the change in question. Conversion is akin to regeneration; it is most nearly similar, and cannot be separated from it, and yet it is not quite the same thing. Regeneration implants a new principle in the soul ; conversion is the practical putting forth of that principle. Regeneration imparts new life to the soul; conversion is the exercise of that life. Regeneration bestows new power; conversion is the manifestation of that power. For sake of illustration, let us suppose a man dead and buried. Regeneration may be compared to life entering into the sepulchre, opening the eyes that death had sealed, giving back the healthy colour to the cheeks and causing the vital fluid once more to circulate through all the frame; conversion may be represented by the same man, after being thus reanimated, exerting the power of life which he has just received, rising up from among the dead, coming forth from the tomb, and entering on the various duties and activities of life. Conversion and regeneration are thus so closely linked together as cause and effect that they often stand for one another, 4. Human instrumentality. Here, too, the power of God and the work of man unite; Divine agency and human instrumentality combine. The hand of man may roll away the stone and remove the grave-clothes, as in the case of Lazarus; but nothing short of the power of God can resuscitate the buried corpse, or speak the dead to life. So, also, it is when the dead in trespasses and sins are quickened. By the instrumentality of man, the stone that stops the mouth of the sepulchre may be taken away and the grave- clothes unbound; but nothing less than “the working of God’s mighty power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,” can make any one of us alive through Christ Jesus. We may preach and pray, and it is our duty to combine both, and our privilege to engage in either; but the power that raises the dead to life is the power, and not only the power, but the mighty power of God. The prophet of old acknowledged this, for after he had prophesied to the dry bones in the valley of vision, he followed up his prophesying by prayer, saying, ‘‘ Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” The psalmist felt the same when he said, “ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” The apostle was of the same mind when he wrote, “ But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, quickened us together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved).” 6, The means employed, and the manner tn which the chunge is effected. God treats us as reasonable beings; he makes his appeal to the faculties with which he has endowed us. He addresses us as his intelligent creatures, and challenges us to inquiry, saying, “ Judge ye what I say.” He speaks to us in his Word and by his ambassadors, and even entreats us to be reconciled to God. He bestows his Spirit, for without the agency of that Spirit all the rest would be but as the rolling away of the stone and the unbind- ing of the grave-clothes already spoken of. 6. The nature of the change. After the creation of the heavens and the earth, the first work of God was light. God said, “ Let there be light.” In the change in question, which, for convenience’ sake, we may call conversion, the first work is also /ight; he enlightens our understanding in the knowledge of Christ. God’s Word, indeed, is light, “a light to our feet ;” but while we are unconverted there are scales on our eyes, and if we see at all, it is only “ men like trees, walking.” The Spirit takes away the scales; and we see the suitability and sufficiency of the Saviour, the completeness of his work, the fulness of his offices, the freeness of his mercy, the riches of his grace, the length and breadth and depth and height of his love; we see also our sins in the light of his sufferings, and his sufferings endured for and expiating oursins, This is not all; it isnot enough to have light in the head. There is often natural light, intellectual light, the light of science, even the light of theological speculation or doctrine or controversy ; but such light by itself never brought any soul to the Saviour. Of such light we may say, it is the light of the moon shining on an iceberg away in a frozen sea; it is the nocturnal light of twinkling stars, as they sparkle in the firmament, and shed their flickering radiance on some far-off mountain capped with snow. In this gracious change there is an additional element. With light in the head it combines love in the heart. Like light and heat from the same fire, they go hand in hand. The heart follows the bead, and they act and react upon each other. The will obeys the understanding, and the affections go along with both. The subject of this blessed change can say with one of old, “ Whereas I was blind, now I see; ” but he goes further, and can say with the apostle, “The love of God has been shed
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abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which was given unto us.” The regenerate soul can say, “I know whom I have believed;” but it stops not there; it adds, “ Whom having not seen, I love.” Conversion, if we may use the term in its popular sense, is the love of Christ constraining us; it is the Word of Christ instruct- ing us; itis “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ;” it is the work of Christ renewing us; it is the Spirit of Christ enlightening us; it is the life of Christ imparted to us— because I live, ye shall live also;” it is the love of him “ who first loved us, and gave himself for us.” This love expels the enmity of the carnal mind, gives a new bent to the will and a new bias to the feelings; it lays hold of the affections, and influences all the energies of our being, operating at once on the faculties of the mind and the members of the body. It is God making us willing, as well as welcome, to be his people in the day of his power.