Now what I have to offer on this subject, will be ranged under these three heads. There is a diversity and variety observable, in the time,-the occasion,-and the manner, of the divine operations on the soul. 1. There is an observable variety," as to the time of God's gracious operations on different persons." Some are called in their infancy:-Others, and these perhaps the greatest part, are wrought upon in youth:-And some very few in the advance, and even in the decline of life. 1. Some are wrought upon by divine grace" in their infancy." This is often the case; and I doubt not, but if parents were to do their duty, it would much more frequently be so. And it is an honour which God is pleased, in some instances, remarkably to confer on a good education; which is indeed so important a duty on one side, and so great a privilege on the other, that it is the less to be wondered at, that he so mercifully encourages christian parents in the discharge of it; thus granting, as it were, an immediate reward for this labour of love. And I must here take the freedom, on my own observation, to say, that God seems especially to own the faithful endeavours of pious mothers in this respect. He has wisely and graciously given that sex a peculiar tenderness of address, and an easy and insinuating manner, which is admirably adapted to this great end, for which no doubt he especially intended it, that of conveying knowledge to children, and making tender impressions on their minds: And there is hardly any view, in which the importance of the sex more evidently appears. We have encouragement to believe, there are a considerable number, who are as it were sanctified from the womb, and in whom the seeds of divine grace are sown, before they grow up to a capacity of understanding the public preaching of the word: A remark, which Mr. Baxter carries so far as to say, "that he believes, if the duties of religious education were conscientiously discharged, preaching would not be God's ordinary method of converting souls; but the greater part would be wrought upon before they were capable of entering into the design of a sermon." And indeed it seems to me, that children may early come to have some apprehensions of what is most important in religion. They may have a reverence for God, and a love for him, as that great Father, who made them, and that kind friend who gives them every thing that they have: They may have a fear of doing any thing that would displease him And though it is not so easy for them, to understand the doctrines peculiar to a Redeemer; yet when they hear of Christ as the Son of God, who came down from heaven, to teach men and children the way thither; who loved them, and did them good every day, and at last died to deliver them from death and hell; their little hearts may well be impressed with such thoughts as these, and they may find a growing desire, to be instructed in what Christ is, and what he taught and did, and to do what shall appear to be his will. And wherever this is the prevailing disposition, it seems to me, that the seeds of holiness are sown in that soul, though but small proficiency may be made in knowledge, and though the capacities for service may be very low. I will add, that some remarkably pertinent and solid things, which little children have said concerning religion, seem to me plainly to evidence, that they have been, in many instances, under some uncommon teachings of the divine spirit: And it seems perfectly suitable to the genius of christianity, that in this sense, God should Ordain strength out of the mouth of babes and sucklings*, and should Reveal to them what he has suffered to be hidden from the wise and prudent+. Nor can I suppose it hard for any, who have been for a considerable time acquainted with the state of religion in christian societies, to recollect various instances, in which persons thus early taught of God, who have heard, and known, and loved the scriptures, and delighted in ordinances and serious discourse from their childhood, have been in some measure like Samuel, Obadiah, Jeremiah, Josiah, and Timothy, honoured with eminent usefulness in the church, and have happily filled some of its most important stations of service. Almost every age has afforded instances of this; and I am persuaded many are now growing up amongst us, who will be instances of it in ages yet to come. 2, Others, and these perhaps the greatest part of real christians, are wrought upon " in their youthful days." Many parents are very deficient in a due care to cultivate the infant minds of their little ones; or the feeble and general impressions then made, are perhaps worn out and lost, in the growing vanities of childhood and youth. They begin *Psal. viii. 2. + Mat. xi. 25. VOL. II. 3 R to be drawn away by evil inclinations and examples, and by the delusions of a flattering world, which then puts on its most attractive charms, to gain upon their unexperienced minds: And hereupon they Follow after vanity, and become vain*: Of the rock which begat them, they grow unmindful, and forget the God that formed themt. But by one method or another, God often stops them in this dangerous career; and awakening ordinances, or more awakening providences, bring them to a stand, and turn them the contrary way. The terrors of the Lord set themselves in array against them‡; or his mercy melts their souls, and they yield themselves its willing captives. They consecrate their hearts, warm as they are with youthful vigour, to be the sacrifices of divine love, and enter, it may be, very early into the bonds of God's covenant; and so prove such seed to serve him, as is accounted to the Lord for a most honourable and useful generations. Blessed be God, I speak to many who know this by experience! By far the greater part of those, who have been admitted to your communion, since I settled among you, have been, as I apprehend, under the age of twenty four years: And several of those, who were farther advanced in life when they first approached the table of the Lord, bad been brought to real religion in their much earlier years; though particular circumstances, or some mistaken apprehensions, might prevent their giving up their names publicly to the Lord, so soon as they might, and as they ought to have done it. 3. Some few are wrought upon by divine grace" in the advance, and even in the decline of life." I confess, that the number of these is comparatively small: And it is not to be wondered at, that it is so. They are not mány, who arrive to what can properly be called old age; and of them, but a very inconsiderable part are then brought to any thing which looks like a saving change. Nor shall we be much surprised at this, if we consider the inveterate nature of bad habits, which render it almost as hard, for them that are accustomed to do evil, to learn to do good, as it is for The Ethiopian to change his skin, or the leopard his spots. To such a degree are prejudices rivetted in the mind, so insensible is it rendered of tender and generous impressions, so cold are the affections, and the memory (if the phrase may be allowed) so rigid, that humanly *2 Kings xvii. 15. + Deut. xxxii. 18. + Job vi. 4. speaking, there is much less probability of their being impressed with religion, than there was when they were in the bloom of life, notwithstanding all the seeming advantages which might arise from riper reason, deeper experience, and a nearer prospect of eternity. In all these things it is in vain to reason against observation of fact, since we evidently see how uncommon a thing it is, for persons to be awakened and reformed in old age; especially if they have been educated in the principles of religion, and have made a florid profession of it in their youth, from which they have afterwards apostatized, out of a love to the wealth or honours of the world, or a relish for sensual delights. Such persons generally live and die monuments of divine wrath, bearing as it were, in characters dreadfully legible, the sad inscription of those," who, having forsaken God, are finally forsaken of him." They appear as dry Trees twice dead, and fit for nothing but to be plucked up by the roots, and cast into the fire*. Nevertheless, to prove the infinite energy and sovereignty of divine grace, God is sometimes pleased to work even on such. He touches the rock, which has stood for ages unmoved, and the waters flow forth: He says to The dry bones, livet, and they obey; they are clothed with beauty, they are animated with life, and stand up as with the vigour of a renewed youth, to pursue the labours of religion, and to fight The battles of the Lord. Such instances in which aged sinners have been thus wrought upon, I have read and heard; though (I grieve to say it) I can recollect very few, if any, that have occurred to me, within the sphere of my own personal observation and acquaint ance, But besides this variety in the time, there is also, II. An observable diversity," in the occasion, which divine grace takes to operate upon different persons." The occasions are indeed so various, that it would be impossible to enumerate them: I shall however just touch on some of the chief. And here I might particularly consider a religious education in this view, and that daily converse with pious friends, which is of course connected with it. But though perhaps there may be no occasion more considerable in itself, and none that * Jude, ver. 12. John xv. 6. + Ezek. xxxvii. 3. ‡ 1 Sam. xviii, 17. has been more eminently honoured of God; yet it is proper to wave it here, as having been mentioned under the former head, as well as much more largely illustrated in my sermons on that subject, which are in most of your houses, and which, I hope, you will often review. I proceed therefore farther to observe,-that some are wrought upon by the word of God ;-others by some remarkable providence ;-some by little incidents, which, inconsiderable as they seem in themselves, grow memorable by the noble effects they are made to produce ;-and others by secret and immediate impressions of God upon their spirits, which cannot be resolved into any external cause, or any visible occasion at all. 1. "The administration of divine ordinances, and especially the word of God and prayer," is an occasion, which he most frequently takes, to work upon men's hearts by his grace. I do not mention the administration of the sacraments upon this occasion; because, though they have so noble and effectual a tendency to improve men's minds in piety, and to promote christian edification; yet I do not remember to have heard of any instance, in which they have been the means of men's conversion; which is the less to be wondered at, as they are appointed for a very different end. There are many however that have been wrought upon in prayer, as there are many things concur in this to awaken and impress the mind. The solemn acknowledgments then made of the divine perfections, the praises offered to his tremendous majesty, the deep and humble confession of our various and aggravated guilt in his holy presence, the lamentations over it, the importunate pleadings for a variety of blessings both for time and eternity; in a word, all the overflowings of pious affections in the breast of him that leads the devotion, and especially the earnest entreaties then offered for unconverted sinners, the genuine expressions of an undissembled apprehension of their danger, and the fervent breathings after divine grace, to be communicated to them for their spiritual life: All these things, I say, and many more, which occur in prayer, when it is managed aright, may, by the divine blessing, be singularly useful. And I am well assured, there have been happy instances, in which, While God's people have yet been speaking to him on this head, he has graciously heard, and signally answered* them. *Isa. lxv. 24. |