mechanical agency; and when any are frightened into Christianity, their religion lasts no longer than their fears.

The second remark we proposed to make is that conversion is only a preparatory thing; it does not make a man a Christian, but only puts him in the way to become a Christian. Suppose that the voice of warning reaches one who is walking in the broad way that leadeth to destruction, and that, startled by his danger, he stops and turns; there he stands, where years of wandering have placed him; he wishes to enter the straight and narrow way, but he has wandered from the entrance of that way. He must retrace his steps; he must recover the ground he has lost before he begins to be a Christian. Now the repentance which releases him from the bondage of sin is a great and glorious change; it is a great thing to be fairly embarked and out of the harbor; but the voyage is yet to be made, the seas are before him.

Too many of those who think they are converted feel as if the who.e work of religion was done. They describe their own glory and happiness in rich and glowing terms, as if the battle was fought and the victory won. Here is delusion. There is as yet small cause for triumph. The wanderer has turned, it is true; but he has not had time to walk one step in the way of duty. Why then triumph so soon? Do they say they are sure that they shall be faithful unto death? One who knew human nature better than they, said that he who thinks that he stands, is the very one who must beware lest he falls. It is possible that they have repented, though true penitence is not apt to speak in

exulting tones; and they must be under great delusion, if at that moment when all is before them, and the work but just begun, they begin to say, I have fought a good fight; he, who had earned the right to speak those glorious words, did not speak them till, as he had every reason to suppose, the time of his departure was at hand.

But if all would remember that conversion is a preparatory change; only that change of direction, without which the guilty cannot enter the path of the just, it would be an inspiring thing to see men converted by thousands to see them awakened, not, as by the midnight fire-bell, but by the morning beams of the sun of righteousness, shining in quiet beauty on all around. We should rejoice to see them suddenly grow more earnest in the duties of life, more kind and just to each other, and more faithful in their devotion to God; but such a change is not to be produced by human agency with any other instrument than the power of God-the power residing in his word. The archangel's trumpet could do nothing more than startle; men must be made Christians, by the truths treasured in the Scriptures.

The third remark we intended to make was this; unless, after this conversion the Christian character is formed, the conversion is of no value; for repentance is nothing but a beginning-a good one, we allow; but unless the convert walks on in the path so well begun, he cannot see the salvation of God. When the Israelites had just left Egypt,-they passed the Red Sea; they felt that it was a great thing; it delivered them from the army, which had hung over them

like a threatening cloud; it placed them out of the reach of their oppressors. Still, they stood upon the Red Sea shore; a journey of years was before them, before they could reach the heights where they should see the bright landscape of the promised land spread out beneath their feet. So the young converted may have renounced corruption, but the way of duty is not yet travelled; and if he is presumptuous in the beginning, he may never be a Christian.

We say then, that all depends on beginning humbly; on looking not on what has been done, but what remains to do. Whoever thinks a Christian life easy; whoever feels a confidence in his own attainments, is almost sure to fall. Whoever thinks that all is accomplished, or even that the greater part is accomplished in conversion, is also in danger,-not so much of falling, for he has hardly risen-but in danger of never improving-in danger of relapsing into sin. And if he does, his state is so hopeless, that inspiration names it with a kind of despair, saying that it is impossible for those who have been once enlightened, if they relapse, to renew themselves to repentance again. If the heart has been once deeply affected and the impression does not last, it is impossible ever to affect it so deeply again, and exceedingly difficult to affect it at all.

If it be asked, who have made their conversion effectual? the answer is, they who not content with beginning the christian life, have advanced in it from the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, towards perfection. One reply is clear and satisfactory, the righteous he is born of God.' We need not ask

when his heart was turned to God; possibly he cannot remember the time; we need not trouble ourselves to ascertain when or how his Christian life begun; if he is advancing and improving now; if he is benevolent to men and devout to God, we would no more say that he was not a Christian because he could not tell when and where he was converted, than we would say that he was not a man because he could not tell when and where he was born.

It should be engraven on the walls of every churchit should be treasured in the sanctuary of every heart, that the righteous are born of God. They who do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, are his children. Professions may be hollow; appearances may deceive; feelings may betray; but a holy life cannot lie; and whoever lives a holy life, offers unquestionable evidence both to God and man, showing that in his heart the kingdom of heaven is come.

W. P.

The Christian Doctrine of Regeneration. By 1. H. T. Blanchard, of Harvard, Mass. Boston, 1832. 12mo. pp. 81.

This is no ordinary or common place production. The writer has thoroughly investigated his subject, and his arguments and illustrations are sound, copious, and pertinent. Were we disposed to find fault with him, we should be at a loss to discover plausible ground of objection or censure. To be sure, it requires at

tention to comprehend the train of his remarks, and feel the full force of them. But what work, treating of grave.and important matters, can be understood, or what valuable attainment can be made, without attention and seriousness? The christian character and affections, surely, are not to be formed and matured without a diligent application of the thoughts and earnest and persevering effort. To become wise, holy, humble, and benevolent-in a word, to become a Christian, we must think and act; the soul must act, must watch and strive with an intensity and ardor unknown to indolent spirits.

Mr Blanchard writes for those who are willing to think, and who deem that knowledge, and especially knowledge relating to our responsibleness as moral and religious beings, is a treasure worth purchasing at the price of a little sober consideration, and a temporary abstraction of the mind from earthly cares and pleasures. His work is as perspicuous, and he has thrown around it as many of the attractions of style, as the nature of the subject admits. It belongs not to the class of light and ephemeral productions, of which we have far too many at the present day. It is a solid, though brief treatise, doctrinal and practical, on a weighty and important subject, regeneration, in other words, the formation of the christian character, the production of virtue in the human soul.

The first section contains the result of an examination of the conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus, recorded in the third chapter of John's Gospel, about which there has been, and continues to be, no little misapprehension. As long as Christians persist in con