JL OU have heard, that conversion does not consist in these exter- nal things ; at your eternal peril be it, if you trust in them : But true conversion is the turning of the whole man to God, Acts xxvi. 18. it is nothing less, than the total change of the inward temper and frame of the heart, and the external course of the life, Isa. Iv. 8. It is not the cool confession, but the real forsaking of sin, in which we shall find mercy, Prov. xxviii. 13. Thy heart and will, love and delight, must turn sin out, and take Christ in, or thou art no gospel- convert. A true convert loaths every sin, and himself for sin, Ezek. xxxvi. 31. but general confessions of sin are consistent with the full dominion of sin. Moreover, in all true conversion there is a positive turning unto God, a whole heart-choice of him, for your supreme and ultimate happiness and portion, Psal. Ixxiii. 25. and of the Lord Jesus Christ, as your Prince and Saviour, Acts v. 31. And an- swerably, it will devote your whole life to his service and glory, Phil. i. 2L And thus it brings forth the new man, and the whole frame of your heart and life is marvellously changed and altered, 2 Cor, v. 17. " Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.*" It may be, you will think such a change as this impossible to be made upon you. And so it is indeed, until the day of God's power come, Psal. ex. 3, What ! to forsake with loathing your old com- panions, and courses, which you have so long hved with and delight- ed in ; and to embrace with highest pleasure, strict godliness, \/hich you have so loathed, and ridiculed ! This would be a strange alter- ation indeed : But as strange as it seems to be, it will be effected in a moment, when God fulfils that gracious promise (as I hope he is now doing) to you, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. " A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." Operations follow na- ture : When the heart of a beast was given to that great king Nebu- chadnezzar, Dan. V. 21. his dwelling was with the wild asses; they fed him with grass, like oxen. But let the spirit of a man return to
538 THE POSSIBILITY AND NECESSITY OF COXVEIlSIO^\
him again, and he will blush to think of his brutish company, an J way of life ; and so will you of yours also. As marvellous a change as this has passed upon as eminent and notorious sinners as your- selves, Gal. i. 22. the God of the spirits of all flesh can with ease and speed produce all this by that Almighty Power, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.
§ VI. Of the hazards attending conversion.
XF the Lord shall, in his rich grace and mercy to your souls, stir up in them the thoughts and resolutions of a change of your course ; great care ought to be taken, in the time of this change, lest they miscarry in their remove from one state to another ; multitudes mis- carry betwixt a state of profaneness, and true godliness. To con- tinue in the state of profaneness, is to be certainly lost ; and so it is to take up short of Christ, in mere civility and formality in religion. This middle state takes up multitudes by the way,\vho do but change the open road, for a more private way to hell.
Mere civilized nature is unregenerated nature still ; " They re- turn, but not to the most High ; they are like a deceitful bow," saith the prophet, Hosea vii. 16. They seem to aim at Christ, and sal- vation ; but, as an arrow from a weak bow, it goes not home ; or, as from a deceitful bow, it slants aside, and misses the mark. It is true, they are not openly profane, as they were before ; but they take up and settle in an unregenerate state still : Their condition is the same, though their company be not.
This is excellently set forth by our Saviour, Mat. xii. 43, 44, 45. The devil maybe cast out as a profane de\il,and yet keephis proprie- ty still as a former devil. The sense of that text is well expressed by one, in this note upon it ; That a restraint by formality, keeps the devil's propriety, and disposes the soul to final apostasy. You are as far from Christ and salvation, under the power of formality, as you were before. He that is cured of a fever, hath no great cause to re- joice, if his fever has left him under a consumption, which will kill him as surely, though it may be less violently, or speedily.
§ VII. Of the ahsohlute necessity of a thorough change.
▼ T HATEVER the difficulties and hazards are, that attend this change by conversion unto God, the change itself is absolutely and indispensably necessary to every man's salvation. The door of sal- vation can never be opened, without the key of regeneration. Christ assures civil and formal Nicodemus, " That except he be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," John iii. 3. Think not con- version to be the attainment of some singular and extraordinary Christians, for it is the very point upon which every man's eternal happiness or misery depends. There is one law for all the world ; they must be changed or damned: No restitutions or reformations, no common gifts or abihties, no religious duties or services, can save
THE POSSIBILITY AND NECESSITY OF CONVERSION'. 5^39
any man from hell, witliout a change by thorough conversion, Rom. viii. 8. " They that are in the flesh, cannot please God.*"
Satisfy and pJease not yourselves with this : Though we live in sin, yet God is a merciful God. We will confess our sins to him, say our prayers, keep our church ; and no doubt but God will be merciful to us, as well as others. Consider it, man, that this merciful God is also a God of truth ; and this God of truth hath plainly assured thee, that all these external things signify nothing to thy salvation, unless thoii become a new creature. Gal. vi. 15. and that thou must be born again, John iii. 3. Say not, without this you will hope in God ; If you hope in God, you must hope in his word, Psal. cxix. 11. Now where will you find that word in the bible, that warrants the hope of salvation in the unregenerate person ? All scriptural hope is of a puri- fying nature, and evermore productive of an holy life, 1 John iii. 3. If you say, Christ died for the greatest of sinners, and you trust to be saved through him; it is true, he did so, but conversion is his only method of salvation, Tit. ii. 14. and those that are not washed by sanctification, have no part in him, or in his blood, John xiii. 8. He came not to save men continuing in their sins, but to save his people from their sins, Mat. i. 21. His way is to lead you through sancti- fication unto salvation, 2 Thes. ii. 13. If you have a mind to see whom, and how he saves ; you have it before your eyes. Tit. i. 14. '' Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all ini- quity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Those only are saved by him, that " denying ungodlincvss, and worldly lusts, live not only soberly and righteously, but godlj in this present world."