But while the Lord only can open the heart, he employs the truth as the instrument of conversion to the careless, and of edification to the devout inquirer. The Spirit's agency does not supersede the use of the Word; on the contrary, the truth read or heard is still the wisdom of God, and the power of God, unto salvation. "The Lord opened the heart of Lydia," but he did so " that she might attend unto the things which were spoken of Paul." It is by the truth contained in the Word that this great change is wrought -that being the instrument which the Spirit of God renders effectual; and hence, while we are said to be "born of the Spirit," we are also said to be "born not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, even by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever;" and again, while the Spirit is revealed as the Sanctifier, our Lord himself prayed, in these memorable words, "Sanctify them by thy truth; thy Word is truth." And both are combined-both the agency of the Spirit and the instrumentality of the Word, -in that comprehensive statement of the apostle, “God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Various similitudes are employed to represent the same thing: the Word is compared to a fire, or furnace, in which His people are melted and tried but the Lord sits as a refiner over it ;—and as a hammer, a powerful instrument, but inert in itself, and effectual only when applied by a powerful arm;— and as a sword" the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,"—a sharp two-edged sword, but

utterly powerless unless it be applied by the Spirit. So David's prayer combines a reference to both

Open thou mine eyes, that I may see wonderful things out of thy law."

III. The nature of Lydia's change, and the practical results which flowed from it, are briefly indicated; but enough is said to show, that she had that "faith which worketh by love," and in which properly consists the new creation;" for we read that she was baptized, -thereby professing her faith in Christ, and her submission to his authority,-and that, too, in a city where the professors of the Gospel were exposed to reproach and persecution;-that, as soon as she was baptized, she besought the apostles, saying, "If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there," her faith working by love to Christ and to his ministering servants, and producing zeal for his cause and service, such as prompted her to make sacrifices for his name's sake; and, if these principles of faith and love were really planted in her heart, they would unquestionably produce, in her after-life, all the "peaceable" fruits of righteousness."

The case of Lydia suggests various practical lessons. It affords an example of the care with which God provided for the instruction of sincere inquirers in the Jewish Church. It shows, in a very striking light, the efficacy of prayer, as a means of spiritual advancement. It illustrates the necessity of a great spiritual change, even in the case of such as are regular in their attendance on ordinances, and con

scientious according to their light. It affords a beautiful exemplification of the relative functions of the Word and Spirit in the work of conversion, and enforces the duty of combining diligence, in the use of means, with a spirit of dependence on the divine blessing. And it shows how different are the feelings of one "whose heart the Lord has opened" towards his faithful ministers, and those of the ungodly multitude-she constrained the apostles to reside in her house; they rose against them, and committed them to prison, making their feet fast in the stocks.

CHAPTER VII.

TIMOTHY.

2 Tim. iii. 14, 15.

IT appears from Scripture, that while many are converted after a long course of carelessness and sinful indulgence, others are trained up for God from their earliest years, and sanctified even from the womb. The experience of these two classes must necessarily be widely different; while, in whatever is essential to regeneration, it must be substantially the same in all. All men being by nature fallen and depraved, that which is "born of the flesh being flesh," and "the carnal mind being" in every instance “enmity against God," a new spiritual birth is universally and indispensably necessary in order to a new spiritual life; and no man lives, however gentle his natural disposition, and however propitious his early education, of whom it may not be said, that except "he be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Whenever that change occurs, and by whatever means it may accomplished, it is substantially the same in all; it implies the enlightening, convincing, renewing, and

be

sanctifying work of the Spirit, whereby the natural blindness is removed, and the natural enmity subdued, and the natural man becomes a new creature—in all his views and feelings, his desires and affections, his aims, and habits, and hopes. And we greatly err, if we suppose that, in any one case, a good natural temperament, or a sound religious education, can of themselves introduce a fallen being into the spiritual kingdom of God, or supersede the grace and the agency of the Holy Spirit. That is spirit, and that only, which is born of the Spirit; and every soul that is really converted must have that experience which is common to all true believers, and which consists in conviction of sin, an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, a cordial compliance with the Gospel call, and a course of conflict and warfare with its own corruptions. But while some such change must be wrought on every one at the period of his conversion, it may be brought about in a variety of ways, which will occasion great diversity in the experience of different believers. Some, for instance, are permitted to grow up without any religious culture, being deprived of the inestimable privilege of a father's counsel and a mother's prayers, and surrounded, instead, with the noxious influences of a domestic circle where there is no fear of God, no form of religion, and nothing in the shape of example, except what is fitted to corrupt and contaminate. Thus neglected in early life, and inured to vice from their earliest years, they go forth into the world, not only unprepared to resist, but predisposed to comply with its temptations;