wretchedness, and yet know of no Saviour and no place of refuge. It was in such anguish of soul as this, that on the Sunday above mentioned, I again knelt down, and called upon that God and Saviour whom I knew not, nor believed in, for deliverance from my wretched state,-if there really was a God and Saviour. And the Lord heard me. His paternal

love was so great, that he would not divest me by degrees of my heartfelt distress and doubts, with which I might well have been satisfied-but that I might be the more thoroughly convinced, and that my reason might have nothing to object to his power and faithfulness, he answered me all at once. Every doubt disappeared; I was assured in my heart of the favour of God in Christ Jesus; I could not only call him God, but also call him Father. All sorrow and distress of mind was removed, I was animated with a flood of joy, so that I blessed and praised God with an overflowing heart and tongue, who had manifested such mercy to me. I had knelt down in great distress and doubt, and rose up again with unspeakable joy and certainty. It seemed to me as if I had spent all my life in a deep sleep; as if I had done every thing only as in a dream, and had now for the first time awoke from it. I was perfectly convinced that the world, with all its pleasures and delights, could not excite such sweet felicity in the human heart as that which I then enjoyed; and clearly saw in faith, that after such a foretaste of the grace and goodness of God, the world, with its incitements to worldly lusts, would have little influence over me." The following Wednesday, he delivered his discourse upon John xx. 31," with heartfelt satisfaction: for he could now say with Paul, We, having the

same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.' (2 Cor. iv. 13.)

It was from this decisive hour, that Franké dated his real conversion. Forty years after, he said in his last prayer in the garden of the Orphan House at Hallé, that God at that time had dug in his heart the well of the vital knowledge of Jesus Christ, from which never-failing source, streams of consolation and joy had abundantly flowed forth during the whole of his life. "From that period," says he, in the fragment of his life, "I have been in earnest with respect to religion, and from that time it has been easy to me to deny all ungodlinesss and worldly lusts. The glory of God, and the promotion of the knowledge of him amongst men, is since that time more important to me than ever, and I have begun to esteem promotion, honour, and celebrity in the sight of the world, riches, ease, and outward gratifications as nothing. But since then," continues he, "I have also begun to suffer more for righteousness' sake."

Thus had Franké experienced in himself, that a new and inward life, like a new creation, had commenced in him, only at that period, when, in ardent desire for the removal of sin and misery, and for salvation and sanctification, we appropriate to ourselves the merits of Christ; and when we are cordially assured of the favour of God in Christ Jesus. This believing appropriation of the life and sufferings of Christ, is the principal point in the conversion of every one, and in this point, all conversions must agree. He that has not experienced this believing appropriation, may rest assured that he is 1 The mark by which we may know whether this divine work has

1

still far from true and vital religion. The ways, indeed, by which God leads individuals to this living faith, as the common aim, may be very different according to each person's state of mind, and according to the unsearchable counsels of God; and it would be narrow-mindedness and presumption to wish to make Franké's example the only standard.

We conclude this part of Franké's history with the "confessions of his inward walk in the presence of God," in which he freely expresses the faith which had animated him from the moment of his conversion in Lüneburg, and during the whole of his subsequent life. He says,

"This is the confession of the faith in which I live, the path on which I walk, the truth which I have learnt from the Holy Scriptures, and which is sealed in my heart by the Holy Spirit, the course in which I run, that I may be preserved from every false way, and obtain the prize of life. I acknowledge myself a poor and wretched worm, who, by original and actual sin had deserved God's wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal perdition. But Jesus Christ the Son of God, has given himself for me, and reconciled me by his blood to his father, so that God does not impute my sins unto me, but imputes my faith in the name of his only-begotten Son to me for righteousness. By this faith I am really justified, and with this the Holy Spirit has filled my heart. In this justification, I have found peace with God, am a child of God, rejoice in his favour, and

taken place in us, is given by the younger Franké, in his remarks on his father's conversion. He says: "It continues an infallible rule, that he who does not yet abhor all sin, and who is not in earnest to renounce every sin, is not thoroughly converted, and does not possess true faith."

know assuredly that I shall not see nor taste death, but have eternal life, and that I have passed from death unto life.

"God having therefore received me into his favour, by faith in his Son Jesus, I am not justified at one time, and not another; but I am always and continually in the favour of God, and bear in my heart the witness of the adoption of God through the Holy Spirit. I do not esteem myself free from faults and imperfections, but know that those which God daily places before my eyes are innumerable, and believe assuredly that my hidden faults are still more numerous. But because I am in Christ Jesus, and he in me, such faults and infirmities are not imputed to me, but God bears with them and overlooks them, as a father acts towards his dear child. His grace, however, does not render me careless, but incites me daily to renew myself, more and more, in the spirit of my mind. For God, who works all that is good in us, causes a filial fear to dwell in my heart, and - makes me feel a real awe in the presence of his sacred Majesty, which preserves me from presuming upon grace.

“But he prunes me also like a branch, that I may yield so much the more fruit. I am truly clean through the word that Christ spake, and which I have believed. This is no vain imagination or false appropriation. Christ has really loved me, and washed me from my sins in his blood; and my salvation consists in the forgiveness of sins. God has caused me to feel my corruption, and granted me grace to know my natural inability, and afterwards shewed his mercy to me, and wrought faith in my heart.

"What I have in this manner seen, and heard, and learnt from spiritual experience, is more certain in my estimation, than what my bodily eyes see, my ears hear, and my hands touch. God himself has taught me to distinguish between nature and grace, light and darkness, imagination and power. God is not only faithful to forgive us our sins, but likewise just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Hence also I confess my sin and unrighteousness before him, and desire to be cleansed from it more and more. This further purification and sanctification is effected thus-I strive and struggle against sin, not in my own strength, but by the Holy Spirit, who dwells and operates in me.

"Faith in Christ is my commencement, progress, and end. Forsaking all self-working, and recognizing that of myself I can do nothing but sin, I cleave to the free grace of God, and look to the Lamb of God, which bears away my sins, and approach to the Father in his blood. Thus a new power springs up in my heart, so that I feel faith in my heart as a heavenly light and fire, and taste the love of Christ; whilst the new man, as a good tree, puts forth its blossoms, which yield a pleasing perfume, and bring forth fruit acceptable to God and man.

"I am not justified in one way, and seek to be sanctified in another; but there is only one, who is the way, the truth and the life. Even as I cleave to nothing but Christ, when I implore the forgiveness of my sins—in like manner I cleave solely to him and apply exclusively to his grace, when I seek to become strong in faith, love, and hope. Nor need I do any thing else, than abide in the grace received, and in the new spirit given me by the Son of God;