exercise. And hence "all old things pass away, and all things become new;" the understanding obtains new light, the conscience new power, the will a new bias, the affections a new object, the life a new rule and end; so that the whole man is renewed, and a new impress and image stamped upon it. But that image is yet imperfect, and far from resembling, in all respects, the likeness of Him after whom it is formed. No faculty of our nature is left unchanged; but neither is any faculty changed at once into a state of perfection. The understanding, the conscience, the will, the affections, the habits of a true convert, are all brought under the influence of the Holy Ghost; but he does not restore them at once to full health and vigour ; he renews, but does not perfect them at the time of conversion.

These views may serve to guard against two errors, -the one consisting in the supposition, which is too apt to be entertained by nominal professors, that a few notions infused into the understanding, a few convictions awakened in the conscience, a few emotions excited in the heart, amount to the whole of that change which is implied in conversion; the other, is the apprehension incident to true Christians, that because they have reason to mourn over the imperfection of every grace that is the fruit of the Spirit, they cannot have been converted or renewed after the image of God. These errors lie at the two opposite extremes, the one of carnal and unwarranted security, the other of Christian doubt and fear.

III. Conversion properly consists in a sinner being

brought actually, intelligently, and cordially, to close and comply with God's revealed will on the subject of his salvation.

Some conviction of sin being wrought in the conscience, and some knowledge of God's truth imparted to the understanding, the sinner is, at the time of his conversion, brought to the point; he comes to a final decision, a decision which implies at once a firm assent of the understanding, in an act of faith, and a full consent of the will, in an act of deliberate choice. He surrenders himself to the power of God's truth. He submits to God's revealed will in the matter of his salvation. Convinced that he is a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour-a Saviour appointed by God himself,-qualified alike by the dignity of his divine nature, the tenderness of his human sympathies, and the efficacy of his meritorious work, to save unto the very uttermost all that come unto God by him, a Saviour exhibited and proposed to every sinner in the general doctrines of the Gospel, and declaring his own free and unutterable love in its universal calls and invitations,-the sinner, taking that Gospel as his warrant, comes to Christ, closes with him, embraces him in all the fulness of his offices, and surrenders himself without reserve into the Saviour's hands, to be washed, and justified, and sanctified according to the terms of the everlasting covenant. This is conversion; this will secure the salvation of the sinner, and nothing short of this can. There must be a decisive closing with the Gospel call, a final determination-first, on the part of the understanding;

and secondly, on the part of the will. We must come to a decision; and believing it to be infallibly certain. that Jesus is the Christ, the only, but an all-sufficient Saviour, we must close with him as he is revealed to us in the Gospel, and choose him as "all our salvation and all our desire." It is not enough that we are visited with occasional convictions of sin-so was Cain, and so was Herod, and so was Judas; nor is it enough that we acquire some speculative knowledge of divine truth—so did Agrippa, who was almost persuaded to be a Christian, and so also did Simon Magus, who made such a profession as was sufficient for his baptism, and who yet remained " in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity." Conversion implies much more, it implies an actual, deliberate, and cordial closing with Christ in his revealed character, and a surrender of our souls into his hands. It is a radical heart-change, by which the sinner is brought to close in right earnest with the Saviour. He may have been troubled in his conscience before, and moved in his affections, and, to a certain extent, instructed in the truth of God; but till now, he hesitated, and delayed, and doubted; the bargain was not struck, the covenant was not subscribed, the decisive act was not done; but now he is brought to a point,-the business, long in negotiation, is about to be finally settled; he sees the magnitude of impending ruin-the fearful hazard of an hour's delay; and hearing that Christ, and Christ only can save him, he believes, and he comes to Christ, deliberately and solemnly, to commit his soul into his hands, and to embrace him as his own Saviour.

This decisive act of closing with Christ, and complying with God's revealed will in the matter of our salvation, although it may at first sight appear a very simple and easy process, includes in it, I apprehend, every thing that is essential to saving conversion, or that is declared in Scripture to accompany or flow from it. Let the sinner close with Christ in his scriptural character; in other words, let him have a correct apprehension of Christ as he is revealed in the Gospel, and cordially believe on him, and choose him as his own Saviour, in all the fulness of his offices, and he is really from that time a converted man, however defective his knowledge and his experience in many other respects may be, he has already experienced all that is essentially involved in that great change, and every other consequence which properly flows from conversion will ensue.

This decisive act implies,-1. That he believes Jesus to be the Christ; in other words, that he believes the same Jesus who was crucified on the hill of Calvary to be the Son of God, manifested in human nature, as the Saviour of sinners; and, as such, executing the will of God, acting by his authority, bearing his commission; nay, anointed with the Holy Ghost as a Prophet, to declare God's infallible truth—as a Priest, to satisfy God's inflexible justice-and as a King, to subject the world to God's rule ;—a Christ once crucified, but now exalted,-invested with almighty power, and able to save unto the very uttermost all that come unto God by him. 2. This decisive act of closing with Christ in his revealed character, implies that the man

feels himself to be a sinner; and, as such, condemned by God's law, exposed to God's threatenings, and in imminent danger of eternal ruin; while he has no means and no power to save himself, but must be indebted to a Saviour. 3. It implies that he is willing, or rather that he has been made willing, to receive, own, and submit to Christ as God's Anointed One, and in respect to every one of his offices, as the Redeemer of God's people; that he willingly submits his understanding to Christ's teaching, receiving the truth from his lips, and on his authority, as the infallible truth of God; that he willingly acquiesces in the method of being justifiednot by his own righteousness, but by the righteousness of Christ, seeking to be pardoned only through the merit of his blood shed on the cross, and accepted only through the efficacy of his meritorious obedience; and that he willingly subjects his heart and life to Christ's royal authority, that his heart may be renewed and sanctified by Christ's Spirit, and that his life may be governed and regulated by Christ's law; in a word, that he is willing to receive and embrace a whole Christ and a whole salvation; and to surrender himself wholly, soul, body, and spirit, into Christ's hands, to be saved and sanctified, governed and dealt with now and eternally, according to the terms of the everlasting covenant.

Here we have a real thorough conversion; which consists mainly and essentially in repentance and faith -two gifts of the Spirit which are often used together, or even separately, to denote the whole of this great change,―repentance indicating what the sinner turns