will ever attain to perfection; for the whole of life is a state of trial, and that trial consists in the possibility of sin. Do not imagine that you are not born again because you do not become perfect. Be not anxious to know the time of your conversion. Put aside all doubts and fears, all curious imaginations, and all vain speculationsand instead of perplexing yourselves with inquiries, and questions, whether you are born again, reason thus with yourself.-The Spirit of God is within me, and around me-it knows my thoughts, it observes my ways-it is near me-but I see it notit tells me what is true, though I know not the manner of its influence. Do I then obey the warning voice which speaks to me? Am I practising the duties which God has commanded? If there be any evil thing which the laws of my country do not punish, and which my companions encourage and approve, but which God has forbidden, do I put away that evil thing, because Christ has died for me, and the Spirit of God warns me? Do I permit my pride, my interest, or my vanity, to lead me into any wilful sin? Do I love good more than evil? Do I place my only hope of salvation upon the merits and death of the Blessed Son of God? Do I, for His sake, obey the laws of my Creator? Do I offer up my prayer that the Holy Spirit of God may so guide me with His counsel through life, that, after the troubles of this pilgrimage, I may be received into glory? If you can answer these questions, as every one

who is moved by the blessed Spirit of God is enabled to answer them, then the kingdom of God has begun within you-then your heart is daily changing more and more; and He who has begun that good work, will assuredly carry it on to the end. God has not revealed His religion to make us unhappy, or perplexed, or miserable, or desponding. Fear not then little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom*. Confide, anxious and inquiring believer, in the promises of the God of Christianity. He who has placed you in His Church upon earth, and enabled you to begin to conquer the power of evileven He desires your salvation, and your happiness. He will guide you safely through the valley of the shadow of death, and reward you with the inheritance of the sons of God. Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of God; and persevere with humility, and faith, and prayer.

Luke xii, 32.

SERMON XIII.

THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

ACTS xxii. 6, 7.

And it came to pass, that as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me -Saul-Saul-why persecutest thou me? And I answered, who art thou, Lord?-And He said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

THE Conversion of St. Paul has always been justly considered as one of the most important events recorded in the New Testament. It is important in these two respects;-it affords us one of the most unanswerable proofs of the truth and certainty of the Christian religion; and it is the most remarkable instance of that suddenness of conversion, which many persons declare to be essential to our future salvation.

It affords us an unanswerable proof of the truth of our religion, because the character of St. Paul, the circumstances of his conversion, his former conduct as a persecutor, and his after conduct as a Christian, all unite to prove, that there could be

no reason for his change, but that which is here recorded. We cannot find, we cannot imagine, any other motive for his becoming a Christian but this—that he saw the light, from heaven, at midday, and that he beheld the crucified Saviour, and heard his words. I shall not dwell long upon this point, but it is too worthy of notice to be passed over altogether; and it is useful, especially for young persons, to consider sometimes the evidences for the truth of Christianity *.

He

St. Paul, then, from being a violent persecutor of the Christian religion, suddenly changed his faith, and became an open defender of the religion which he had hitherto opposed. Now this change must have been sincere, as the New Testament declares it to have been, or else St. Paul must have been one of these two characters-He must have been a deceiver, or he must have been deceived. He could not be a deceiver, for he could have had no possible motive for practising a fraud. gave, on the contrary, every proof in his power that he was sincere. He possessed great authority, reputation, and influence, among the Jews; and he resigned them all to join himself to the persecuted, despised, and contemptible followers of a crucified criminal. He resigned every thing which could make life valuable, in a worldly point of view, to become poor, hated, persecuted, and insulted, with the lowest and most detested of his people-and as he was not a deceiver, so neither was he likely Appendix, Note 10.

*

to have been deceived. Those who are deceived in religious matters, are either deceived by their own imaginations, or by the frauds of others. There is no reason whatever to suppose that he was misled by his own imagination, for the appearance which converted him took place in the open day, at noon, in the presence of the whole band of soldiers who were going with him to Damascus -who all saw the light, and heard the voice, though some of them did not understand it, and who all observed the effects of the miracle upon St. Paul-that he was deprived of sight for three days. If it had been in the slumbers of the night, there might have been some foundation for the opinion, that he was deceived by his own imagination, or that some person was endeavouring to deceive him; but the appearance was at noon, at mid-day, and there could be no deception, and no fraud.-Neither was St. Paul one of those persons who were likely to be deceived. He was not an ignorant, nor a superstitious, nor a melancholy, nor a credulous man. He was a man of the best education, of deep learning, and of sound judgment. Neither is it possible that he could have been deceived. The followers of Christ were a scattered and timid body, and their leaders, the poor and persecuted fishermen of Galilee, even if they had endeavoured to deceive him, could not have found the means of doing so; and consequently, he was not liable to be deceived, either by his own fancies, or by the arts of others.-There