SERMON I.

CONVERSION 1.

EZEKIEL XXxiii. 2.

"Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die ?"

THERE are few truths which it is of more consequence to bear in our recollection, than that, from the time of the fall of our first parents, the nature of man has been

1 "Of the persons in our congregations, to whom we not only may, but must, preach the doctrine of conversion plainly and directly, are those who, with the name indeed of Christians, have hitherto passed their lives without any internal religion whatever; who have not at all thought on the subject; &c. &c.-with whom indeed, religious motives have not weighed a feather in the scale against interest or pleasure. To those

B

sinful and corrupt. The Scriptures, in a variety of passages, give this representation of it; and the truth of this representation will be abundantly confirmed by the experience of every one, who has attentively observed the workings and disposition of his own heart. From such attentive observation he will find reason to confess, that he naturally has within him the seeds, or first principles, of almost every sin;—that he has much of a vicious selfishness, much of vanity and pride, and a strong disposition to gratify the appetites and desires of the body in opposition to the remonstrance of better reason. He will confess, that he often feels a strange backwardness to perform what he knows to be his duty,-those duties especially which he owes more immediately to his Maker;-that they often require a it is absolutely necessary that we preach conversion. At this day we have not Jews or Gentiles to preach to; but those persons are really in as unconverted a state, as any Jew or Gentile could be in our Saviour's time. . . . . .These must be converted, before they can be saved."-Paley's Sermon on Conversion.-See the whole Sermon.

degree of effort and exertion, which shows that they are not really natural to him.

Of this inward corruption and disposition to evil, the almost necessary consequence is actual sin; and, accordingly, when compared with the strict and holy law of God, the life of man, in his merely natural state, presents little else than a series of transgressions.

At the same time, the Scriptures assure us that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." And, even if the Scriptures had been silent on the subject, it would have been plain that a being thus made up of sin must be utterly unfit for heaven; that indeed he could have no taste for the enjoyments of heaven, even if he were admitted to it. Consequently, in order to our being received into that state of blessedness, it is necessary that a certain change should take place in our nature, it is necessary that our evil habits and propensities should be in some degree subdued, and such as are holy and well-pleasing to God acquired in their place.

This change is expressed in a variety of manners. Sometimes it is called a casting away of all our transgressions," and

Some

making us a new heart, and a new spirit1." Sometimes it is expressed by "putting off "the sins of the flesh;-by putting off the "old man and putting on the new 2." times, as in the text, it means a turning from our evil ways unto God. Sometimes. it means the same as repentance, or, as it is otherwise called, conversion3.-This change, or conversion,-as I have already stated, is absolutely necessary in order to our being received into Heaven; and consequently, since there is no middle state, it is absolutely necessary in order to our escaping the punishment of Hell.

The exhortation of the text, Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die, plainly appears to imply that we must die, must perish everlastingly, if we will not turn to God.

3 Wherever in this sermon I use the term conversion

I simply mean by it a turning from sin to God.

For the purpose both of alarming the careless, and of giving peace and comfort to the humble and diffident, I will now offer a few observations, which may assist you in understanding the nature of this change, and in determining how far your repentance has been genuine, in other wordshow far you have effectually turned to God or not.

And, in the first place, I would remark, in opposition to the opinion inculcated. by some teachers, that it by no means appears from the word of God that it is essential that this change, this conversion, should take place so suddenly, and in such a striking manner, as that afterwards we should be able to assign the precise time when it took place. I fully believe that such sudden conversions often may and do take place. All that I contend for is, that such circumstances are not essential. Some persons having, according to the doctrine of our church, been regenerate or born anew of water and of the Spirit in Baptism, may, through the bless