still be on its side while conscience stands opposed to it. Remorse and even sorrow may also be felt,—that remorse which has no affinity with true repentance— that sorrow of the world which worketh death. Nay, under the influence of conviction, many an unconverted man may form the resolution, and make some efforts after amendment of life; which, being based on a spirit of self-sufficiency, and having no dependence on the sanctifying grace of God, and unaccompanied with earnest prayer for the Spirit, quickly come to nought; and he returns "like a dog to his vomit, and like a sow that was washed to his wallowing in the mire."

Now, at this point, the one stem or stock of conviction divides into two great branches-one which brings forth the fruit of repentance, and another which ends in the production of final reprobacy. Both may be covered with the buds and blossom of a fair profession; but the fruit is widely different. The contrast betwixt the two is finely exemplified by the opposite effects of the same truth, as declared by Peter and Stephen respectively. When Peter preached, the Jews were pricked in their hearts, and began to inquire in earnest, What must we do to be saved? But when Stephen preached, they were cut to the heart, yet they only gnashed on him with their teeth. (Acts ii. 37; vii. 54.)

With one class, conviction of sin stops short of thorough conversion. Such conviction was salutary in itself, and had a tendency to lead the sinner onward to a happy change; but its power is resisted-its

suggestions stifled-its voice drowned by the clamour of unruly passions. Such convictions are like the startling of a man in sleep, who quickly turns himself back on his pillow, and sinks again into lethargy; or like a sudden flash of lightning, exciting momentary awe and terror, but quickly passing, and leaving all in darkness as before. They may continue for a longer or a shorter period, and may recur at intervals through a long life, but they are ever treated in the same way, and produce no greater effect,—they arouse the conscience, but do not conquer the will,-they alarm the fears, but do not subdue the heart,—they make sin dreadful, but they do not make it hateful to the soul. It loves sin, and hates its convictions; and, therefore, the former is cherished, while the latter are suppressed. Oh! it is a fearful case, when God comes so near to the heart, and the heart is thus wilfully closed against him, and such convictions can neither be resisted without incurring guilt, nor stifled without leaving behind them, like a fire that has been kindled and quenched, the black traces of their power, in their withering and hardening influence on the heart.

With another class, conviction works towards conversion, and, under the influence of evangelical motives, issues in true and lasting repentance. The soul, convinced of its guilt, and impressed with a sense of its danger, is prompted to ask, What must I do to be saved? How shall I flee from the wrath to come? Sensible of its vileness, and loathing itself on account of it, it begins to inquire, How may I be cleansed from the pollution of my nature, and the foulness of

my sin? If, when the soul is thus convinced, and anxious, the glorious scheme of grace and redemption is unfolded to its view; if it be enabled to look to the cross, and to Christ as the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world; and if it be penetrated with a lively sense of the love of Christ to sinners, and of God's mercy through him, then stern conviction will be melted into tender contrition, and the most alarming remorse into kindly repentance. The heart which trembled, and was perhaps hardened under the ice-cold fetters of conviction, is subdued by the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. The soul, under the horror of darkness, may have been a scene of inward agony; but one ray of heaven's light, piercing through the gloom, converts it into a scene of peace. In the greatest tumult of conviction, a single word of Gospel comfort may produce inward quiet, when it is spoken by Him who said to the raging sea, "Peace, be still," and immediately there was a great calm. The convinced sinner, thus apprehending the love of Christ, and the glorious design of his Gospel, is thoroughly changed by means of it; his stubborn will is subdued, and he is made willing in the day of divine power; in a word, he undergoes a change of mind and heart, which is called evangelical repentance, and, in this its largest sense, is the same with being born again. Then legal conviction becomes evangelical contrition. In this there is sorrow-but not the sorrow of the world which worketh death;-shame, but such as humbles without depressing the soul;-and fear, but not the fear which hath torment-not the fear that is

associated with the Spirit of bondage; but filial fear, having respect to the majesty of God, and even to his warnings and threatenings;-yet not the servile fear of a condemned malefactor, but the ingenuous fear of a forgiven child.

AN ADDRESS TO CONVINCED SINNERS.

As there may be some who have already passed, or are now passing through the various stages of conviction, and as their present situation is one of a very critical nature, on the due improvement of which their eternal welfare depends, I would earnestly solicit their attention to a special statement of the duties of convinced sinners.

1. Beware how you deal by your convictions, and remember that you are responsible to God for your treatment of them. Whether they have been produced by the unaided exercise of conscience, or by the natural influence of the Word of God, or by the direct agency of the Holy Spirit applying the truth to yourselves individually,—there they are-in your bosom, and they will either prove a blessing or a curse. They cannot leave you as they found you; they will subdue or harden every soul in which they have found a place. You cannot rid yourself of them without doing violence to your conscience, and despite to the Spirit of grace. You may try to allay them; you may seek, by hurrying into the world, and by mixing with thoughtless companions, and perhaps by having

recourse to the soothing opiate, or the intemperate draught, to forget the fears which haunt you; you may even succeed in regaining a temporary security; but so far from diminishing, you are only adding to your guilt, and while you shun fear, you rush into greater danger. If there be one thing for which a man is responsible to God, it must be the manner in which he deals with the convictions of his own conscience. And even in the present world, although it be not a state of strict retribution, there is going on, in the experience of every sinner, a process of judicial equity, which proceeds on the principle of aiding every attempt, however feeble, to improve the light he has, and of withdrawing that light from those by whom it is neglected or despised. The same convictions, improved by one man, and stifled by another, will issue in results as opposite as light and darkness, or heaven and hell!

2. Instead of stifling your convictions, seek to know more and more of the evil nature of sin, and of your own vileness in particular. Beware of dismissing them as idle, or imaginary, or exaggerated terrors; and rest assured, that as yet you know comparatively nothing, either of the nature of sin, or of your own characters as they appear in the sight of a holy God. That you may know more of it, fix your minds on a serious consideration of sin,-place it in the light of God's Word,-look on it as it appears in the cross of Christ, consider it in connection with the curse of the law, the sufferings of life, the agonies of death, and the realities of a coming judgment; and that you may