Chapter XV: Part 15

_Mr. Roscoe._--"No, we are not born Christians. We are born in a country where Christianity is professed, and of parents who bear the Christian name, and we have been educated in a belief of Christianity; yet no one is a Christian until he is renewed in the spirit of his mind, and is in some measure conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, who was holy and undefiled. To prove the correctness of this statement, I will refer you to our old friend, Mr. Trotter. His father, you know, was a good man; but he himself, with all his excellencies, was an avowed sceptic; and his brother was no less dissolute in his habits than he was corrupt in his principles. You will admit, I presume, that some moral change is necessary in relation to such men."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Certainly; if a man be a sceptic, his opinions must be changed before he can become a believer; and if his habits are depraved, they must be changed before he can become a Christian. But the majority are virtuous, and to these I suppose you do not intend to apply the doctrine."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"You may know many whose characters are adorned with the various traits of excellence, but have you ever known a perfect man?--a man in whose temper there is no flaw--in whose disposition there is no perversity--in whose principles there is no obliquity--one who uniformly, and on all occasions, displays the most entire and irreproachable goodness?"

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"No, I must confess that I do not know such a one. I quite admit that the most perfect and the most amiable men I have ever known, have, on close acquaintance, disclosed some imperfections of character, more or less."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"And may not a person acquire a high degree of virtue even while he is destitute of every _religious_ principle? Our friend, Mr. Frowd, as you may well remember, was a most excellent and virtuous man, and even a zealous Churchman; but you know that he rejected the Divine origin of Christianity, and supported the church as a mere human establishment, which served to give stability to the government, by operating on the prejudices and passions of the masses of the people through the medium of her clergy. Hence we must not confound morality and religion, as though they were essentially the same thing, seeing that the most moral may be as sceptical in their opinions as the most impure, and are often even more unwilling than they, to receive the humiliating doctrines and self-denying precepts of the gospel."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I admit the correctness of your statement, and I assure you that this view of the matter has often excited my astonishment. I have in my parish a gentleman, who is very humane and benevolent--a faithful friend--beloved by all who know him; but he has not been to church for nearly twenty years, except when he came to receive the sacrament, on his being elected sheriff of the county. I have sometimes spoken to him on the subject of religion, but he shrewdly gets away from my arguments by saying, 'Sir, you are to be commended for doing your duty.'"

_Mr. Roscoe._--"And will not these facts convince you that the moral disorder of our nature lies in the heart, which may be deceitful and desperately wicked in the sight of God, even while some of the virtues adorn the character. Have you yet to learn, my brother, that pride, which disdains vulgar vice--that a love of fame and that self-interest may generate many social and domestic virtues, even while the inner man is enmity against God, neither recognizing the authority of his law, nor embracing the truths of the gospel? On this subject I can speak with strong personal feeling; and if I may refer to a passage in my own history, it is not to gratify vanity, but to illustrate the distinction which the Scriptures preserve between morality and personal religion. I lived for many years a virtuous life, attached to the church, and devoting much of my time to the study of the Scriptures, reverencing God as a great and good being, and believing in the Divine mission of Jesus Christ; but during the whole of this time I was ignorant of the alienation of my affections from God--of the actual depravity of my heart--of the essential evil of sin; nor could I understand how we are to be saved by grace, through faith, until it pleased God to enlighten my understanding; then all obscurity vanished, and now, I trust, I know the mysteries of truth more perfectly."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"You who embrace what are termed evangelical sentiments, always employ a mystical phraseology of speech, which no one can understand but the initiated; and this is one principal cause of the prejudice which prevails against them amongst the more intelligent and less enthusiastic part of society."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"But our mystical phraseology of speech, as you are pleased to term it, is the very language of Scripture; and the inspired writers who have employed it, would doubtless use it now, if they were speaking to us. You, then, ought to transfer your objections from us to them; but in doing so, you would be encountering an authority which you profess to venerate. But, after all, the objection is less against the phraseology of Scripture, than against the truth of which it is the appointed vehicle of communication. Pride, under some peculiar modification, is the epidemic disease of our nature; but none are more under its dominion than men of intelligence, of taste, and of virtue; and it is against this passion that the gospel of Jesus Christ directs the thunder of its power. How mortifying to a man of intellectual fame, whose superior genius feels equal to the comprehension of whole systems of truth, by a single exertion of its power, to be told that '_whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall not enter therein!_' How mortifying to a man, whose amiable temper, whose social habits, whose fascinating manners, whose constitutional virtues have combined to raise him far above his fellows, to be told that he must come down from his vantage-ground, to kneel at the same throne of grace with publicans and harlots, and implore forgiveness in language equally humiliating with that which they employ!"

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I have always thought that the cultivation of the virtues predisposed the mind to receive the truths of Christianity; but if your statement be correct, a virtuous man may be no more fit for the kingdom of heaven than a profane one."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"Nor can he be, _unless he is born again_. He may, like the Pharisee in the gospel, trust in the merit of his virtues for salvation, instead of trusting in the redemption made by Jesus Christ; but having no just perceptions of the degeneracy of his nature, he repudiates with disdain the doctrine of regeneration, which Jesus Christ asserts to be universally necessary."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Then you believe that _all_ men are depraved, though not _equally corrupt_; and that all, notwithstanding their various shades of excellence, stand in equal need of the moral change which you think regeneration denotes?"

_Mr. Roscoe._--"We should remember that Christianity is essentially a restorative dispensation; it bears a continual respect to a state from which man is fallen, and is a provision for repairing that ruin which the introduction of moral evil has brought upon him. Exposed to the displeasure of God, and the curse of his law, he stands in need of a Redeemer; disordered in his powers, and criminally averse to his duty, he equally needs a Sanctifier. And it is to men of every age and of every clime, as guilty and depraved sinners, without paying any respect to the lighter degrees of their depravity and guilt, that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings the glad tidings of complete redemption; but if any reject it, through a false conception that they do not require its renovating power or its cleansing virtue, they are, in the language of the Scriptures, emphatically denominated unbelievers, on whom the wrath of God abideth continually."

The conversation was here interrupted by the entrance of the ladies, who informed us that they had made a call at Fairmount, where they had been highly gratified.--"Indeed," said Mrs. John Roscoe, "I must confess that I was most agreeably disappointed. Mrs. Stevens is no less accomplished than intelligent; and I was delighted with her frank and cheerful disposition, and the elegant ease of her manners. Instead of a demure lady, disgusted with the world, and absorbed in the anticipations of a future state, she talked pleasantly of men and things, as a contented and a happy resident amongst them. I could perceive that religion was her favourite theme; yet there was no gloom with it, nor overweening self-conceit. She appeared almost like an angel pleading the cause of heaven, and that in such language and with such feeling as I never before heard or witnessed. She disengaged the religious principle from all its connections and associations with human forms and ceremonials, and presented it in its own native simplicity and purity; I could see that _it_ was to her no less a source of felicity than a subject of contemplation and discussion. She must be, indeed, a happy woman."

"It is generally supposed," said Miss Roscoe, "that the religious principle, when it takes possession of the mind, pervading all its powers, and regulating all its movements, necessarily becomes the source of perpetual dejection and sorrow; but a more false notion never obtained currency. True religion is not a source of misery, but a perennial spring of contentment; the day-star of hope, the rising and setting sun of human happiness."

"But you know, my dear," said Mrs. Roscoe, "that your religion prohibits you from participating in many sources of amusement in which you once took great delight; and as they are so innocent and so agreeable, I cannot but think that in this respect it must be painful to you to make the sacrifices which your religion requires you to make."

"If, mamma, I looked back on my former sources of gratification with a lingering eye, and still longed to participate in them, I certainly should feel the restraining power to be painful; but _the grace of God_, by renewing my mind, has entirely changed my taste; and now the theatre, the ball, or the card-party, would be to me as much a source of actual pain as they once were of ephemeral joy. While sojourning in this vale of life, the enjoyment of fellowship with my heavenly Father is more than a recompense for the loss of those pleasures which I have abandoned."

On which Mr. Roscoe remarked: "If the revelation of mercy was intended to promote our happiness, it certainly would fail in accomplishing its design if it proved a source of misery."

"But," said Mrs. John Roscoe, "I have never yet conceived of religion as being a source of _mental bliss_. I have felt it a duty to be religious, but never a pleasure. I have read over my prayers, but they never came from my heart. I have practised some of the self-denying virtues of religion, but it has been more from a sense of duty than from actual preference. I have sometimes thought of going to heaven, but I have never derived any gratification from anticipating it."

"O no," said Mrs. Roscoe, interrupting her, "neither have I."

"But," replied Mrs. John Roscoe, "one thing is certain, there is some essential difference in the origin and the character of that religion which is a source of real pleasure, and that which is embraced from a mere sense of duty."

"Yes," said Mr. Roscoe, "the religion which is embraced from a mere sense of duty, is the religion of forms and ceremonies; while the religion which is the source of mental bliss, is the religion of principle and of feeling. The one may be assumed or laid aside as fancy or as convenience may dictate; but the other, taking up its abode in the heart, liveth and abideth for ever. All false religions take man as he is; they accommodate themselves to his errors and his passions; they leave him essentially the same as they found him; _they_ follow the man, they are formed after _his_ likeness: whereas in genuine religion the _man_ changes--he is modelled after the image of Jesus Christ. The gospel, instead of flattering, tells him that in his present state he is incapable of performing its duties or of relishing its joys; that he _must_ be transformed, or he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; and what it requires it produces; hence all is order and harmony. For everything in the dispensation of the gospel and the constitution of the Christian church is _new_; we have 'a _new_ covenant;' we 'approach God by a _new_ and living way;' we 'sing a _new_ song;' we are called by a _new_ name; according to his promise we look for '_new_ heavens and a _new_ earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' 'He that sitteth upon the throne saith, Behold I create _all_ things _new_.' Can we wonder then that we are required to 'put off the old man with his deeds, and to put on the _new_ man;' 'to walk in _newness_ of life;' 'to serve him in the _newness_ of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter?' that we are assured 'that neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a _new_ creature;' '_that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new_?'"

"I feel," said Mrs. John Roscoe, "under the impulse of strong excitement. Some strange emotions--conflicting emotions--which I know not how to embody in distinct and appropriate forms of expression. I have been religious--scrupulously religious--and yet my religious ideas have been vague and indefinite; my religion has never engaged my affections. I felt charmed while listening to the chaste eloquence of Mrs. Stevens, when speaking of the practical influence of the love and grace of Christ on her soul; and your correct distinctions between the religion of mere form and the religion of principle, confound and subdue me; but I want two things, which you, Sir, and Mrs. Stevens seem to possess--I want a spirit to discern the distinction, and a heart to feel it. Yes, there must be a mental change in me before I can see as you see, and feel as you feel."

Her husband, interrupting her, exclaimed, "My dear, you must put a curb on your imagination, or before you leave for the sober quietude of home, you will become an evangelical enthusiast."

"To be candid; I am awe-struck by the new discoveries I am making, or rather by the new visions of religious truth which are rising before me. Indeed, I must have the religion of principle; that of mere form has no life, no power; it throws out no attractions; it touches not the heart to excite its affections; it does not bring me into contact with a living Saviour; nor does it inspire me with a hope full of immortality."

"My dear," said her husband, "you surprise me."

"You cannot feel more surprised than I feel myself. I feel on the eve of some great crisis in my moral history, and yet I see nothing distinctly, except the utter worthlessness of a religion of mere form without a living principle."

We were all too much astonished by this sudden outburst of impassioned feeling, to make any observations; at length Miss Roscoe broke through the silence, which was felt to be painfully oppressive, by saying, "I hope, my dear aunt, the Divine Spirit is gently leading you into the way of peace and the paths of righteousness, for his name's sake. What is now obscure will soon become clear; wait patiently on the Lord until the day of explanation dawn, and then the day-star of hope will arise in your heart."

THE EVIDENCES OF SPIRITUAL REGENERATION.

On returning from a walk in the garden, the Rev. Mr. Roscoe said to his brother, "I have just been having a talk with your gardener, and I think you have got one of the most industrious and intelligent workmen I have ever met with; he both understands how to cultivate his garden and how to cultivate his mind."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"Yes, Robert is a very good and a very clever servant; he respects the apostolic injunction, and renders obedience, not with eye-service, as a man-pleaser, but as a servant of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. He is conscientious and intelligent; and I believe that he would neither waste my time by indolence, nor my property by negligence or extravagance."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"A good servant is very valuable; but, like most other valuable things, he is very rare. Your gardener seems much attached to you, and says he hopes to die in your service. From the style of his conversation, and the extent of his general information, I should suppose he has had a superior education, and that he must have seen better days."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"No; he never occupied a higher rank in life than he does at present. His father, who is still living in one of my cottages in the village, is a very worthy man, who has brought up a large family, and he often boasts of having done it without receiving any assistance from the parish. He is a fine specimen of the true English character in its primitive state. About three years since he was very ill; and as we knew that his resources were scanty, we voted him twenty shillings at a vestry meeting, which the overseer was requested to give to him. But when the money was presented he said, 'I am much obliged to you, Sir, and to the other gentlemen, for your kindness, but I will never eat bread that's bought with parish money; no, Sir, I won't disgrace my family in my old age.'"

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"That is a noble spirit! If such a spirit were generally diffused among our labouring population, there would be more virtue and more happiness in the country. I am not surprised that you have such a servant, now I find that he has such a father. Is the old man evangelical in his principles?"

_Mr. Roscoe._--"Yes, and in his practice; but he was not able to infuse his principles into his son, who for many years evinced strong antipathies against his father's piety. He inherited his honesty, and industry, and high independent spirit; but he was very profane, which was a source of great distress to the good old man."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"But I should hope that he is not so now, for I was led to infer, from some expressions which he used, that he was a very virtuous man."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"Yes, he is virtuous, and more than virtuous--he is now decidedly pious. He is a living witness of the doctrine of regeneration; and if you go and ask him what it is, he will tell you that _it is an internal change in the dispositions and propensities of the mind, produced, not by the application of water in baptism, but by the renewing power of the Divine Spirit_."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I did not think that talking of the old man and his son would lead us to the subject of our late discussion; but as it has come up again, let me ask you one question--If regeneration do not take place at the time of our baptism, when does it take place, and how will it be possible for us to decide whether we have been regenerated or not?"

_Mr. Roscoe._--"If it invariably take place at the time of baptism, according to the popular construction of our prayer-book, and the current belief of the Tractarian members of our church, nothing more would be necessary to convince us that we are the children of God than an attested copy of our baptismal register, which I presume, on reflection, you will deem too preposterous and too hazardous to be admitted."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"But admitting, for the sake of the argument, that baptism is regeneration, where would be the hazard of letting our assurance of it depend on an attested copy of our parish register?"

_Mr. Roscoe._--"Why, suppose such an attested copy could not be obtained, then we could have no substantial proof of our regeneration. We may be the children of God, and we may be inheritors of the kingdom of heaven; but if the officiating minister neglect to record the fact of our baptism, or if the register-book should be lost or burnt, it will be impossible for us to prove it, even though the Spirit itself bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. To what a dilemma, then, may a son of God be reduced! He may be in the possession of every moral evidence of his filial relation to his heavenly Father--he may love him, fear him, and glorify him; he may have put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and may have put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness: but not being able to establish the fact of his baptism by the production of a genuine copy of its insertion in the parish register, he is not able to prove the fact of his regeneration. 'A situation this of doubt, suspense, and anxiety, with regard to our eternal welfare, to which it is reasonable to believe that, with such a revelation of his will as Christianity professes to be, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort would not expose his humble creatures.'"[13]

[13] Dr. Mant.

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I am satisfied that it does not invariably nor necessarily take place at baptism; but then, when does it take place?"

_Mr. Roscoe._--"It does not uniformly take place at any particular age, but precisely at that period in the life of man which the Spirit of God determines. Some, I have no doubt, are regenerated by the Holy Spirit in the days of infancy, and grow up into life under the influence of the holy principles which were implanted in their soul when they had no consciousness of it. I have a book at hand, from which I will read you a passage that is quite to the point:--'God has wisely given to the female sex a peculiar tenderness of address, and an easy and insinuating manner, which is admirably adapted to the great end for which he intended it, that of conveying knowledge to children, and making tender impressions on their minds; and there is hardly any view in which the importance of the sex more evidently appears.'

"It seems to me that children may early come to have some apprehensions of what is most important in religion. They may have a reverence for God, and a love for him, as that great Father who made them, and that kind friend who gives them everything that they have; and they may have a fear of doing anything that would displease him. And though it is not so easy for them to understand the doctrines peculiar to a Redeemer, yet when they hear of Christ as the _Son of God, who came down from heaven_ to teach men and children the way thither, and who died to deliver them from death and hell, their little hearts may well be impressed with such thoughts as these, and they may find a growing desire to be instructed in _what Christ is_ and _what he taught and did_, and also to do what shall appear to be his will. And wherever this is the prevailing disposition, it seems to me that the seeds of holiness are sown in that soul, though but small proficiency may be made in knowledge, and though the capacities for service may be very low. But the tendency to that which is evil and the aversion to that which is good, which children generally discover, is a decisive proof that very few are renewed at this early period. They often outgrow their religious impressions, yield to the force of temptations, and allow themselves to be drawn aside from the path of duty by the attractive charms which a deceitful world holds out to allure and destroy. But, while glowing with health and devoting themselves to the pleasures and amusements of this life, it often pleases God to arrest them in their career of folly as they are entering on the age of manhood, or during the first few years of it, and then they yield themselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead.

"'Some,' to quote from the same author, 'are wrought upon by Divine grace in the _advance and even in the decline of life_. There are but few who arrive at what may be called old age, and of them but very few who, at that period, feel the great change; nor shall we be much surprised at this if we consider the inveterate nature of bad habits, which renders it almost as hard for them that are accustomed to do evil to learn to do good, as it is for the Ethiopian to change his skin, or the leopard his spots.'"

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"But one should imagine that the more our reason is improved, and the nearer we get to another world, the more solemnly and deeply the heart would be affected by the great and awful truths of religion. You never thought so much nor so deeply on religious subjects when you were young as you do now; and, therefore, I wonder you agree with your author in supposing this to be a very unfavourable period to be regenerated."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"Very true; but I cannot see one of my own age in the whole circle of my acquaintance, who has been impressed in a similar manner to myself. 'It is in vain to reason against facts,' says a judicious writer, 'and experience proves that it is an _uncommon thing_ for persons to be awakened and reformed in old age; _especially if they_ have been educated in the principles of religion. Nevertheless, to prove the infinite energy and sovereignty of Divine grace, God is sometimes pleased to renew even such: He touches the rock which has stood for ages unmoved, and the waters flow forth; He says to the dry bones--live, and they are animated with life; and then, with the vigour of a renewed youth, they devote themselves to God.'"

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Then you think that this great change in the human heart may take place at any period of life, though you think that the season of youth or early manhood is the most favourable."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"I do."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Will you now tell me by what sort of evidence a person who is actually regenerated acquires a satisfactory knowledge of the fact?"

_Mr. Roscoe._--"The apostle says, 'Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.' When an immoral man undergoes this internal renovation, there will be such a change in his habits and in his conversation that it will be conspicuous to all who know him. The swearer will fear an oath--the drunkard will put from him the intoxicating cup--the Sabbath-breaker will keep holy the day of rest--the impure, who have been as a walking pestilence in the social world, will become chaste--and those who have displayed the more malignant and ferocious passions, will distinguish themselves by their meekness, gentleness, and humility."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"But may not this reformation take place in the character of the more dissolute, without any change being effected in the dispositions and propensities of their hearts?"

_Mr. Rosco._--"Yes; the influence of persuasion, of example, of self-interest, and of mortified pride--the decay of the vigour of the animal passions, and a fearful apprehension of future judgment, will sometimes operate a most surprising reformation in some of the more licentious; but when it proceeds from any of these causes, if they do not relapse into their former course of evil, they become satisfied with a mere scantling of exterior morality--evincing, at the same time, the utmost degree of aversion to the things of the Spirit of God. But when this reformation in the character proceeds from the renovation of the heart, it resembles the shining light, which shines clearer and brighter until the perfect day; those who undergo it become decidedly pious, and usually engage in the holy exercises of religion with a high degree of animation and delight. They will speak in the most exalted terms of the Redeemer--of the greatness of his love, and of the sovereignty of his grace; they will discover the most intense concern for the spiritual welfare of others in whom sin is reigning unto death; and while they will often look back with astonishment on the scenes of danger from which they have been delivered, they will boldly and cheerfully devote themselves to the service of Christ, notwithstanding the opposition or the persecution they may have to encounter. I remember, when my gardener, Robert, felt the great change, he became all at once so anxious to go and hear Mr. Ingleby preach, so much attached to his Bible, so zealous for the conversion of his fellow-servants, and so fond of conversing on the essential doctrines of the gospel, that I thought at the time he would lose his senses; but now I can easily account for it all; and though some lighter shades of imperfection still rest on his character, yet he holds fast his integrity, and is a living witness of the efficacy of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"If I mistake not, you have asserted that this renovation of the heart is as necessary for a moral person, whose character is adorned with many social virtues, as for one who is openly profane. Now, if we admit this to be correct, what perceptible change can take place in his conduct when he is renewed, and by what evidences can _he_ be convinced of it?"

_Mr. Roscoe._--"There will not be that visible transition, in his case, from a state of depravity to a state of purity; but the moral man, when regenerated, will become a _pious man_. He will discover the same anxiety on the question of his personal salvation--the same attachment to the Bible--the same zeal for the conversion of others--the same disposition to converse on the essential doctrines of the gospel, as the regenerated immoral man; and he will ascribe this change to the same supernatural cause; and, by the avowal of his sentiments and by his decision, he will provoke the same expression of scorn and contempt from the men of the world. There will be a striking similarity between his character and his religious habits after his regeneration, and the character and religious habits of one who was previously an immoral man, but who has _been renewed in the spirit of his mind_; and they will both be in possession of more satisfactory evidences of their regeneration than any exterior change which their character and their life may supply."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"What are those _other_ evidences of regeneration to which you now refer?"

Mrs. John Roscoe now became much excited. "Yes," she said, "that's the important question I want explained. I have been living many years under a most fatal delusion, for though baptized, I am not regenerated; nor do I as yet know what regeneration is. Be very simple and plain in your explanation." She now sat looking and listening with a fixed intensity of anxious earnestness, reminding me of the appearance of a defendant whom I once watched in a crowded court, during the prolonged consultation of the jury, whose verdict was to secure to him the possession of his rich inheritance, or reduce him to comparative pauperism.

_Mr. Roscoe._--"A person who is regenerated will be introduced as into a new world; the transition from his former to his new moral condition, whether it takes place suddenly, or by a gradual process, will be so clear to his mind that he cannot doubt it; he will form new and more accurate perceptions of the character of God--of his own character--of the visible and invisible world--and of the official character of Jesus Christ; he will feel the force of obligations pressing upon him, of which he had previously formed no conception, and he will discover sources of enjoyment of a new and a more refined order."

_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I fear you are now taking me into an imaginary region, where we shall be both lost amidst the obscurities of a fanatical and enthusiastic belief."

_Mr. Roscoe._--"I am as great an enemy to fanaticism as yourself; 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."