CHAP. VI.] IN THE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. Sol
impossible, it is to fix their minds on a due consideration of sin, until it be wrought in them by the exceeding greatness of the power of the Spirit of God. Wherefore, herein consists the first part of this work of conviction, — it fixeth the mind on a due consideration of sin. So it is expressed, Ps. li. 8, " My sin is ever before me." God " re- proves men," and " sets their sins in order before their eyes," Ps. 1. 21. Hence they are necessitated, as it were, always to behold them, and that which way soever they turn themselves. Fain they would cast them behind their backs, or cast out the thoughts of them, but the arrows of God stick in them, and they cannot take off their minds from their consideration. And whereas there are three things in sin, — 1st. The original of it, and its native inherence in us, as Ps. li. 5; 2dly. The state of it, or the obnoxiousness of men to the wrath of God on the account thereof, Eph. ii. 1-3; Sdly. The par- ticular sins of men's lives; — in the first part of the work of convic- tion, the minds of men are variously exercised with respect unto them, according as the Spirit of God is pleased to engage and fix them.
(2.) As the mind is hereby fixed on the consideration of sin, so a sense of sin must also be fixed on the mind, — that is, the conscience and affections. A bare contemplation of the concernments of sin is of little use in this matter. The Scripture principally evidenceth this work of conviction, or placeth it in this effect of a sense of sin, in trouble, sorrow, disquietment of mind, fear of ruin, and the like : see Acts ii. 87, xxiv. 2-5. But this I must not enlarge upon. This, therefore, is the second thing which we observe in God's gracious actings towards the recovery of the souls of men from their apostasy and from under the power of sin.
2. The principal efficient cause of this work is the Holy Ghost ; the \ preaching of the word, especially of the law, being the instrument which ' he maketh use of therein. The knowledge of sin is by the law, both the nature, guilt, and curse belonging to it, Rom. vii. 7. There is, there- fore, no conviction of sin but what consists in an emanation of light and knowledge from the doctrine of the law, with an evidence of its power and a sense of its curse. Other means, as afflictions, dangers, sicknesses, fears, disappointments, may be made use of to excite, stir up, and put an edge upon the minds and affections of men; yet it is, by one means or other, from the law of God that such a discovery is made of sin unto them, and such a sense of it wrought upon them, as belong unto this work of conviction. But it is the Spirit of God alone that is the principal efficient cause of it, for he works these effects on the minds of men. God takes it upon himself, as his own work, to " reprove men, and set their sins in order before their eyes," Ps. 1. 21. And that this same work is done immediately by the Spirit is expressly declared, John xvi. 8. He alone it is who makes
852 THE MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED [bOOK III.
all means effectual unto this end and purpose. Without his espe- cial and immediate actings on us to this end, we may hear the law preached all the days of our lives and not be once affected with it.
And it may, by the way, be worth our observation to consider how God, designing the calling or conversion of the souls of men, doth, in his holy, wise providence, overrule all their outward concernments, so as that they shall be disposed into such circumstances as conduce to the end aimed at. Either by their o'svn inclinations and choice, or by the intervention of accidents crossing their inclinations and frustrating their designs, he will lead them into such societies, ac- quaintances, relations, places, means, as he hath ordained to be use- ful unto them for the gi^eat ends of their conviction and conversion. So, in particular, Austin aboundeth in his contemplation on the holy, wise providence of God, in carrying of him from Carthage to Rome, and from thence to Milan, where he heard Ambrose preach every Lord's day; which proved at length the means of his thorough con- version to God. And in that whole course, by his discourse upon it, he discovers excellently, as, on the one hand, the variety of his own projects and designs, his aims and ends, which ofttimes were perverse and froward; so, on the other, the constant guidance of divine Provi- dence, working powerfully through all occurrences towards the blessed end designed for him. And I no way doubt but that God exercised him unto those distinct experiences of sin and grace in his own heart and ways, because he had designed him to be the great champion of the doctrine of his grace against all its enemies, and that not only in his own age, wherein it met with a fierce opposition, but also in all succeeding ages, by his excellent labours, preserved for the use of the church : see Confess, lib. v. cap. 7-9, etc. " Tu spes mea [et portio mea] in terra viventium, ad mutandum terrarum locum pro salute animse mea, et Carthagini stimulos quibus inde avellerer admovebas, et Romse illecebras quibus attraherer, proponebas mihi per homines, qui dihgunt vitam mortuam, hinc insana facientes, inde vana pol- licentes, et ad corrigendos gxessus meos, utebaris occulte et illorum et mea perversitate," cap. 8 ; — " Thou who art my hope [and my portion] in the land of the living, that I might remove from one country to another, for the salvation of my soul, didst both apply goads unto me at Carthage, whereby I might be driven from thence, and proposcdst allurements unto me at Rome, whereby I might be drawn thither; and this thou didst by men : who love the dead life in sin, here doing things outrageous, there promising things desirable to vain minds, whilst thou, to correct and reform my ways, didst secretly make use of their frowardness and mine."