forgiving sinners; the absolute dependence of the soul on Him for all good, both natural and moral; and his willingness to communicate both through Jesus Christ. These united, and thoroughly understood, constitute those views, and awaken those emotions, which, together, are commonly styled Convictions of Conscience; or, to speak perhaps with more precision, that awakened state of the Conscience, which usually precedes Regeneration; and which, in the ordinary course of God's providence, seems indispensable to its existence. Converse with as many religious men, as you please, concerning this subject; and every one of them will declare, that he has passed through a state of mind, substantially of this nature; and will inform you, that it anteceded every hope of reconciliation to God, and every exercise, which he has believed to be genuine religion in itself. Such, then, may be deemed one of the laws of the moral or spiritual kingdom: a law, which appears to be formed with supreme wisdom, and with supreme benevolence to the sinner. If he were never to entertain such a sense of sin; if he were never to have such apprehensions of his danger; if he were never thus to feel his dependence on his Maker; he could not, I think, form any just views of the nature, or greatness, of his deliverance; nor of the goodness of God in rescuing him from destruction, sanctifying his soul, and blotting out his transgressions; nor of the importance, or excellence, of that holiness, with which he is endued; nor of the nature and glory of that happiness, to which he will gain a final admission. In a word, it seems indispensable, that such a state of mind should precede his regeneration, in order to enable him, throughout all his future being, to understand what God has done for him, and to feel the gratitude, actually felt by the minds, and joyfully expressed in the praises, of the first-born.

VOL. IV.

Some persons, when considering this subject, appear to feel, as if regeneration could not be absolutely attributed to the Spirit of Truth, unless it was accomplished, altogether, without the employment of Means. But this opinion is plainly erroneous. The very Means themselves are furnished entirely by this Divine Agent. When furnished, all of them, united, would prove wholly insufficient without his Creative influence. No man, in his sober senses, ever mistrusted, that ploughing and sowing, rain and sunshine, would produce wheat. The Almighty Power of God, after all these things have operated to the utmost, is absolutely necessary even to the germination of the seed, and still more obviously to the perfection of the plant. In the same manner, whatever means may be employed in bringing man from sin to holiness, and whatever may be their influence, the Creative power of the Divine Spirit is absolutely necessary to accomplish his renovation. All that can be truly said, in this case, is, that this Glorious Person operates in one manner, and not in another.

The human soul is not regenerated in the same manner with that, in which the dust of the ground was originally made into a human body. In this case, a mere act of Divine power, unconnected with every thing else, accomplished the effect. But, before renewing man, God is pleased in the usual course of his Spiritual providence, to instruct him, to alarm, to invite, to promise, and to persuade. To prove the usefulness of these means, nothing more seems necessary, than to observe, that they always precede, or attend, our renovation: that is, always in the usual course of providence. It is the soul, which is thus taught, alarmed, and allured, upon which descends the efficacious grace of the Holy Spirit ; and not the soul, uninstructed, unawakened, thoughtless of its guilt, and devoted only to the pursuit of sensual objects. The whole history of experimental religion, both within and without the Scriptures, is, unless I am deceived, a complete confirmation of this truth.

But to the existence of this state of the soul, the Means of Grace, as I have described them, and their influence, appear to be indispensable. By the Instructions, which they communicate on the one hand, and the Impressions, which they make on the other, concerning spiritual objects, they appear, whenever employed with seriousness, fervour, and perseverance, to bring the soul into this interesting and profitable situation. It is, I conceive, with reference to this fact, that God says, Is not my word as the fire, and as the hammer, that breaketh the rock in pieces? With reference to this fact, Christ says, that his words are spirit and life; and that they will make men free from the bondage of corruption. With the same reference, Paul declares the Gospel to be the Power of God unto salvation; and the Word of God to be quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. From this power of the Gospel was derived the fact, that the Jews, who crucified Christ,