The First Day of Lent, COMMONLY CALLED Ash-Wednesday. LENT, THE SEASON OF CONVERSION. JOEL ii. 12. Turn ye even to Me, saith the LORD, with all EVERY season of the natural year, as it comes round, brings its special duties with it, and requires of the husbandman a change of occupation. The same thing holds true of the Christian Year. There is a season of preparation, and a season of joy; a season of self-denial, and a season of sorrow; a season of triumph, and a season of consolation. Every portion of it has its own peculiar complexion, and brings its own appropriate duty. If we must assign a special duty to the present season, we would speak of the forty days of Lent, which begin to-day, as the season of conversion to God. The word 'Conversion,' thus applied, may strike some persons as improper. But there is indeed nothing at all strange or wrong in this use of the word. 'Conversion' means 'Turning' and when we speak of the season of Conversion,' we do but speak of the season when it is most of all fit that man should obey the summons of the prophet Joel,- Turn ye even to Me, saith the LORD.' Sad indeed it is to think that language so plain should have become to that degree darkened, that Conversion' should stand for a process little short of miraculous; an effect to be produced altogether from without: whereas, in truth, it denotes a change taking place within us; a change wrought, not by the extraordinary, but by the ordinary influences of GoD's Holy Spirit; seen, not in any wondrous operation; attested, not by any remarkable outward sign-but altogether brought about in secrecy and in silence; beginning and ending in the inner chamber of the heart of man. Let us then consider together the nature and the duty of Conversion to GOD.-As already said, no outward signs are to be looked for. He who waits for any voice from Heaven, beyond that which we have this day heard; any call louder than that of the prophet Joel in the Epistle for Ash-Wednesday, will probably wait all his life long, in vain. There is a great risk that he will die at last, unawakened, who is mad enough to wait for a kind of summons which God has nowhere encouraged us to expect. Let us profit then by what we know of this matter, and be wise in time. Conversion is Turning. True enough it is that a man must be converted; but just as true is it that a man must be turned: Turn Thou us, and we shall be turned,' as it is written. What is this however but saying what none deny; namely, that no one can come to GOD, except GOD first draw him? We know that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves.' The inclination of the heart must come from Him. But then, this is only one part of the work of Conversion. The yielding to that blessed influence of GoD's Holy Spirit, the turning ourselves to GOD, when GOD seeks so to turn us, this must be done by ourselves. And this last part of the work, which is our own concern, is what we hold to be the special duty of this solemn season. Unless there be this readiness on our side, we may not expect that any good will follow. If there be this readiness, then let none doubt that GOD has already done His part; and that it rests with himself a Jer. xxxi. 18: Lam. v. 21. alone to be turned, or not. . . . All excuses, in short, for throwing the burthen of Man's repentance on the Father of Mercies, are a hollow deceit. They will not bear examination. They melt away like frost-work in sunshine, whether we test them by experience, or examine them by the light of God's Word. The great work then which we have been describing, we hold to be the special work of the present season. The current of our thoughts and inclinations, the stream of our daily life, (to judge at least from one sad experience,) is certainly prone not to set heavenward. Either anxiety, or ambition; some worldly aim, or some family care; one or other of these is apt to clip the wings of the soul, and prevent it from soaring above this mortal scene. If there be no such influence at work, the very tendency of our nature, which is ever earthward, is a sufficient obstacle to that closer walk with GoD of which holy men tell, and which, in our wiser moments, we all think we desire. Now, the season which begins to-day has this peculiar claim on our gratitude, that it comes to us with a special call; inviting us to put earthly things away from us now, or at least to give them for awhile the second place,―reserving the first for : the Kingdom of GOD, and His Righteousness.' We are invited, now, to apply our minds more than is our usual wont, to the things which concern our peace to cultivate the spirit of Prayer, reviewing our practice in respect of this particular duty, and seeking to amend it to examine our hearts, and to look closely into the habits of our daily life to wean ourselves from whatever earthly thing has had too large a share of our affections, -in order thus to loosen the hold which Earth has upon us, and to give our spirits the opportunity of building their nest in Heaven. All these things seem included under the general head of Conversion, or the turning of the heart to God. : And it may further be supposed that this will be the work of the heart in secret. It will be begun by a sad review of our own state, our own secret acts,-habits,-character: and this must, of necessity, be a work conducted privately. Then will come the steady contemplation of our Divine Master, and all His glorious promises, on the one side: on the other, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, with all their unholy allurements. Next, will come, (if so it may be,) a 'sense of the necessity and blessedness of solemnly choosing for ourselves, with all our |