Nature and Means of Conversion
God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities,
The demands of God upon a sinner for a holy life and a change of heart, can never be agreeable subjects of reflection to the majority of hearers. Preferring, as they do, those views of religion which are compatible with self-indulgence, the requisition of a stricter godliness, though enforced by the power of eternal sanctions, will be heard continually with increasing pain. Yet the case is too urgent to admit of our qualifying any of the commandments of God, or of withdrawing divine truth because it is offensive; for, whether we will hear or whether we will forbear, the Word of God remains unchangeably the same. Except ye repent yc shall all perish (Luke xiii. 3). However, the Scriptures having described the happiness of conversion as well as the difficulty of it, we gladly follow where they lead; and will, therefore, do our endeavour to prove, that, according to the statement of the text, it is a blessing to be turned away every one of us from our iniquities.
But let us, first, offer some preparatory REMARKS on fiiis passage.
And, first, there can be no reasonable objection to the use of the word conversion, and to speaking of converted and unconverted persons, in reference to Baptized Christians: for we find that the word (that is, one literally synonymous to it, as any will know m ho are acquainted with the language from which the word Conversion is borrowed) is used in the text by St. Peter, while he is addressing, not the professors of a false religion, to whom the word is by some confined, but those whom in the previous verse he stiles, children of tJie covenant which God made with their fathers. The same privileged persons, in a former part of this Sermon also, lie thus calls upon, Repent ye and be converted (v. 19). If Jews, in possession of the seal of the first Covenant of God, had need to be converted from their iniquities, no reason can be assigned why persons who have the seal of the Second Covenant may not have need to be converted from theirs. We are not restricted to the use of a particular word, when the thing intended may be so variously expressed: but it is right that none should deceive themselves, by fancying the word unconverted does not belong to them, because they are Christians nominally.
For, secondly, this conversion from iniquities is not that reformation of life which human efforts can produce, the necessity of which is not disputed; but it is really a divine mysterious renovation of our inward nature: for the word expressing it is active in its signification — he will turn away every one of you from his iniquities. The agent is also brought into view, Christ, or God operating by a risen Saviour — God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
Let it be next observed from the text, that conversion has to do with more persons than the immoral; unless St. Peter was so uncharitable as to brand with the stigma of immorality the M hole of his audience, many of whom were undoubtedly like St. Paul, who was, touching the I’ighteousness which is in the law, blameless (perhaps St. Paul was among them); or lere like the Pharisee in the parable, whO’
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was no adulterer, unjust, extortioner, but fasted twice in the week, and gave alms of all that he possessed: yet St. Peter calls on all to be converted.
Under the shelter of the Apostle’s authority, then, we may be permitted to address the great mass of Christian Hearers, as persons who have need to be turned away every one from his iniquities — to suppose that every man, till changed by grace, has his iniquity, his favourite system of pleasure, between which and his heart a separation must be made before he can see life, li shall not be a course of dissipation or of gross sensuality, but a life the most common, consisting of business and amusement combined; adopted by him because it suits his interest or inclinations, and persisted in whether it accords with the will of God or not.
To shew that a conversion from such courses, apparently so harmless, to a life of strict
HOLINESS AIsiD SIMPLE OBEDIENCE IS A REAL
BLESSING, is one part of our present object: afterward it will be made to appear, how this blessing is communicated by Christ’s resurrection.
I. A CONVERSION FROM SIN TO HOLINESS IS THE ^APPINESS OF MAN. He will bless you.
N’ATUllE AND MEANS OF CONVEnsjON. 23S
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. While then we continue in iniquity, there is no happiness.
This is true, there are many sins in which there is no pleasure at all. it cannot be alleged, without great absurdity, that there is any pleasure annexed to the sin of profaneness, ridiculing religion, censuring God’s laws, words, or works — no one having ever pretended, that these things had any tendency to promote his health or increase his estate: to wrong others in their reputation by slander, or to disturb their peace by contention, has no proper tendency to promote our own honour or peace, but the contrary.
Yet, if there be some sins in which there is pleasure, it must be said that there is no pleasure in nature peculiar to sin; that is, which may not be had in the way of duty: for what are commonly called unlawful pleasures are nothing else but pleasures, in themselves lawful and useful, but procured by means which God forbids, or carried beyond the limits which God assigns. It is this unlawfulness in obtaining, or excess in using, that constitutes sin; but this unlawfulness or excess has no pleasure peculiarly annexed to it.
We are not presently surprised by some new enjoyment, when we go beyond God’s laws: on the contrary, that very excess which constitutes sinfuhiess is the source of unhappiness: sinfulness and unhappiness begin together: for it is the immoderate love of temporal enjoyments, that gives birth, first, to impatience in desiring them, which impatience is pain; and, then, to that labour and toil in pursuing them which is so painful: it is the immoderate love of them, which makes the possession to be attended with such painful anxiety: immoderate love overrates expected pleasure; whence, the expectation being made greater than the enjoyment, disappointment ensues. Again, whatever pleasures decay, and at last disappear, will be a source of vexation in proportion to the love which we bear them; but losses and decay being unavoidable in the present state of things, excessive attachment to them must infallibly terminate in vexation.
Thus, by outstepping the strict commands of God, we turn natural and lawful enjoyments into an occasion of pain, by entangling ourselves in a train of perplexities, impatience, superfluous toil, anxiety, loathing, and grief.
It may be added, that a departure from God’s restraints is not only in general thus fruitful in misery, but that each sinful temper has a way of punishing itself. Pride makes every affront a torment: envv hinders a man from relishins:
his own enjoyments, till he sees his neighbour’s misery: sensuality brings down the tone of general sentiment to a level with brutality, and degrades us to the misery of self-contempt: self-indulgence, in the way of indolence, stupifies the powers of body and mind, and superinduces insuflerable fatigue. While men entertain such plagues and evils, how can they be happy? It is of little importance to your peace that all is right without, when all is so wrong within. In the midst of magnificent buildings, sumptuous feasts, gay clothing, and all the other fantastic pageantry that he can desire, the slave of sin is still a miserable creature.
Were there no pain attending these sinful pleasures, yet their insignificance is obviously imsuitable to the soul, which in nature is spiritual and immortal; for they are short and coarse. They are short, because life is short and uncertain; and the pleasures of life are still more uncertain than life itself: though we were ever so sure of life, that cannot secure us the pleasurable enjoyments of it; for they are liable to a thousand dangers, which all the precautions that human prudence can suggest, are not always capable of preventing: so that the pleasures of sin are what we are sure to part with at death, and not sure to retain till then. The sinful pleasures of life are coarse also.
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being: chiefly those of the bodily senses, which any creatures can enjoy who are endued with senses: now to limit the soul to the enjoyments of brutes cannot, it should be thought, be advancing it far toward its blissful elevation in the scale of being: if, on the other hand, our pleasures arise from the gratification of pride, vanity, love of grandeur, and such things, this only assimilates us to the fallen spirits, who to the love of pre-eminence owed their ruin.
Excessive attachment to the creature is folly; and therefore cannot, in the nature of things, be the way of happiness. There is no folly in valuing creatures, lut in overvaluing them; but we, not satisfied with giving them their true worth, feign an imaginary one. If all our desires bore a true proportion to their objects, there would be no inequality; and, consequently, no sin: but we break that proportion, by supposing a kind of all-sufficiency in creatures, which is a most chimerical imagination and the great cause of all our mistakes; for, on this question, there is no occasion of demur, the thing being plain, that He only can give us happiness who gave us being.
We have not enlarged on the more obvious miseries of a sinful life: we have not looked at the worldly man in his sick chamber, nor observed his dejection and discontent, his unwillingness to hear or read the Word of God, or to be told of death: nor have we noticed the shame, remorse, and sense of guilt that are the concomitants of iniquity; or the dissatisfaction constantly in the minds of those who will not live after the commandments of God; or the dreadful fears and confounding forethought of judgment and eternity, which will some times be so importunate, as to force their way through all the amusements and diversions that are made use of to keep them out.
The dying thoughts of the man of the world will be here recollected with advantage: for, after all that is said about unnecessary strictness, where was the man yet found when he came to die, who did not wish that he had been more strict, and that he had rather erred on the side of self-denial than of sin?
Let us next see that there is not only no trouble peculiar to the duties of a holy walk; but that really these duties, in their own nature, have no tendency to trouble at all. Faith and reliance on Christ, do not cause such shameful disappointments, as commonly come of reliance on the world and the flesh. To be heavenly-minded does not injure our health or peace, as worldly-mindedness does. Temperance does not lead to diseases, nor industry to poverty, nor humility to contention, nor honesty to shame. MeeKness and poverty of spirit do not make us pine as envy does.
If we consider the nature and design of holiness, it appears to be not merely a preparation for happiness, but an ingredient in it: for it is a progressive return to that state of delight enjoyed by Adam before his fall; and it is an imitation of the disposition and employments of angels, and of others who are already supremely happy in heaven.
Faith in Christ, the fundamental exercise of a Christian Mind, has for its object the gladdest tidings that can be conceived. Love of God contemplates infinite excellency, and lays hold on all-sufficiency. The gracious Love of our Neighbour is so delightful, that those pleasures of society which wicked men enjoy are founded on the resemblance of it. Humility, and disengagement of mind from the world, give such serenity and tranquillity to the spirit as are inestimable. To which may be added, that the well-grounded hope of eternal life, if duly impressed, is a greater present pleasure than any worldly enjoyment whatsoever.
It is to be considered, also, that, by the promises of the Covenant of Grace, God has engaged to give, not only future happiness, but present peace — pardon of sin — strength to perform duty — acceptance of it — communion with himself — comfort under aflliction — returns of prayer — and, finally, what comprises all other blessings, that he will make all things work together for our good, and let nothing separate us I’rom his love.
Against our general assertion, Repentance may be objected, as being a very unhappy thing. It cannot be denied, that both sorrow for sin and mortifying of corruption have some trouble and uneasiness in them: but that pain is neither the native fruit of duty or obedience, because had mankind continued in their duty there would have been no occasion for repentance; nor is the trouble attending it peculiar to it, for impenitent sinners have inward agonyarising from impenitence, and conscience causes them more uneasiness than the deepest humility can give a believer’s penitence. Faithless remorse was far more painful to Judas, than godly sorrow was to Peter; as the event testified. There are some kinds of sorrow, which human nature takes pleasure in: and, surely, the noblest and most rational melancholy in the world, is melancholy for those unworthy actions by which we have lost the chief perfection of our nature, the image of God — by which we have made such unbecoming returns to his kindness, and forfeited his inestimable favour and friendship: such sorrow as this has a sub-
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lime pleasure in it, since it is an exercise of love to God; and is also, if evangelical, joined with a hope in God’s mercy through the r i rits of his Son. Again, self-denial or mortification of corruption is not peculiar to duty: a wielded man oftentimes cannot gratify one corruption without mortifying another; for sinful desires are full of contradictions and inconsistencies, and can seldom or never be all gratified together.
But the Word of God must give the authoritative declaration of the happiness of true godliness. That tells us that the ways of wisdom are tvays of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace (ProY.in. 17) — that Christ’s yoke is easy, and his burden light (Matt. xi. 29) — that g-ladness is soirn for the righteous (Ps. xcvii. 11) — that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. V. 22). The very command of God is, Rejoice evermore (1 Thess. v. 16) — the joy of faith is a joy unspeakable and full of glory (1 Pet. i. 8). The peace which God gives is perfect peace — peace thatpasseth all understanding! (Phil. iv. 7). Both the Prophets and Apostles employed the most beautiful images of nature to paint the greatness of these joys: as when they speak of the oil of joy — the garments of praise — the budding and blossoming of the rose — the time of the singing of birds — the joy of ban-NATURE AND MEANS OF CONVERSION
quets and marriage-ieasts — the light of the morning- when the sun riseth, even a morningwithout clouds — the springing of the grass after rain: the lifeless part join in the triumphs of God’s people — the mountains and hills break forth before them into singing, and all the trees of the field clap their hands — the skies drop down from above, and the earth brings forth righteousness; and many other bright images are there, whose scope is to shew that godliness hath ihejjromise of the life that now is, as well as of that u’hich is to come (1 Tim. iv. 8).
Then let not a false impression remain upon our minds. Let not Satan’s devices be believed; who, to serve his own purposes, would veil the fair form of religion in a mantle so dark. Let us see that true holiness is nothing worse than sound sense — reason unobscured — true philosophy — and nature acting according to its genuine original constitution, and approaching to primeval purity; a state of order to which the universe shall be reduced at the restoration of all things.
IL If you will believe that Holiness and Happiness are one, but krlow not the way to attain either, we have now to say that no doubt or error need remain, because God has himself appointed the way. GOD HAVING RAISED UP HIS SON JESUS, sent him to UessijoUy in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
He has instituted a way, who is a God of grace, wisdom, and power. Why then should we seek happiness in another way? Surely, if there be any method of happiness appointed by God, THAT must lead to the attainment of the proposed end — not only effectually, but most delightfully: for the plan of God having originated from the free suggestions of his own love, the same love would induce him to make the means as agreeable to us as the nature of the case would admit. His method, too, must have all its parts disposed in the best order for leading us to happiness: so that, though some of his arrangements may be to us apparently confused, and others unnecessary; yet reason must convince us, that seeming defects are to be ascribed to our own ignorance, while absolute perfection is to be predicted of the works of God. We may doubt, for instance, whether an instrument, apparently so inefficient as Faith in Christ, will lead us to holiness: but it is the means appointed by God, and he engages to make it effectual to lead us to purity and joy.
Why then, my Brethren, seek your happiness from the gratification of your carnal wishes — why from the world, or from Satan — God having raisec! up his Son, for the purpose of blessing
you? Jesus is sent to bless you — why strive to gather comfort from self-complacent contemplation of your own goodness? It is not the method of God, and will therefore be unavailing. He has scut his Sou to bless you, by turning away your hearts from iniquity.
What this means, it surely behoves us to inquire. It will surely be our wisdom, as it isj our duty, to set ourselves to study this method of grace, and endeavour to understand it.
The Resurrection of Christ was the consummation of that work of his which he undertook for sinners: for them, as their Surety, he obeyed the Law perfectly, which they could not do; and, for them, he suffered the punishment which was due to their sins. Now, as the liberation of one who is surety for another proves the debt to be paid and the creditor satisfied, so the deliverance of Jesus Christ from the prison of the grave is the evidence of God’s having no further demands on a believing sinner for his past debts: henceforth, a blessing is communicated — a person is sent charged with blessings: henceforth, Christ, not by his power only, as a Divine Person, is sent to bless us, but as a Risen Saviour. It is in consequence of the completion of that work, by which he obtained merit for us, that he is qualified to bless us.
SfnU therefore, by the Father, behold, Chn#t
comes! The Prince of Peace ! — the great Benefactor of Mankind! — the promised Deliverer comes to ns at the present hour! He comes to bless us, not to lay upon us an iron yoke. His Gospel is not a system of restrictions to make us unhappy: he has nothing to gain by depriving us of earthly comforts: it will add nothing to his happiness to see us miserable. His design is to call us, not to misanthropic gloom, but godly sorrow — to deaden none of the energies of the mind, but to recover them from confusion — not to check the flow of joy, but to confine it to its proper channel — to restrain none of its legitimate operations, but to reduce them to order — not to debase the mind by superstitious fears or slavish anxieties, but to ennoble, elevate, and refine it.
But observe, he can do all these things only by turning us away from our iniquities. If we would be partakers of Christ’s joys, and receive the peace which flows from the religion of Christ, we must submit to his discipline: a patient, who will obey in part only the prescription, and that part which happens to be most agreeable, will not reasonably expect to derive much benefit from it. It is necessary, then, that you should unreservedly resign yourselves into his hands, and consent to forego the dearest gratifications at his command.
This premised, let iis say that He comes with ability to save all, of every name and every character.
He comes to the gay and dissipated; and sees, with pity, how from youth to age they pursue the wild career of vanity and folly — how, in the crow d of the world, they try to lose themselves, and to shun reflection on their latter end — how, in a round of visits, engaged in from mere idleness, or from a desii-e of preserving connections with the great, or from fear of singularity, they waste their time, that precious moment, which, when longest, is short enough to prepare for the eternal home. He inspects them more narrowly; and sees the envy, hatred, pride, and lust, which lurk beneath the polished exterior: he sees them, however, panting after happiness; and that, he offers them, in words like these — How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight ill their scorning? and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you; Iivill make known my words unto you (Prov. i. 22, 23).
Accept the proposal. Brethren — even all among us who are living in conformity to the world, forgetful of God. Be persuaded, at least, to try whether, by the powerful conversion which the Son of God can work in you.
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and the subsequent life of serious piety to which he can lead you, there is not real pleasure to be found — not such pleasure as that of religion, is generally conceived to be — not a dim gleam of comfort resembling the melancholy satisfaction of an invalid raised from sickness; but a lively joy, the vivid animation of rich delight, sometimes rising into transport. There is no faculty or passion of the mind, which may not be as ardently excited and called out to as high endeavour and generous exertion, by what it sees and enjoys of divine things, as by the impressions which it receives from what St. Paul calls, with a high contempt, the beggarly elements of this world (Gal. iv. 9): it should be supposed, indeed, far more so; as the name is brighter, the more pure the air is in which it burns.
Religion, therefore, cramps none of the mental energies: on the contrary, the ease and celerity with which the renewed soul acts in the ways of God, evidences the machine to be returning to order, indeed, what reason can possibly be assigned, why even the lively cheer of youth should not lind exercise in activity for a Creator, and love toward a dying Saviour? — why a pure and peaceful mind should not be a? pleasurable as a vain defiled heart? — a growing: meetness for heaven, as productive of satisfaclion as rising into consequence and wealth I — and the favour of God, as gratifying as the smiles of a deceitful world?
With respect to the pleasures of the world, some are to be given up, and others may be retained; but let us remember, that we are not to choose for ourselves which we will resign, but to leave it entirely to him. We must withhold nothing from him. Our first business is, to dismiss every notion of our having aright to any pleasua-e. It isour’s to stand in an expecting posture, ready to renounce the world instantly at his command. This belongs to us as creatures and sinners: as creatures, we are to have no will but God’s — as sinners, we are to feel ourselves unworthy of any pleasure, in this life or the next. If it be his word to you to withdraw from the company of those who prove too plainly that they are of the world, you must leave them at once: Come out from among them, and he separate (2 Cor. vi. 17). If he require us to devote more time to prayer and the study of the Scriptures than is consistent with the success of our business or with our inclinations in other respects, yet let us make the decision on the side of self-denial: without frequently cutting off the right hand and plucking out the right eye, no advances are made toward the kingdom of heaven. After all the sacrifice? which vve may be required to make — and many painful ones there will be — yet after all, what is it which he requires us to part with, but that which is the source of our misery? He wishes only to mortify and eradicate the poisoned part, before the whole frame sinks under the power of the venom — to awaken us from a lethargy, which would end in death — to pluck the viper from our bosom, which we are cherishing to our ruin.
Next he is sent to bless the self-righteous part of mankind. It is true that he came, not to call the rigJdeoiis, hut sinriei’s to repentance. But, possibly, we may not be as righteous in his sight as we are in our own: nay, he scarcely sees a case more dangerous, than that of a man wise in his own eyes; who fancies, that, after all that is said about faith and regeneration and other unintelligible mysteries, he has no reason to be afraid. Jesus Christ pities such self-deceiving persons, though they have no pity on themselves. If they cannot answer this question to their consciences, whether Christ has turned avv ay their hearts from their iniquities — and ignorance of the meaning of this question is itself an alarming answer to it — they have yet to be convertetl: they must be turned from the iniquities of their pride, the iniquities of their ohstiiiar y, the iniquities of their impenitence, the iniquity of their impiety in choosing their own way to life instead of the humiliating path of the Gospel. Be turned from these, and you will be blessed indeed! — your cold duties will begin to glow with life — your obedience will be animated by a new principle — your hopes, resting on a more steady foundation than your own works, will be firm and strong. What though it be late in life with some of you, it is never too late to transfer one’s dependence from sand to rock; and if, through indolence or fear of ridicule, it be not done, and you yet suppose that God will save you in your own way because you have long supposed it to be the right one, it is a mistake.
To the IMMORAL, PROFLIGATE, and ABAN-DONED, Christ is sent to bless them, m turning them away from iniquity. The subjects whom he takes in hand can be such as iniquity cleaves to: for all are supposed, in the text, to be turned away from it by him; and could not, therefore, be previously converted. Let this be an encouragement to you. Brethren, to approach the Saviour. Approach him in all the ways of his appointment — in secret prayer — in the ministry of his Word — in the sacrament of his body and blood. Whatever you may have been in past times, yet if you would at this moment resolve to yield yourselves to him and determine “to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways,” you may “draw near;” and receive, not only a confirmation of your resolutions, but a pledge of your pardon. Let not conscience make you linger, nor fondly dream of fitness; for ail the fitness which he requires is, that you feel your need of him. There is no case of guilt, or obduracy, or depravity, beyond the reach of his all-sufficiency: he both CAN turn the heart from the love of sin, and WILL do it. He is exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel. Think how happy the change to you, to be delivered from the dominion of the fear of death and apprehensions of God’s wrath! — to pass from all these to progressive holiness and peace! Lastly, he is sent to bless with continued
BLESSINGS, THOSE AVHO HAVE BEGUN TO TURN
FROM INIQUITY. Tliougli we continue not in any deliberate habit of sin, yet, alas! there is much unrighteousness in our hearts; and guilt, with its concomitant sorrow, attends us stilL For our deliverance from both, the Lord has commanded us to meet, from time to time, for the purpose of remembering, in a more lively manner, by the help of outward symbols, his dying love. Let us then, at this time, renew «fpur application to him for pardon, and that he
may be pleased to bestow on us the spiritual comfort that comes from the right receiving of this Holy Sacrament: above all, praying that he would turn us away from unrighteousness, let us submit to every dispensation, however painful, which he sees necessary for this end. Let us not be surprised at affliction, the fruit of which is to take away sin: for if the issue of our trials be conversion from iniquities, troubles are only promoting his gracious purposes. Let us learn, then, to accept kindly the dispensations of our Saviour and Lord, whereby he expels sin and folly from our hearts. Let us understand and believe, that there is most happiness in that heart in which there is least sin; and that he is then blessing us most, when he is taking measures for delivering us from it: therefore let us be submissive and thankful. The tvork of righteous7iess shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever!