TWO SERMONS DELIVERED IN THE CHAPEL OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, ANDOVER, SERMON I. THE CONVERSION WHICH IS OF MAN. Jeremiah 31: 18. — TURN THOU ME, AND I SHALL BE TURNED; FOR THOU ART THE LORD MY GOD. He THE Prophet here speaks in behalf of the Israelites. acknowledges that they have been rebellious and refractory under divine chastisements; and he is aware that they have a pride and stubbornness of heart, which cannot be subdued, except by a power above that of man. With this view of their guilty state, and feeling a deep concern for them as the people of his charge, he offers up the following prayer in the name of each individual among them: "Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God." Turn thou me, and then I shall be effectually turned. This prayer expresses a sentiment, which is fully confirmed by the current representations of God's word, and by the experience of those who are effectually enlightened by his Spirit. The sentiment is, that true, saving conversion is the special work of God; and as such the servants of God are to seek it in fervent prayer for sinners. There is evidently an implied contrast between that turning or conversion which is the work of man and which is to be traced to his agency, and that which is God's work, and is to be traced to his agency. I propose to consider these distinctly, in the two following sermons. First; there is a turning or conversion which is man's worka conversion which is accomplished by man's agency, without the sanctifying influence of the divine Spirit. Such a change in sinners is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures. Multitudes heard Christ gladly, and did many things which seemed to be right, who remained unregenerate. In the parable of the sower, a large class of persons are represented by the seed which fell on stony ground, and that which fell among thorns. A remarkable effect is produced. There is an apparent turning from sin. But the change is not permanent and saving. The Apostle Peter speaks expressly of those, who have, in some sense, escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Christ, but are again entangled therein and overcome; and what he afterwards says implies, that notwithstanding their apparent conversion, they were unchanged in their moral nature. There are spurious conversions at the present time also conversions which are altogether the work of man. There is much seeming piety, which has its origin in the will and affections of unsanctified sinners. There is an abundance of religion without holiness. My object is to show, that that conversion which is the mere product of the powers and dispositions of unsanctified man falls short of holiness, and that true, saving conversion does not spring from this source. I shall endeavor to set forth in its true light, the religion, the very best religion which is not of God, and shall thus endeavor to take away the hope which sinners are so prone to indulge, that they can attain to repentance, faith and obedience of themselves, without the renewing of the Holy Ghost - a hope which is all delusion, and leads to certain disappointment and ruin. It may assist our contemplations to consider a little what man is; not what he was originally, nor what he should be, nor what those finally will be who are renewed by the divine Spirit; but what man is by nature what he is in his degenerate, unsanctified state. It is too evident to need proof, that man is a moral, accountable being. He has a rational mind. But his mind is perverted and depraved. In other words, man himself, is depraved; he is without holiness, and inclined to sin. He has conscience, understanding and will. Sinning cannot destroy these faculties. Man's will may be corrupt, and it is so; his reason and understanding may be, and are, under a wrong influence; they are misguided and perverted. But they can never be destroyed. Man has various dispositions and affections. He has self-love; and he has the relative and the social affections. He has desires after natural good. He has hope and fear, love and hatred, joy and sorrow. He is susceptible of the feeling of reverence in view of what is great, of gratitude for kindness, and of respect and admiration for distinguished justice and magnanimity. He is capable of discerning the natural beauty and fitness of virtue, and the deformity of vice, and of feeling approbation of the one, and disapprobation of the other. Such is man. He is a rational, accountable, immortal being, without holiness, and without any disposition to holiness;-with a conscience which approves what is right, and disapproves what is wrong, but with a heart which rejects the right, and cleaves to the wrong; with mental powers of wonderful activity in regard to natural things; and wonderful activity also in regard to things which are moral and spiritual; though his activity is wholly under the influence of a wrong principle, and directed to a wrong end. Now the single inquiry to which I invite your attention is this; what has man accomplished in his present fallen state, when in different circumstances, he has attempted by his own powers of mind, to turn from sin, and to form himself to piety and goodness, without the special influence of the Holy Spirit? It is a question of fact. To what sort of conversion and to what sort of religious character has man actually attained, and to what will he ever attain in this way? My general answer is, that man, in the most diligent exercise of his own faculties, without special divine influence, never has attained and never will attain to real holiness. If the Bible is true, and if all experience is true, real holiness, whether in the form of repentance, faith, worship, or obedience, cannot spring from man's unregenerate mind. "The carnal mind"—which is all the mind that unrenewed man has" is enmity against God, and is not subject to his law, neither indeed can be." On this account it is, that man must be born again; and this new birth must be of God. If we could attain to a holy character without this supernatural change, how would the change be necessary? All who are holy, will be saved. And if we could be holy without being born of the Spirit, we could be saved without it. And then the words of Christ would not hold, that "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Look into the mind of man, just as it is in its natural state. Can such a mind of itself originate holiness? Can you expect a being totally destitute of holiness, and opposed to it, will, of himself, become holy? Is there anything in unregenerate man-any power or faculty of his mind, or any disposition of his heart, from which true holiness can spring? Look at conscience. This is a most important faculty. It is God's vicegerent in the soul. It speaks in God's name, and with God's authority. When roused from its slumbers it speaks with a voice of thunder, as God did from Sinai. But the same corrupt and stubborn heart, which refuses to hear the voice of God from without, refuses to hear his voice within. The voice of God uttered in the soul, by an awakened conscience, and uttered with the highest authority, has no more authority it has no more power to command obedience, than the voice of God uttered in his word, and in his providence, and in the awful thunders of Sinai. How was it in fact with the children of Israel, who stood trembling on the extensive plain before Mount Sinai? They had conscience, and their conscience was powerfully stirred within them. But the same corrupt and obstinate heart, which was deaf to the voice of God from Sinai, was deaf to the voice of conscience. So it was with Judas after his base and criminal deed. His conscience was roused, and he saw the wickedness of what he had done, and his obligations to the Saviour. But his selfish, stubborn heart no more yielded to the power of conscience, than it had before yielded to the power of Christ's instructions and example. It is a well known fact, that conscience, when roused to the highest degree of faithfulness, has no power to change the heart from enmity to love. This inefficacy of conscience is a matter of common experience. But it comes out with special clearness in the history of awakened sinners. Such sinners may at first place much reliance upon their convictions of conscience, and may think it will be easy for them to do what they now so clearly see to be their first and highest duty. But they soon learn their mistake. Their own experience teaches them the utter insufficiency of conscience to overcome the strength of corrupt inclinations. Their desperately wicked heart stands against conscience, and refuses to obey its dictates. While they know the will of God they do it not. And the longer they continue under the power of an awakened conscience, with an unregenerate heart, the more clearly does it appear that they can never be fitted for heaven, unless they have " the renewing of the Holy Ghost." Inquire then whether reason can turn the heart from sin to holiness. Here we shall find that reason, in its most improved state, fails of accomplishing the necessary work, in the same way that conscience does. Man's reason may attain to the knowledge of the most important truths, and these truths apprehended by reason, would at once excite affections corresponding with their nature, if the heart were right. But the heart is not right. It does not fall in with these spiritual truths. nial with it. And let them be ever so clearly and fully apprehended, even as clearly as they will be at the judgment day, and let the obligations involved in them be ever so strongly impressed upon the mind; the consequence will be, that the opposition between them and the unrenewed, carnal heart, will become more and more apparent, and impatience and dislike of the heart be more and more excited. So it has been in fact. Men of the They are not conge |