HISTORIES OF CONVERSIONS.

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If, on the other hand, you see that these phrases mean nothing; that awakening does not imply having been asleep; that acknowledging the truth does not imply that there was a truth which he had previously denied; if the words, first understanding the love of Christ, do not express his belief that the love existed before he felt it, you will be generally able to detect from other signs,perhaps from an extreme accuracy in the detail of impressions, and a great anxiety to put everything in its proper place, that the writer has been a very diligent student of religious experiences and biographies, and a very indifferent student of himself.

There is another criterion of sincerity in these histories, which seems closely connected with the former. If you find any narrator describing the perception of a relationship to a mighty Friend and Saviour, as the reward of all his sorrows and anxiety, and the commencement of a new life to him; you will generally find other most touching proofs of his meekness and honesty; you will find in the midst of some cant, perhaps some indica-. tions of an exclusive feeling, which accord very ill with the rest of his language,—such utterances of affection for his fellow-sinners, and especially the friends of his youth, and such inward life and joy, as it is most humbling and heart-cheering to read. On the contrary, if the man talk chiefly of his change of nature,- thank God that he is not what he was, or what other men are, indicate that it is the confidence of

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WHAT THEY PROVE.

having taken a new start, and of having got some feelings which he had not before, rather than trust in Christ and the belief that he has died for him, which gives him a hope of happiness here and hereafter, in such a case, I put it to you, whether that charity which hopeth all things, has not to dig through heaps of religious jargon and pharisaical contempt before should can arrive at one vein of that precious ore which she is searching after, and is determined to find.

The more you meditate on these observations, the more interesting, I am persuaded, they will be to you, and the more you will be persuaded that a conversion must necssarily presuppose a state, into accordance with which the man at a particular crisis is brought, which he is obliged to call his true state, from which he is obliged to speak of himself as having departed. Try as hard as he will, he cannot so frame his expressions that they shall not denote his belief that the condition into which he is now brought, though not his natural condition, is yet his own proper condition. He knows that all his acts are inconsistent with themselves; that he was in contradiction with himself while he did not recognise this as his state, and that his acts will become inconsistent again, and he again at variance with himself, when he forgets that it is his state. All the time till he had arrived at this conviction he was asleep, blinded, ignorant of the truth. Now he has come to himself. And what is this state?

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Not one of independent virtue and excellence,that is not intended for any man or angel, for any being except God,-but a state of union with another, this is his proper state. When he knows that it is so, and acts as if it were, he becomes what he was meant to be; otherwise he is living as perverted a life as if he were striving to walk upon his head instead of upon his feet.

But, supposing this to be the case, supposing a man who believes himself a child of God, a member of Christ, an heir of the kingdom of heaven; holds that belief which alone can enable him to do consistent and reasonable acts; which view would seem to be, prima facie, most extravagant and absurd; that which tells a man that he is not this, or that which tells him that he is this; and that it is his sin not to act upon the supposition? Observe, I am not yet explaining the principles of that assertion; I am merely removing an a priori objection. The Evangelical party say, if there be such a thing as conversion, it cannot be that a man, previous to conversion, was a child of God, a member of Christ. I say, if the records of conversions be true, there is the strongest possible difficulty in not ackowledging that to have been the state of each man previously, which he then claims and affirms to be his.

Do not suppose that there is the slightest novelty in this view of the question. The Evangelical party has accustomed itself to look upon the doctrine which pronounces men children of God before they enter into the acknowledgment and

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ACKNOWLEDGED BY LUTHER.

enjoyment of that wonderful relation, as something which is at war with all spiritual Christianity, most especially at war with the doctrine of justification by faith. See whether the great preacher of that doctrine so considered it; see whether he did not as much insist upon a ground for his faith to stand upon as I have done; see whether he did not as much speak of Baptism, as that which gives this ground, as any High Churchman among us. I take up Luther's Sermons, and select passages almost at random, to prove this point:—

"But that this might be easier for us to do, even Christ hath taken it upon himself, he suffered himself to be baptized and took his cross and carried it, not resisting or gainsaying, and so was obedient to his Father unto the death, even the death of the cross, as Paul saith, Phil. ii., that he might deliver us from sin, and might appease his heavenly Father, which he did of his mere grace without any desert of ours: whereof we have baptism a sign and pledge, as Paul saith unto Titus, iii. 4: "But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life," Secondly, the Holy Ghost appeared here in the likeness of a dove, when Christ is baptized, whereby is signified, that we also receive the Holy Ghost in our baptism, which ruleth and guideth us according to the will of God, which is present with us,

EXTRACTS FROM HIS SERMONS.

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and helpeth us in bearing the burden of the holy cross, which exhorteth us, which is instant upon us, enforceth us, and, when we yield to the burden of the cross, is present and helpeth us; if we fall, raiseth us up again, and is with us a certain faithful companion in our journey. He also maketh the burden of the cross light, which we were very unable to bear, if he did not put his help. If so be that thou fall into sin, remember to go back unto thy baptism, for this is the only ship wherein we pass over.

"Wherefore take heed of them which make two tables whereby we pass over the sea of sin; namely, baptism and repentance: believe them not, whatsoever they handle, it is mere delusion: baptism is the beginning of repentance. As often therefore as thou fallest into sin, have recourse unto thy baptism, there thou shalt again obtain the Holy Ghost, who may be present with thee. -Sermon on the Epiphany.

"He setteth forth the grace of God given to us in baptism, with words very full of praise and commendation he calleth baptism a washing, whereby not the feet and hands, bu tthe whole man is once washed, purified, and saved.

"There is need of nothing but only faith in this grace of God, that it may remain and be acknowledged the work of grace alone, that we are saved without all our works and merits, and so also there may remain in us pure love, praise, giving of thanks, and glory of the divine mercy, without all glory and pleasing of ourselves in our own strength and endeavour, as it hath been often said and at large. Human righteousness is also a washing, but not whereby the whole man is so washed, but that Pharisaical washing, whereby only the apparel and vessels which are outward are made clean, whereof it is