been said, that the Scriptures speak of sinners as being dead in trespasses and sins, and of saints as being created anew in Christ Jesus. Such terms are not to be taken in a literal sense. They describe not the nature, but the reality, and the might, and the sovereignty of that Divine Agency which is employed in the conversion of the wicked. Those persons, therefore, I apprehend, pervert the right meaning of the word of God, who say-that sinners have no more power, of whatever kind, to go unto Christ, than the corpse has to restore itself to life, or the thing formed to produce its own existence. The sinner is able to go unto Christ, if he were only willing. Nothing but his own obstinacy and guilt prevent him. Matter has neither inclination nor ability to move.

For similar reasons this drawing is not mechanical. The principles of mechanism are nothing more than a certain modification and direction of the laws of nature. The matter, of which the machine is composed, is as truly inert as any other matter. It yields an unconscious and involuntary obedience to the control of the artist. Such is not the spirit of man. His moral character cannot be affected by any mechanical process or agency, without destroying his free and intelligent nature.

Nor is this drawing compulsory. Its very nature implies that the subject of it should be drawn to Jesus Christ of his own accord, cheerfully and heartily. To speak of one's being compelled to become a Christian, is a contradiction in terms. Of what

moral worth is the forced obedience of the child to its parent, or the constrained loyalty of the subject to his sovereign? The will must yield; it always does yield, when sinners are drawn to Jesus Christ. This drawing, therefore, may be resisted. It often is resisted, and when it becomes effectual, it is by making the sinner willing in the day of God's power. And it does thus become effectual whenever Divine Wisdom and Sovereignty so determine. For what saith our Saviour, in the very chapter from which our text is taken? "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me."

2. In the second place, This drawing is suited to the faculties of a rational and accountable moral agent. Observe, my hearers, it is man who is drawn-man as he is, full of frailty and error, and loaded with guilt, "having his understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in him, because of the blindness of his heart :" but yet, man as he is-a being capable of discerning between right and wrong, having a conscience to reprove his transgressions, an understanding to discern and comprehend the doctrines of the Cross, and a will to be affected, if such be the pleasure of God, by the motives which the Gospel holds forth. Truth, therefore, and motives are the medium, through which the Spirit of God acts, in drawing sinners to Jesus Christ. And this truth and these motives are to be derived by us from no other source than the sacred Scriptures. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of

God." Hence we read-" Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth ;"-and, " In Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the Gospel. As, on the one hand, therefore, we are to acknowledge the Holy Spirit as the proper efficient cause in drawing sinners to the Saviour; so, on the other, we must be careful not to disparage the means which he sees fit to use. There is an economy of grace as well as of providence and of nature. There is a connection between the presentation of truth and motives to the mind and heart of the sinner, and his subsequent faith in Christ; a connection, indeed, independent of man, for it is constituted by God; a connection, too, which is affected by so many hidden and intricate causes, various as the infinite diversity of human character and God's difference of providential dealing with man, that it eludes our view, and often disappoints our conjectures: yet a connection which we discover in general to exist, and which therefore justifies the conclusion, that in the kingdom of grace God acts by general laws, and through the instrumentality of what we term secondary causes. In all this, however, my brethren, God forbid that I should detract from the sovereignty of his grace, or the necessity of his proper and direct influence in leading us to Jesus Christ. What I mean to assert is, that the Holy Spirit has seen fit to adopt a mode of acting in what relates to the salvation of sinners; that this mode is, in one important respect, disclosed to us; that, in this respect, it consists in using

Truth, and motives derived from God's word, to affect the mind and heart of man; and that such means, so far as we can discern, are the only means which are suited to a being of a rational and accountable nature. These means produce no effect without man's agency; yet their efficacy depends on God's agency. Neglecting them, we can have no hope of salvation. In their use, if effectual in drawing us to Jesus Christ, to God will be all the glory.

3. In the third place, This drawing usually discovers itself only by its effects, and is not usually to be distinguished from the operations of our own minds. I say, usually; for I would not deny that God may, in some cases, vouchsafe to manifest, by distinct and certain marks, his peculiar and immediate presence to the soul. But such is not usually the fact. His Spirit acts, but we see only its effects. All is under his guidance and control, yet all appears to be our own thoughts and purposes. He leads us in the way in which he would have us to go, but his hand is unseen. He draws us to Jesus Christ, but we seem to ourselves to direct our steps. Shall we then arrogate any merit to our faith? By no means. God is its Author, but he sees fit to conceal his agency.

4. Hence, in the fourth place, this drawing is of such a nature as to render it extremely difficult, and in most cases impossible, to determine the precise time at which the sinner is first affected by it.Were the agency of God in producing faith in the

heart a sensible one; were the hand which leads us to the Cross visible; then might the first moment of our reliance upon the Saviour be most easily ascertained. But our spiritual state is to be estimated by a comparison of our hearts with the word of God. And what says this word? The fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Now what scrutiny, my brethren-what scrupulous caution is necessary, in order to determine whether we possess these heavenly graces. Let the advanced Christian, who, like a tree planted by the rivers of water, hath constantly brought forth his fruit in his season, indulge the unwavering hope that he shall eternally flourish in the paradise of God. But how shall the young convert, whose mind has been tortured and distracted with a sense of his guilt, who has been tremblingly alive to every alternate suggestion of hope and despair; who has had so many doubts and perplexities; how shall he venture to say with certainty, that at just such a moment he passed from death unto life?

So far, then, as time, and scrutiny, and caution, are necessary to enable us to pass a judgment upon our spiritual state, so far it becomes difficult to determine, that at any one moment overwhelming evidence was afforded us of our having an interest in Christ. Still I would be far from saying that this is not sometimes the case. What I have offered is in the way of caution to those who think it necessary, or even important that the believer