but you will permit me to say that this term is often affixed as a
stigma on personal piety. I am now merely stating facts, which are
attested by the evidence of experience. Do we not read in the Bible
that the renewed man has the eye of his understanding enlightened?
Does not this expression imply that before his renovation his
understanding was darkened, through the ignorance that was within
him? And can we suppose that he discovers no fresh objects of
contemplation and delight when this new power of spiritual vision
is imparted? He has new apprehensions of the spirituality and
omnipresence of God--of his majesty and purity--of his power and
patience--of his goodness--and especially of his condescension
in hearing and answering prayer. And when he turns his eye in
upon himself, he discovers his guilt, his depravity, and his
unworthiness; and exclaims, Woe is me, for I am unclean! He is no
less astonished at the Divine forbearance towards him than he is at
his own insensibility and ingratitude; and while he offers up the
tribute of praise to the God of his mercies, he abhors himself, and
repents in dust and in ashes. But his chief attention is fixed on
the person of the Redeemer--on the efficacy of his death--on the
prevalence of his intercession--on his amazing and boundless love
for sinners--even the chief. On these grand and important themes he
dwells with the most enraptured delight. They now appear before him
invested with a charm all their own; and he is no less astonished
when he remembers his former indifference to them, than he is at
that death-like insensibility which the great majority around him
discover. The pleasures and the pursuits of the world, which once
engrossed so large a portion of his attention, and so powerfully
interested his passions, now sink into insignificance when compared
with the realities of the invisible state; and though he feels no
disposition to neglect his present duties, yet he often anticipates,
with intense emotions of delight, the glory which is to be revealed
on entering the kingdom of heaven. Having been redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ, and sanctified in part by the eternal
Spirit, he now feels the powerful obligations of gratitude and love
constraining him to yield himself to God, to serve and glorify
him. He can now without regret leave his sinful pleasure, and from
meditation, prayer, and listening to the gospel's joyous sound, he
can derive real and substantial happiness.
"But one of the most satisfactory evidences of regeneration is an
aversion to sin, and an ardent desire for an entire conformity
to the purity of the Divine nature, which every renewed man
feels--an aversion which is not directed exclusively against open
immoralities, but which extends to the principles of evil which
lie concealed in the recesses of the heart. Hence, his prayer will
be--Cleanse thou me from secret faults; keep back thy servant from
presumptuous sin; let no iniquity have dominion over me; lead me
not into temptation, but deliver me from all evil. But the renewed
man is not more anxious to be preserved from the dominion of sinful
passions and principles, than he is to become holy, even as God is
holy. And as he knows that this assimilation can be produced only
by immediate intercourse with God, he walks in a state of habitual
communion with him; and though he is not always conscious of his
presence, nor always favoured with the sensible manifestations of
it, yet he cleaves to him in the purposes of his heart. Now, I
appeal to you, if such a change in the character, in the views,
and in the tastes of a man, is not a powerful evidence of his
having undergone that internal renovation or regeneration which the
Scriptures represent to be indispensably necessary to fit us for
the kingdom of heaven."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Why, I must confess that such a change is a
more rational evidence of regeneration than the simple fact that the
baptismal ceremony has been performed; but how few of those who have
been baptized possess any such evidence of their being the children
of God, and the inheritors of the kingdom of heaven."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"This is too true; and, alas! what an appalling
truth!"
Mrs. John Roscoe, who listened with profound attention to the whole
of this discussion, on rising with her niece to take a stroll in
the garden, said, "What a burlesque on the sanctity of our pure and
sublime faith, to see an immoral man, when reproved for his vices,
and warned to flee from the wrath, deliberately appeal to the fact
of his having been baptized, to prove that he is a child of God, and
an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven! Can we conceive of anything
more puerile, or more calculated to encourage persons to riot in
sin, fearless of the fearful consequences? It is quite time this
fatal heresy was driven out of our church, and torn out of our
prayer-book."
"I think so too, aunt; but what commotion would be excited amongst
our church-going people if any legal attempt were made to substitute
the simple and significant baptism of the New Testament for this
delusive papal ceremony of baptismal regeneration. Why, many would
rather have their Bibles mutilated than their prayer-book. The
Bishop of Oxford calls it a Churchman's blessed inheritance, which
ought to be preserved entire; no change in a book which is so
perfect."
ON CONVERSION.
Returning with Mr. Roscoe and his brother from a survey of some
ancient ruins, which reminded us of the departed heroes of olden
times, and of the legendary tales of their strange and adventurous
life, which are still rife amongst the people who reside in this
vicinity, we overtook Mr. Stevens, who consented to spend the
evening with us, and we walked on together to Mr. Roscoe's mansion.
After tea our conversation turned on the rise, progress, and
character of Methodism, when the Rev. Mr. Roscoe gave it as his
unqualified opinion, that its introduction into this kingdom was
no less fatal to the honour and harmony of the church, than the
irruptions of the Goths and Vandals from the trackless deserts of
the North, were to the literature and sovereignty of the Roman
empire. "It came," he observed, "at a period when no danger was
apprehended; and from the meanness of its appearance, and its
entire want of the attractions of intelligence or of taste, no
one could calculate on its exciting that commotion, or acquiring
that degree of influence over the popular mind, which its history
records, and which we all ought deeply to deplore. To extirpate
this fatal heresy, or to arrest it in its destructive course, I
fear is now impossible; but we ought certainly to be on our guard,
lest we should accelerate its march, either by that supineness
which neglects to defend the passes, or that neutrality which looks
with indifference on the conquests of an enemy, if he leaves us in
the undisturbed possession of our own little territory. Though you
cannot agree with the Rev. Mr. Cole in his opinions on baptismal
regeneration, I think you must agree with him in his remarks on the
preposterous conversions which are the boast of our modern fanatics.
Indeed, what man of learning or of taste can read the periodical
journals of enthusiasm without feeling disgusted, and if he were not
thoroughly established in his belief of the Divine origin of our
holy religion, he must, I think, become a sceptic."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"Men of learning and of taste, with some few
honourable exceptions, very rarely discover any strong attachment
for the humiliating doctrines or the self-denying precepts of that
holy religion, whose Divine origin they professedly admit. The
religion which they admire is not the religion of the Scriptures,
but one modified and adapted to their taste and propensities.
Would the poets or prose writers of modern times, who praise, in
harmonious numbers or well-turned periods, the religion of their
country, welcome that religion if she were to disengage herself from
the attractions of the mitre, and the associations of sacred altars
and antique buildings, and rise up before them in the simplicity
of her attire, and, with an authoritative voice, as when she first
despoiled Greece and Rome of their elegant mythology, demanding from
them repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ? If
she were to speak to them of sin, of their sins, she would excite
the smile of ridicule; if she were to urge on them the necessity of
repentance, lest they perish, she would provoke their contempt; and
if she were to require from them that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
which by its own reaction purifies and ennobles the human soul,
she would be despised and rejected, no less than the enthusiasm of
Methodism. But though the Rev. Mr. Cole reprobated, in very strong
terms, the preposterous conversions of the fanatics of modern times,
he did not, I believe, deny the necessity of conversion, nor say
that it was impossible."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"O no, he gave us the following quotation from
the excellent and judicious tract[14] which the justly celebrated
Dr. Mant has published on the question: 'Conversion, according to
our notions, may not improperly be said to consist of a rational
conviction of sin, and sense of its wickedness and danger; of
a sincere penitence and sorrow of heart at having incurred the
displeasure of a holy God; of steadfast purposes of amendment
with the blessing of the Divine grace; of a regular and diligent
employment of all the appointed means of grace; and of a real
change of heart and life, of affections and conduct, and a resolute
perseverance in well-doing.' And I may quote the next paragraph from
this judicious tract, which says, 'The triumph of such conversion as
this is not attended by alternations of extreme joy and despondency,
of the most ecstatic rapture and the most gloomy despair; sometimes
by heavenly exultation, and sometimes by the agonies of hell. It has
little of what is brilliant and dazzling to decorate, little of what
is magnificent and imposing to dignify and exalt it.'"
[14] The reader is referred to two tracts on Regeneration and
Conversion, published by Dr. Mant, and circulated by the Society for
the Promotion of Christian Knowledge.
_Mr. Roscoe._--"When I first read that tract, I very much admired
it, and I have circulated many hundreds, thinking that it would
check the progress of evangelical sentiments; but, on a recent
perusal of it, I felt much astonished when I recollected the
satisfaction and the pleasure which it once afforded me; and I fear
that, by giving it circulation, I have assisted in perpetuating the
delusion under which such a large proportion of all ranks in society
are advancing to the eternal world. I certainly do not object to
his definition of conversion; but the highly-wrought reflections
which you have just quoted, are, in my opinion, an impeachment of
the accuracy of his reasoning and of the fervour of his piety. If
they have any meaning, they are intended to prove that the _gentle_
excitement of the passions constitutes a legitimate evidence of
conversion; but if the passions should be _strongly_ excited--if
they should _overflow_, and dare to wet the couch of a penitent
with the fast-dropping tear--if they should touch on the borders
of the joy which is unspeakable and full of glory--or if they ever
should sink into despondency, or rise to a hope full of immortality,
then they change their character, and become, not the evidences
of conversion, but of fanaticism. I object to such a statement as
unphilosophical, and calculated to produce the very evil it is
intended to prevent. Two men, whose mental temperament varies from
cool apathy to the highest degree of a nervous sensibility, may
sincerely repent of having, by their sins, incurred the displeasure
of God; but to suppose, with Dr. Mant, that they will both feel in
the same exact proportion, and that proportion the lowest possible
degree of excitement, would be to betray consummate ignorance of the
constitution of the human mind. These two men, who feel a degree
of sorrow for sin, and of joy for the promise of forgiveness, that
accords with the exact susceptibility of their nature, are placed by
the _judicious_ Dr. Mant in very opposite columns--the one amongst
the sincere penitents, the other amongst the deluded fanatics. But
this is not the only absurdity which such a classification involves;
for it necessarily tends to plunge the man of strong passions into
despair, because he feels too acutely, while it keeps the man of
more moderate passions in a state of uncertainty, lest he should not
have felt quite enough."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"But will you not admit that the annals of
Methodism record many instances of extravagant feeling, which
neither a reference to the varying temperament of the mind, nor the
sober language of Holy Writ, will account for or justify; such as
extremes of weeping and of laughter, sobs, and shrieks, and groans,
and wailing, and gnashing of teeth--the voice now stifled by agony,
and now bursting forth in tones of despair; tremors, and faintings,
and droppings to the ground, as if struck by lightning; paleness
and torpor, convulsions and contortions; things terrible to behold,
too terrible to be borne, and which words cannot describe. Can you
suppose that such scenes are the effect of Divine truth producing a
rational conviction of sin, and a keen sense of its wickedness and
danger? are they not rather the consequences of fanaticism?"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"The symptoms which you have enumerated are sometimes
apparent, I have no doubt, even when the _heart_ is untouched by
the subduing power of the grace of God, and may be referred to the
strong excitement of the animal passions, when stirred up from their
dormant state by the impassioned eloquence of the preacher; but at
other times we may regard them as the visible and audible signs
of a genuine conversion to God, the utterances of a soul at the
period of its new birth, when in the act of passing from death to
life. And though I should prefer the truth being felt and received
into the heart in the calm of composed and silent listening, yet I
would rather see an entire congregation bathed in tears, sobbing,
and even groaning aloud, while their minister is addressing them on
the sublime and awful realities of the eternal world, than witness
that apathetic indifference which is so generally apparent--a
listlessness which is something like a judicial insensibility."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I admit that there is too much apparent
indifference in our congregations to the sermons of the clergy; but
there may be a strong undercurrent of emotion, even when there are
no floods. But to revert to what I call the extravagant symptoms of
feeling in connection with Methodism, the line of distinction which
you have drawn between the causes to which we may refer them may be
substantially correct; but I presume you do not intend to maintain
that they are ever, even in the most sober and modified degree, the
necessary accompaniments of conversion?"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"No, certainly not; but if there be sorrow in the
heart for having incurred the displeasure of a holy God, ought we
to be surprised if the eye be suffused with tears? and if there
be a rational conviction of the danger to which the commission of
sin exposes us, ought we to be surprised if the breast heave with
tumultuous swellings of alarm and dread? Shall an apprehension of
deserved wrath awaken no terror? or a hope of redeeming love inspire
no joy? Why, a man must be metamorphosed into some other being, not
to have his passions stirred, from the very depth of his soul, when
such awful and transporting scenes are passing before his mental
vision."
_Mr. Stevens._--"I am astonished that any clergyman should condemn
the strong and visible excitement of the passions at the period
of conversion, when there are so many passages in the Scriptures
which attest it. The writer of the book of Proverbs says, 'The
spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a _wounded spirit
who can bear_?' And if a deep wound be inflicted on the soul
of man, which he is incapable of healing or of enduring, shall we
turn round upon him and aggravate the intensity of his anguish,
by employing the strong symptoms of his grief as evidences either
of insanity or fanaticism? The impiety of such an act would be no
less censurable than its cruelty. And does not the prophet tell us
that when the Spirit of grace is poured out on the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, that 'they shall look upon him whom they have pierced,
and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and
shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his
first-born.' This prediction was fulfilled when the three thousand
_were pricked in their heart_, and cried out at the close of Peter's
address, _Men and brethren, what shall we do_? And shall the charge
of fanatical extravagance and delusion be brought against these
primitive converts, because they cried out, and asked aloud, in the
hearing of all the people, what they should do to escape from the
wrath they had deserved?"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Mr. Cole admitted that the penitents in
former times were sometimes extravagantly affected, because their
conversion was miraculous, but he maintained, and I think very
satisfactorily, that there are no _instantaneous conversions in
modern times--the thing is impossible_. If you recollect, he proved
that the instantaneous conversions recorded in the Scriptures were
effected by the force of miracles, but as these have ceased, men
must be wrought on now by the more slow process of argument and
persuasion; and he supported his opinion by the following quotation
from Dr. Mant: 'When the conversion was sudden or instantaneous, it
was the consequence of miraculous evidence to the truth. When the
preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost added to the church three
thousand souls, they were men who had been amazed and confounded
by the effusion of the Holy Ghost, and the supernatural gift of
tongues.'"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"Yes, they were confounded and amazed when they heard
the apostles speaking in different languages, but this miracle, so
far from effecting their conversion, merely excited the ridicule
of many, who, mocking, said, 'These men are full of new wine.' But
after they had listened to Peter's discourse, they were 'pricked
in their heart, and then said unto Peter, and to the rest of the
apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?' Miracles attested
the Divine mission of the apostles, _but it was the truth_ which
the apostles preached that became the means of the conversion of
the people. And though the miraculous evidences of the apostolic
commission have ceased, because they are no longer necessary, yet
the truth, which is the instrument of conversion, is preserved pure
and entire; and when it is faithfully and energetically preached, it
is still the power of God to salvation. Shall we say that he, who
has all power in heaven and earth, cannot, if he please, effect the
conversion of sinners as suddenly in the present day as in the times
of the apostles."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"If you recollect, he quoted Dr. Mant to prove
the possibility of such sudden conversions. 'Not that I would be
understood to assert that Providence may not, _perhaps_, even in
the present day, be sometimes pleased to interpose in a manner
more awful and impressive than is agreeable to the ordinary course
of his proceedings, and to arrest the sinner in his career of
infidelity or wickedness, and to turn him from darkness to light.'
What he maintained was, that these sudden conversions are not to be
expected by the clergy who preach to Christian congregations, which
are composed of those who have been trained up in the belief of
Christianity."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"I have no doubt that many who have been trained
up in the belief of Christianity have, in the process of their
training, felt its moral influence in producing repentance towards
God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, though they may not
know the time when they first felt its power in enlightening and
renewing them, or when they passed from death unto life. The whole
process of their conversion has been conducted so silently and so
gradually--they have been led on by such imperceptible steps from
one degree of knowledge and of grace to another, and it has been
with so much hesitating precaution that they have embraced the
consolatory promises of mercy--that they have erected no monumental
pillars to commemorate any great moral revolution in their
character, nor placed any sacred landmarks by which their progress
in the life of faith can be traced. But are your congregations
composed exclusively of this description of hearers? No; you may
sometimes see all the varieties of the human character sitting
around you when you are in the pulpit; the Sabbath-breaker, the
swearer, the debauchee, the seducer, the scoffer, and the mere
formalist in religion. Must not these persons be converted before
they can enter the kingdom of heaven? And how is their conversion
to be effected? You employ your arguments to convince them of the
Divine origin of Christianity, and they _are_ convinced of it,
but still go on in a course of sin. You employ the force of moral
suasion to induce them to turn from iniquity to righteousness,
but such is the fatal obduracy of their hearts, that it makes no
impression. What can you do now to insure success?"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Why, if people will not be converted by
argument or persuasion, they must take the consequences upon
themselves. I don't know anything more that can be done. We must
leave them to take their own course, and if they perish, we can't
help it. They doom themselves to perdition."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"But if you read the New Testament with close
attention, you will perceive that there is a power associated with
a faithful and enlightened ministry, which makes it not the letter
of instruction merely, but the spirit which giveth life. Did not
the Saviour, when he gave the apostles their commission, say, 'Lo
I am with you always, even to the end of the world?' Is it not to
his immediate presence with the first preachers of the gospel, that
the sacred historian everywhere ascribes the signal success which
crowned their labours, and not to the force of miracles? If a great
multitude at Antioch turned to the Lord, it was because the hand
of the Lord was with them; if Lydia believed in consequence of
giving attention to the things which were spoken, it was because
the Lord opened her heart; if Paul planted, and Apollos watered
with success, it was the Lord who gave the increase; and highly as
they were endowed, they did not presume to rely on the efficacy of
their own addresses, or the force of the miraculous attestations
of their own mission, but confessed that it was through God that
they became mighty and triumphant in all their ministerial labours.
If, then, his presence is associated with a faithful ministry, and
the apostles invariably ascribed their success to the concurring
testimony of his power, and if he promise to be with his ministers
through every succeeding age, ought you to overlook it? Will you
boast of your uninterrupted succession in the ministerial office
from the times of the apostles, while you undervalue the importance
of the presence of the Lord to give success to your official
labours? or do you suppose that now Christianity is grown venerable
by her age, she can turn men from darkness to light--from the power
of Satan to God--without the concurring testimony of that Almighty
power on which she relied in the days of her youthful vigour?"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"These quotations and references undoubtedly
prove that our Saviour must give the success to our ministry; but
I think it would be very injudicious to state such a fact to our
congregations."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"Why so?"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Because it would lower the clergy in their
estimation if we were to say that we are not invested with a
plenitude of power to accomplish the design of our appointment, and
might lead the people to wait for a miraculous conversion, instead
of trying for it in the regularly appointed way."