1. By some sudden amazing judgments, whereby he " revealeth
CHAP. VI.] IN THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. 347
his wrath from heaven against the ungodliness of men/' Rom. i. 18. So Waldo was affected when his companion was stricken dead as he walked with him in the fields; which proved the occasion of his con- version unto God. So the psalmist describes the affections and thoughts of men when they are surprised with a storm at sea, Ps. cvii. 25—28; an instance whereof we have in the mariners of Jonah^s ship, chap. i. 4-7. And that Pharaoh who despised one day, say- ing, " Who is the Lord, that I should regard him?" being the next day terrified with thunder and lightning, cries out, " Entreat the Lord for mo that it may be so no more,''' Exod. ix. 28. And such, like impressions from divine power most men, at one time or other, have experience of
2. 'S>Y personal afflictions, Job xxxiii. 19, 20; Ps. Ixxviii. 34, 35; Hos. V. 15. Affliction naturally bespeaks anger, and anger respects sin. It bespeaks itself to be God's messenger to call sin to remem- brance, 1 Kings xvii. 18; Gen. xlii. 21, 22. The time of affliction is a time of consideration, Eccles. vii. 14; and if men be not obdurate and hardened almost unto practical atheism by a course of sinning, they cannot but bethink themselves who sends affliction, and for what end it is sent. Hence great thoughts of the holiness of God and of his hatred of sin, with some sense of men's own guilt and especial crimes, will arise ; and these effects many times prove prepa- ratory and materially dispositive unto conversion. And not what these things are in themselves- able to operate is to be considered, but what they are designed unto and made effectual for by the Holy Ghost.
3. By remarkable deliverances and mercies: so it was with Naa- man the Syrian, 2 Kings v. 15-17. Sudden changes from great dangers and distresses by unexpected reliefs deeply affect the minds of men, convincing them of the power, presence, and goodness of God ; and this produceth a sense and acknowledgment of their own unworthiness of what they have received. Hence, also, some tem- porary effects of submission to the divine will and gratitude do pro- ceed.
4. An observation of the conversation of others hath affected many to seek into the causes and ends of it; and this inclines them unto imitation. 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2.
5. The 'W07-d, in the reading or preaching of it, is the principal means hereof This the Holy Spirit employeth and maketh use of in his entrance into this work, 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25 ; for those convic- tions befall not men from the word universally or promiscuously, but as the Holy Spirit willeth and designeth. It is by the law that men have the knowledge of sin, Rom. vii. 7; yet we see by expe- rience that the doctrine of the law is despised by the most that hear
848 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [COOK III.
it. Wherefore, it hath not in itself a force or virtue always to work conviction of sin in them unto whom it is outwardly proposed; only towards some the Spirit of God is pleased to j)ut forth an especial energy in the disjaensation thereof.
By these and the like means doth God ofttimes put the tuildness of corrupted nature unto a stand, and stir up the faculties of the soul, by an effectual though not saving impression upon them, seri- ously to consider of itself, and its relation unto him and his will. And hereby are men ofttimes incited and engaged unto many duties of religion, as prayer for the pardon of sin, with resolutions of amend- ment. And although these things in some are subordinated unto a farther and more effectual work of the Sj^irit of God upon them, yet with many they prove evanid and fading, their goodness in them being " as a morning cloud, and as the early dew which passeth away," Hos. vi. 4. And the reasons whence it is that men cast off these warnings of God, and pursue not their own intentions under them, nor answer what they lead unto, are obvious; for, —
(1.) The darkness of their minds being yet uncured, they are not able to discern the true nature of these divine intimations and in- structions, but after a while regard them not, or reject them as the occasions of needless scruples and fears, (2.) Presumption of their present condition, that it is as good as it need be, or as is convenient in their present circumstances and occasions, makes them neglect the improvement of their warnings. (5) Profane societies and rela- tions, such as, it may be, scoff at and deride all tremblings at divine warnings, with ignorant ministers, that undertake to teach what they have not learned, are great means of hardening men in their sins, and of forfeiting the benefit of these divine intimations. (4.) They will, as to all ejBficacy, and the motions they bring on the affections of men, decay and expire of themselves, if they are not diligently im- proved : wherefore in many they perish through mere sloth and neg- ligence. (5.) Satan ajjplies all his engines to the defeatment of these beginnings of any good in the souls of men. (6.) That which effec- tually and utterly overthrows this work, which causeth them to cast oif these heavenly warnings, is mere love of lusts and pleasures, or the unconquered adherence of a corrupted heart unto sensual and sinful objects, that offer present satisfaction unto its carnal desires. By this means is this work of the Spirit of God in the hearts and minds of many utterly defeated, to the increase of their guilt, an ad- dition to their natural hardness, and the ruin of their souls. But in some of them he is graciously pleased to renew his work, and by more effectual means to carry it on to perfection, as shall be after- ward declared.