the mode of its manifestation. Be all Churches: and individuals left to their conscience, their customs and their feelings in the matter; the writer only asks for himself the liberty to indulge and to record his strong conviction, that the feelings which most naturally possess, and which best become him whose heart has been newly "bound up" by the hand of mercy, are those which would revolt from the "noise of the multitude," and the shout of triumph, and which would prompt him to muse in silence, or to praise with solemn awe.

Most affecting is the call, my readers, which is given by this binding up of the broken heart, for its subsequent unreserved dedication to him by whom it was healed. The praise of the lips is good in its place. It is the overflowing of the too full heart; but that heart itself feels that it is an inadequate return for unspeakable mercy. "A wounded spirit, who can bear?" Of a healed spirit what shall bound the gratitude? He who gives less than "the heart" which is bound less than himself, gives nothing; and to that man I confidently predict a return to sin, a renewal of an end that shall be worse than the be

sorrow,

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ginning."

up,

By this time, it is trusted, that the reader will have contracted a sort of personal and friendly interest in the welfare of him whom he has followed through such marked and striking changes, and with whom he has seen God thus wondrously

dealing. Having seen him in his sins, felt for him in his spiritual sorrows, rejoiced with him when those sorrows were soothed to rest, and listened to him with delight when he exclaimed, "the offering of a free heart will I give unto thee, O, my God," let me ask him to accompany him further, and to look upon him in the joy and purity of his last and best estate, his highest and noblest character, as a new creature,”-a servant of Christ-a man of God.

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CHAPTER VI.

THE NEW HEART-THE NEW MAN.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."

"I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."

"That ye put off concerning the former conversation, the

old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." "In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."

THESE declarations cannot be explained away. They evidently mean something, and something moreover that is important. Their reference is as evident as their import is marked. It is to the actual experience and blessed effects of that spiritual change, the indications and preparatory stages of which have already been exhibited. A subject more important could scarcely be presented to human consideration; may its intrinsic importance secure to it a candid perusal.

There has been, it is to be feared, a degree of vagueness and studied ambiguity in the manner of speaking and writing on this subject, which has tended to give equally vague and confused ideas. An air of mystery has been needlessly thrown around it, which has wholly deterred some inquirers, perplexed others, and laid the whole subject open to the derision of the scoffer. The well-disposed have been led to form extravagant expectations, never to be realized-the really converted have been prompted to doubt the sufficiency of their change-while the profane have freely indulged their wit at the expense of all who profess to have received this essential change, or who even accredit its reality. All this is to be regretted; and the interests of genuine, vital religion, imperiously demand that the subject should be stripped of all known deception or delusion, of all extravagant description, and of all mystery not truly its own; and that it should be treated no longer in the language of spiritual romance, but of plain, sober, Christian truth. The former may best serve to inflame the minds of the young and ardent, to delude the credulous, or to astonish the ignorant; but the latter only can stand the test of fair examination, the test of time, and the more searching test of God's word, and of his final judgment. When we discard every thing which does not fairly belong to the subject, and, reining in imagination, "speak only the words of truth

and soberness," we then take from the enemy, and the blasphemer, his most valued opportunities of annoyance. We thenceforth render the cause we are defending invulnerable to his attacks. His ridicule falls harmless from the buckler of truth; and facts, as they stand forth in the clear light of heaven, reflect upon all vain opposers shame and confusion of face.

There is reality in the fact itself of a spiritual change:

There is mystery in the manner in which it is effected:

Its nature:

Its reality is taught by the Bible and the Church:

Its experience is necessary.

These are points of vital importance, and worthy of mature consideration.

1. There is reality in the fact of this spiritual change.

Through the power of the Gospel of Christ, men may become 66 new creatures." Their moral renovation is such as to justify this strong figurative term. In common life, when one is changed from sickness to health, or when, according to the phraseology of the world, he is reformed, we say that he is a new man. In these cases, the world tolerates the expression, adopts it, and feels its force. There is no needless scepticism, and no idle merriment excited. Yet here