2 Cor. iii. 3. "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart."

Gal. v. 18. "But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law."

(3) On conversion, the believer enters into, and continues in a state of union with Christ. Of this point take the following scriptural illustrations.

Song of Solomon, viii. 5. "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved?"

1 John. ii. 24. "If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father."

2 John, i. 9. "He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son."

John i. 9. "That was the true Light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John vi. 56. "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."

John xv. 4. "Abide in me, and I in you.” 2 Cor. xiii. 5. "Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates."

Gal. ii. 20. "I am crucified with Christ:

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nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."

Eph. iii, 17. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith."

(4) The believer is adopted into the family of God.

This peculiar privilege of Christ's people is mentioned by the Apostle in these verses.

2 Cor. vi. 17.18. And I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

Rom. viii. 15. "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

Gal. iv. 4. 7. "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made. of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."

This, Reader, is the state of the Christian when considered with reference to the occasion of the change which has taken place in his soul, and with reference to those new relations in which he stands towards the divine author of that change. Now though

the Scriptures were silent, as to the effects upon the character and life, that should ensue; the simple knowledge of the fact, that a believer is actually placed in the situation now described, and continues throughout the remainder of his life to occupy that situation; affords we may affirm, no unimportant grounds for trying our characters, and going forward with the examination whether or not we are Christians.

For it surely follows, if a work has taken place in our souls, which the inspired word of God describes as regeneration, or a new birth, that an extensive change in the sentiments of the mind, and the affections of the heart must have resulted, or be in progress.

Hath God given us his Holy Spirit to abide with us, and dwell in us? are we in the Spirit? then it may be deemed as a certain consequence, that a far more Holy heavenly and spiritual complexion shall be communicated to the ordinary tenour of our thoughts and feelings, to the desires, the affections, and the hopes which we entertain and cherish in our hearts.

Are we in union with Christ, joined to him as a living branch to its parent tree; deriving nourishment from him, as the head and the members mutually sustain each other: the reconciled, adopted, and beloved children of his house and family? then is it to be inferred, not as a probable, but as a

certain consequence, that somewhat of that mind which was in Christ, shall be in us, that our souls shall be as one with him in all essential matters of love and faith, and obedience to the divine law; that fruits of godliness shall appear, as it were naturrally, spontaneously, and abundantly in our life and conduct, the same as in our Lord's.

But the scriptures do not confine their intelligence, to an account of the change which takes place, and of the sacred original whence that change has its rise, within the Believer's soul.

As we proceed now, to show

3. The scriptures also afford us much information respecting the extensive, Holy, and Happy effects which result from conversion; and to this quarter above all, will he who desires to try his spiritual state, direct his anxious scrutiny, instigated to the work as he believes, by the plainly expressed intimations of the Divine will. For why should the features which distinguish the godly man's character, have been set forth so fully in the pages of the gospel, had not the Lord designed that trying ourselves by the standard here provided, we should come to a judgement on our own state?

Before entering on this branch of my subject, a sense of its delicacy, and its importance, call upon me to avow the difficulties, or rather the incapacity which I feel

of handling it aright. And with this consciousness, I have to request that the reader will regard the observations which follow, in the light of suggestions offered with a view to awaken enquiry and to point out the direction in which that enquiry should be pursued, rather than as the attempt at a full discussion of the question. The writer who would do justice to the interesting subject, of what may be called experimental Christianity, must possess two qualifications as to which I feel myself still greatly deficient; he must have a large and intimate' acquaintance with the Scriptures, both in the letter and in the Spirit, and he must himself have taken an exact observation of the power of religion upon his own life and conversation, and on the hearts and lives of others. Yet imperfectly qualified in both these respects, as I know myself to be, I am not without the hope of opening up the subject to such an extent, and so arranging the Scripture authorities that relate to it, as in a measure to serve the purposes that have been mentioned; more particularly of showing the direction to be pursued by those who wish to prosecute the investiga

tion.

Having made these preliminary remarks, I now go on to notice what may be called the primary result of conversion, or the initiatory work that proceeds from union with