NATIONAL PREACHER.

No. 3. VOL. 9.] NEW-YORK, AUGUST, 1834. [WHOLE No. 99.

SERMON CLXXI.

By REV. BAXTER DICKINSON,

NEWARK, NEW-JERSEY.

"GROUND OF THE DIFFICULTY OF CONVERSION. JER. ii. 25. There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

THIS is the language of Israel, in a state of great worldliness and corruption. That corruption had been steadily waxing worse and worse. It had come to be characterized by great obstinacy of sin-an obstinacy that threw a deep gloom over their prospects, even in their own estimation. God had urged their repentance with intensity of interest. He had admonished; he had afflicted; he had tenderly invited. But amid these efforts of divine forbearance, they were unyielding; and seemed settling down to utter despondency, in view of the inveteracy of their own corruptions. There is no hope: no ; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. They were aware of their guilty estrangement from God. They recognised it as voluntary. They knew that appropriate means had been employed for their repentance, and employed long, but without effect. They could recur to solemn purposes so often violated, that they had now lost all confidence in good resolutions, and anticipated only a perpetual and willing slavery to sin. The case forcibly illustrates the general fact, that,

Let us

IT IS VERY HARD FOR MEN TO BE CONVERTED AND SAVED. look at some proof of the fact, and at the ground of it. In proof of the fact, we have,

1. The testimony of the Bible. See it exhibited in the parable of the marriage-supper. It was the festival of a monarch. The king had sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding ; and they would not come. He sent others to press the invitation: but they still made light of it; going their way, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. The same truth is exhibited in the more direct declarations of Christ: "Ye will not come to me that ye might VOL. IX.-3

have life. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. How can ye believe which receive honor one of another? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And when his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? Jesus said unto them, With men it is impossible; but with God all things are possible." What sentiment is more plainly revealed than the truth we are contemplating? The obvious design of Christ in such passages is to exhibit the obstinate aversion of man to the gospel scheme of mercy, and the utter hopelessness of his case except omnipotent grace interpose.

That it is very hard for men to be converted and saved is manifest, 2. From the nature of the Gospel provisions.

The provisions of the Gospel show that formidable difficulties still remain, even after the foundation of pardon is laid in the great atonement. The guilty and lost, in order to gain pardon and heaven, must repent and be converted." And conversion from sin to holiness-from Satan to God-is a momentous change-a change to be achieved by no ordinary agency.

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Notice the system of means God has put in operation looking towards this change. Why has he thrown such a flood of light upon your character, upon your relations to himself, and upon other topics connected with your immortal interests? Why brought together such mighty array of motives, if there was not something great to be done? something extremely difficult to be achieved? Who, in view of such preparations for reclaiming men, would question that God was aware of fearful opposition to be surmounted?

But he has not simply appointed this great system of means for the conversion of men. He has provided for the direct application of his own omnipotence. "That your faith might stand, not in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony Leart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." But if it be a small and easy matter for the degenerate to regain the divine image, to pass from rebellion to loyalty-from Satan to God-from hell to heaven-if this involve no difficulty, why does omnipotence thus interpose?-why needful this special and direct application of that power which called worlds into being? Such interposition on the part of God is full of meaning. It evinces a case of mighty extremity. It presents most affecting evidence of the fact

that it is indeed very hard for men to be converted and saved. If you deem it so easy a matter as to be the occasion of little or no anxiety, your views and those of God are very widely different.

3. The fact that men continue in sin in decided opposition to their obvious interest, shows the difficulty of conversion.

your

The interests at stake are infinite. They are well understood. And this great change is known, is admitted, to be an indispensible preparation for eternity. From infancy up to this hour, the testimony of the last Judge has thrilled your heart, and agitated your conscience ;-" Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." And yet, with all this knowledge, under all these sober convictions, both of duty and interest, you persist in waywardness, you run on in the path of death, and to all appearance, are soon to leap the tremendous precipice. But if there were no difficulty in taking up the religion of Christ, would you, with thousands upon thousands, thus go down to death without God and without hope? Are you, in other matters than religion, wont to be thus reckless of personal interest and happiness? And would you thus sacrifice peace, and hope, and heaven, if not urged and borne along by an influence you find it very hard to counteract? Would you go with the multitude that tread the broad road, did it really seem to you equally pleasant and easy to enter the straight gate?

The world's history con

Again; that it is very hard to be converted and saved is evident, 4. From the testimony of observation. firms the statement of Christ, that "wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." But why this so general wreck of immortal interests? The fact itself shows that in the business of conversion and salvation there is some mighty obstacle to be surmounted.

The testimony from observation is rendered more plain, by a reference to particular cases in the history of men. They have failed of saving conversion, often under the most favorable circumstances. Look at the Jews, who received gospel truth from the lips of its divine author; and who had visible proof that the whole was from God, in his multiplied miracles. Look at the thousands who heard, without repentance, the heavenly message, as announced by inspired apostles. Look at Agrippa and Felix, who once heard with intense interest the preaching of Paul. Look at the fields that have shared largely in visits of the quickening Spirit. Have they produced only plants of righteousness? Look at that worldling of fifty or seventy years, who learned to pray while sitting in his mother's lap, and who to the present hour has lived impenitent under all the influences of the gospel. Ob

servation recurs at once to numerous cases like these. But men could not-would not-thus live impenitent-they would not die unholy in such circumstances, if conversion implied no obstacles to be surmounted.

Again; we have evidence that it is very hard for men to be converted and saved,

5. From human experience-the experience of both saints and sinners. This testimony exists in different degrees of clearness in the case of different individuals. But no true Christian can probably recollect having come into the kingdom without a conflict-a conflict that seemed to hold his immortal interests in dark suspense. It was hard for him solemnly to review his life, and search his heart, and canvass his prospects for futurity. It was hard to admit the honest testimony of God as to his guilt and ruin. It was hard to listen to the rough lectures of conscience, and look at the realities revelation threw upon his eye. It was hard to admit frankly the justice of God's claims, and yield to the subduing influence of the Spirit, and sink down at the feet of his Sovereign, to be saved, if saved at all, as a matter of mere mercy from the throne. It was hard perhaps to check his enthusiasm for pleasure, or wealth, or fame. It was possibly hard to break up some endeared connections, and abandon some favorite pursuit, known to be inconsistent with Christian discipleship. It was hard to get loose from the grasp of his arch-enemy. And as he recurs to the severe, and perhaps protracted conflict, he looks upon it as a miracle of divine grace that he has the prospect of heaven. Even his Christian life is a warfare, and every step towards the hill of Zion is the result of conquest. What then must have been the character of the warfare and the victory, when the strongholds of sin and Satan, in the heart, were first assailed and carried by the Holy Ghost?

To the same effect is the testimony derived from the experience of the unrenewed. I might with safety appeal to those who hear me, and leave the question to their decision. Have you not found it hard to take up seriously the subject of preparation for judgment and eternity? Have you ever found the convenient time?—ever been free from embarrassments? Reason and conscience have sustained throughout the claims of the gospel; but have they maintained a ready and decided ascendancy? Have you not found difficulty in checking the common waywardness and folly of youth, and the worldliness of opening manhood, and above all, that fear of man which bringeth a snare? Have you not been sometimes alarmed at your complete captivity to passion or appetite? Can you not recur to hours of deep thought and solemn purpose-hours when, under the action of conscience, and revelation, and possibly the Holy Spirit, you felt that something must be

done effectually and soon to escape merited wo? And why were not those hours, so fruitful in promise, hours of repentance, and pardon, and salvation? What mean those stifled convictions, and broken vows, and cherished hopes of a more convenient season?-what, but that a sinner, the moment he looks seriously at religion as a personal and practical matter, is appalled by an array of difficulty? Trace back your experience on this subject to earliest childhood; and tell us if obstacles have not steadily accumulated, throwing you farther from repentance and hope, and deepening the gloom that has settled upon your prospects. And point us to a single page in your history that, of itself, holds out any rational prospect that you will ever be converted and saved.

II. After this varied and concurring proof of our leading proposition, we very naturally inquire, with interest, for the GROUND of all this difficulty. What are the embarrassments so formidable and threatening! Right views on this point are manifestly essential to right notions of human responsibility.

1. Conversion and salvation are not rendered hard, by any serious difficulty in sufficiently understanding the subject of religion.

God has adapted his communication to the intellect of those addressed. The Bible was designed to be a light to your feet and a lamp to your path. And to question its adaptation to your capacity, is to question both the benevolence and wisdom of God. Indeed it is a revelation, only so far as it may be understood. And where is the obscurity? It has indeed its sublime and mysterious truths; but even these are plainly thrown out before the world as facts--facts to be cordially admitted, though not fully comprehended. And where do you not find sublimity and mystery even in the material creation, and in the system of divine providence? "Behold," says God, "I set before you the way of life and the way of death." And who does not discern the difference? Who need be a stranger to his duty? Who, with the gospel in his hand, can fail to perceive his ruin, and the only method of relief? Who cannot learn the nature of repentance and faith?-the leading terms of pardon? You cannot plead ignorance as an apology for continuing in sin. Conscience says, no. And the Savior and Judge himself declares, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." The difficulty is not,

2. That God has thrown any embarrassment in the way of conversion. All his arrangements are of the opposite character and tendency. And he has brought into steady action a powerful system of moral influence for counteracting the perverse spirit of man, and restraining his wayward steps, and hedging up his path to ruin. He has given you