den and high rapture at the time of conversion.There are many faithful and devout saints who have never known any thing about those sudden transports of which some speak. Shall we on this account refuse them a place among the righteous? The Scriptures no where speak of this sudden and great joy as the necessary attendant of a change of heart. Nor when they give us account of certain conversions, do they say any thing of this wonderful joy. By what authority, then, do we declare either that we or others cannot be Christians without it? Why The same may be said of the sudden suggestion of alarming or comforting passages of Scripture, of voices, of the appearance of super-human beings, and of remarkable dreams and visions. They are what very few Christians have ever had. then should we expect them? Especially, why should we think we cannot be Christians without them? The Scriptures do not tell us that these precede conversion; nor do they tell us of a single instance of conversion, (the apostle Paul's excepted,) in which any of these things happened. The want of great zeal and exactness in religion, and of great strictness in moral duties, is no conclusive evidence that we are not Christians. It is, indeed, the duty of Christians to be very zealous in religion, and to be very punctual in religious and raoral duties. But they are none of them as zealous and exact as they ought to be. And who can tell how much they may be wanting in these respects, and yet be Christians? They may not have their attention directed to these things immediately after conversion, being at first completely occupied with other things. And after they have once been zealous and faithful, they may grow very cold and negligent. This coldness and negligence do, indeed, darken evidence, but they do not destroy it. Some attention there must be to outward duty to God and man, or there is no religion. But to how great an amount, the Scriptures do not inform us. The fact then that we have not a certain amount of zeal in religion, or of strictness in religious and moral duties, furnishes no certain evidence that we are not Christians. And the fact that we know not the exact time when our change of heart took place, is no evidence that it has not taken place. Inquire into the experience of the most faithful Christians, and you will find many of them can form no judgment of the precise time when they passed from death unto life. The change, though great and instantaneous, is with many so imperceptible as not at once to be apprehended. It needs some time to unfold itself. And to some, it unfolds itself so gradually, that they are unable to ascertain the exact time when the change took place. But if the change has taken place, what matters it if we cannot tell when it took place? And if we have sufficient evidence that we have experienced a real saving change of heart, why should we doubt it, because we do not know its date? If we saw the sun actually risen, what folly to doubt its being up because we did not see it at the moment of its rising. And when we have evidence that we have saving grace in exercise, it is equally foolish to doubt it, because we do not know when its exercise began. Yet how many are needlessly distressing themselves with the fear that they have never been born again, because they know not the exact time when their change took place. In our inquiry, then, whether we are Christians?' we are to lay the things above named entirely out of the account. We are to have no regard at all to the degree of distress which we had in conviction, nor the degree of joy which we had in conversion. We are not to consider whether God has mysteriously suggested certain portions of his word to our minds; whether we have heard a voice from some invisible being; seen any strange sights; or had any remarkable dreams. Nor are we to measure the intensity of our zeal, or the extent of our punctuality in the outward duties of religion and morality. But we are to proceed in our inquiries just as if these things had nothing to do with our conversion and salvation. Having now considered those things which many suppose to be evidences of grace, but which are not evidences, we come next to consider what are evidences. And as regeneration is the entrance into a state of salvation, it may be expected that I describe that change, with its attendant symptoms.But the object of this treatise, is not so much to aid the young convert in the attainment of a hope, as to aid all saints to attain full assurance of hope. And as with many who are destitute of this assurance, the day of their conversion has long since gone past, they have forgotten many of the symptoms which attended it. A description of regeneration, with its common attendants, would do them little good. Nay, it would do the young convert but little good. For in the first place, the attendant symptoms of regeneration are very various. No two cases can be found which are very much alike; and many cases are widely different. And where so vast a variety obtains, it would be difficult to point out all those different combinations which happen in so many different cases. And it would be still more difficult for the young convert to find a combination to suit his own case so nearly as to furnish sufficient evidence that he has passed from death unto life. In the next place, much of that high and ardent feeling which is generally experienced immediately after conversion, is mere animal fervour. With those holy affections which grace has awakened in the new-born soul, there is mingled many a high emotion which nothing but novelty excited. The sudden transition from a prospect of endless misery to that of eternal blessedness, awakens the highest degree of joyful wouder and surprise. Many new emotions which are supposed to be prompted by grace, are excited by nothing but the new condition in which the soul is now placed. It is very generally supposed, that the day of our conversion is the best time to examine the grounds of our hope. And I believe many with whom that day is long past, attempt to call it to remembrance, as if they thought a recollection of what they then felt, was the best way of examining their hope.But this is far from being true. The best time to examine our spiritual state, is when those emotions which adventitious circumstances had awakened, have somewhat subsided, and when little is left of a gracious appearance but what grace itself has excited.* It is true that at such a time we have not that assistance of contrast, which we had near the time of conversion; but this is more than overbalanced by the circumstances just named. For these reasons, I shall confine myself to those evidences of grace which obtain with the Christian in every stage of his spiritual life. These evidences are none other than the holy exercises of the new heart. Of these I shall consider those only which are the most essential, and the most easily understood. They are LOVE, Resignation, HUMILITY, HATRED OF SIN, and DELIGHT IN HO LINESS. I. LOVE. As this grace has its several branches, each of which forms a separate and sufficient proof of regeneration, as it is the fountain from which many, if not all the other graces flow, as so many different streams; and as it is a grace concerning which we are most liable to be deceived, we shall need to examine it at considerable length. The apostle tells us "Love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." 1 John, iv. 7. Love, then, is evidence of conversion, and therefore of salvation. But all men exercise the passion of love, yet all are not Christians. The love here spoken of, must then be of a particular moral quality. It must be a holy love in dis *NOTE. The young convert, however, should not delay his self-examination, till the effects of novelty subside; for he is bound to know his state immediately: and before these effects of novelty subside, death may overtake him, |