spoken of in Scripture chiefly with reference to adult persons, and as in their case only can we trace it in its visible manifestations and actual fruits, we have drawn our illustrations from their experience. And it deserves to be remarked, that even those who hold the highest views of baptismal regeneration, should not, on that account, object to a detailed illustration of His subsequent operations on the mind and heart, since they admit, that whatever grace may be imparted at baptism, there must be an internal and spiritual change of mind and heart—a change wrought by the agency of the Spirit, and the instrumentality of the truth in riper years, before any man can enter the kingdom of God.

PART II.

ILLUSTRATIVE CASES.

CHAPTER I.

THE PHILIPPIAN GAOLER.

Acts xvi. 19-34.

THE nature of a sinner's conversion to God is illustrated in Scripture in various ways. Sometimes in the way of doctrinal statement, as when it is represented in general terms as a change of mind and heart, wrought by the Spirit of God applying the truths of his Word, whereby the sinner is led to turn from sin unto God;-sometimes by the use of figurative or metaphorical expressions, descriptive of the various aspects in which it may be viewed,-as when it is denominated a resurrection, a new birth, an enlightening, a transformation, a renewing, a cleansing, a cure, an awakening of the soul;-sometimes by the help of parables, or stories derived from ordinary life, and employed to illustrate spiritual truth,-as when the apostasy, and ruin, and wretchedness of the natural man, and the commencement, progress, and consummation of his conversion, are represented in the history of the Prodigal Son ;-and, lastly, by the account of many instances of genuine conversion which the Spirit of God has recorded in the Word, and which

afford a practical illustration of the truth, such as is admirably fitted at once to awaken our interest in it, to impart a clear idea of its nature, and to impress our minds with a sense of its reality, as matter of personal experience.

I propose to consider some of these scriptural cases of conversion-such as that of the Philippian Gaoler, the Ethiopian Treasurer, Cornelius the Roman Centurion, Saul the persecutor, Lydia of Thyatira, the Malefactor on the Cross, and the three thousand on the day of Pentecost,—viewing them as so many illustrative specimens of that great change which must be wrought on ourselves individually, if we would enter into the kingdom of God. And I do the rather prefer such cases of conversion as are to be found in Scripture, before all others that have been reported in the diaries of private Christians, or the more recent history of the Church,*—because, being recorded by the Spirit of God, they are of standard authority, and exhibit the truth without any admixture of error or enthusiasm, but in connection with the personal history and actual experience of individuals of various views, and dispositions, and habits; so as to enable us at once to discover, by a simple comparison, what was common to all, and what is essential in every case of conversion, and to separate from each the mere circumstantial accompaniments. And, in reviewing these cases, I trust we shall be impressed with a solemn sense of the greatness of

* Dr Owen selects the case of Augustine. In 1833 the Rev. J. K. Craig, Oxon, published a work in 2 vols. on CONVERSION, in a Series of all the Cases recorded in the New Testament, Defective, Doubtful, Real; intended as a help to self-examination.