SERMON XV.
E ean hardly eonceive that g'raee, sueh as that given to the great Apostle who speaks in the text, would have been given in vain; that is, we should not expeet that it would have been given, had it been foreseen and designed by the Ahnighty Giver that it would have been in vain. By whieh I do hot Inean, of course, to «lei W that God's gifts are oftentimes abused and wasted 1,y man, whieh they are; but, when we consider the wonderfnl mode of St. Paul's conversion, and the singula.r privilege granted him, the only one of men of whom is clearly reeorded the privilege of seeing Christ with his bodily eyes after His ascension, as is alluded to shortly before the text; I say, eonsidering these high and extraordinary favours vouchsafed to the Apostle, we should naturally suppose that some great objects in the history of the Church were contemplated by means of them, such as in the event were fulfilled. We caunot tell, indeed, why Goal works, or by what rule IIe chooses; we nmst always be sober and humble in out thoug'hts about Iris ways, which are infinitel 3" above our ways; but what would be speculation, perhaps venturous speculation, belote the event, af least becomcs a profitable mcditation ai'ter if. Af le,st, now, wllcu we read and dwell on St. l'aul's history, n'e mav disccrn and insist upon the suitablcncss of his character, bctbre his conversion, for that display of free g'race which was madc in him. Not that he could merit such a g'rcat mercy—thc idca is absurd as well as wicked; but that such a one as he n'as before God's grace, lmturally grew by the aid of if into what he was afterwards as a Christian. His, indeed, was a "wonderful conversion," as oto: Church in one place calls if, because if n'as so uncxpected, and (as far as the appearance went) so sudden. Yho of the suffering Christians, against whom he n'as ra'in" so furiously, could have conceived that their enemy was to be the great preacher and champion of the dcspised Cross? Does God work miracles fo reclaire tIis open malevolent adversaries, and hot rather to encourage and lead forward those n'ho timidly seek Itim? If ma.y be useful, then, to mention one or two kinds of what may be called sudden conversions, to give some opinion on the character of each of them, and to
çttdaez Coz,ersiots. 9 inquire whieh oF them really took place in St. Paul's 1. irs; some men turn fo religion all ai once ri'oto some sudden impulse of mind, some powerfil exeifement, or some strong persuasion. If is a sudden resolve that cornes upon them. Now such cases occur very fi'equently whe,'e relig'ion bas nothing to do with he,natter, and then we think little about if, merely eallin the persons who thus chanffe ail a once volatile and li'ht-minded. Thus there are persons who ail of a sudden ¢ve up some pursui which fhey bave been early se upon, or chang'e fi-om one trade or eallinff fo another, or change their opinions as reards the world's agMrs. Every one knows the impression leff upon the mind by sueh instances. The persons thus chang'ing may be, and often are, amiable, kind, and pleasanf, as companions; buf. we eanno depend on tl,em; and we piçv them, as believing they are doin harm both to their femporal interests and fo their own minds. Others there are who ahnos profess fo love change for chanffe-sake; fhey think the pleasure of lire consisfs in seeing first one rhino, hen another; variety is their chier good; and i is a sucien objection in their minds o any pursui or,vcreation, fha i is old. These, too, pass suddenly and eaprieiously from one subjec fo another. So far in matters of daily lire;bu when such a person exhibifs a similar chanffeableness in his religious views, then men begin fo be astonished, and look out with curiosity or anxiety te see what is the meanlng of it; and particularly if thc individual who thus suddenly changed, was very decidcd belote in the particular course of lift which he thcn followcd. For instance, supposiug he net merely professed no deep religions impressious, but actually was unbclieving- or profligate; or, again, supposing he net merely professed himself ot" this creed or that, but was very warm, and even bitter in the cufi»rccmcut of it; then, I say, men wouder, though they de net wondcr at similar infirmities in matters of this world. Ner eau I say that they are wrong in being alive te such changes; we o»g]tt te feel diffirently with reference te religious subjects, and net be as unconcerned about them as we are about the events of rime. Did 8 man suddenly inform us, with great appearance of earnestness, that he had seen an accident in the street, or did he sa.y that he had seen 8 miracle, I confess if is natural, nay, in the case of most men, certainly in rira case of the uneducated, far more religions, te feel differentlv towards these two accounts; te feel shocked, indeed, but net awed, at the firstto feel a certain solemn astonishment and pious reverence at the news of the miracle. For religons miud is ever looking, towards Goal, and seeking" IIis traces; referring all events te ]Iim, and desirous of His explanation of them; and when te such a one information is brougt that God bas in some extraordinary way showed tIimself, he will at first sight be tempted to believe it, and it is only the experience of the number of deceits and false prophecies whiç arc iu the world, his confidence in the Catholic Church which he secs before him, and which is lais guide into the truth, and (if he be educated) his enlightened views coucernin, the course and laws of God's providence, which kcep him stcady aud nmke him hard to believe such stories. On the other haud, men destitute of religion altog'ether,.»f course from the first ridicule such accouuts, and, as the eveut shows, riztly; and)'et, in spire of this, they are hot so worthy our regard as those who at first were credulous, ff'oto havin., some rclig-ious principlc without enoug, h rcligious kuowled.,4'e. Therefore, I ara hot surpriscd that such suddcn couversions as I have been describing deceive for a rime evcn the bcttcr sort of peoplewhom I should blame, if I were called ou fo do so, not so much for the mere fact of their believing readily, but for their hot believing the Church; for believiug private individuals who bave no authority more than the Church, and for not recollectiug St. Paul's words, "If any man.. though we, or an Angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed .'" 2. In the cases of sudden conversion I have been speaking of, when men chauge at ouee either from open sin, or ag'ain ri'oto the zealous partizanship of a certain creed, to some novel form of faith or worshil), their lig, ht- Gai. i. 8, 9.
mindedness is detected by their frequent ehanging—their changing" again and aga.in, so that one tan never be certain of t.hem. This is the test ol their unsoundness; having no roof in themselves, their convictions and earnestness quickly wit.her away. But there is another kind of snddcn conversion, which I proceed to mention, in which a mnn perseveres fo the end, consistent in the new forna he adopts, and which nmy be right or wrong,, as if happens, but which he cannot be said to recommend or confirm fo us by lais own chanze. I mean when a man, for some reason or other, whether in re]ig'ion or hot, takes a great disgust fo lais present course of lire, and suddenly abandons if for another. This is the case of those who rush ri-oto one to the other extreme, and iV genera|ly arises ri'oto strong" and painful feclin, unsettling and, as if were, revolutionizing the mind. A story is told of a spendthrift who, having ruincd himself by lais extravagances, went out of doors meditnte on lais own folly and misery, and in the course of a few hours returned home a determined miser, and was for the test of lais lire remarkable for covetousness and penuriousness. This is hot more extrnordinary than the fickleness of miud just now described. In like mnnner, men sometimes will clmnge suddenly ri'oto love to hatred, ri-oto over-daring" to cowardice. These are no amiable chnng'es, whether arising, or hOt from bodilr malady, as is sometimes the case; nor do they impart any credit or sanction fo the particular secular course or habit of mind adopted on the change: ncither do they in religion therefore. A man who suddcnly professes relig'ion after a profligate litre, merely because he is sick of his vices, or tormented hy the thought of God's anger, which is the consequenee of them, and without the love of God, does no honour to religion, for he might, if it so chanced, turn a miser or a misanthrope; and, therefore, though religion is hot at all the lcss holy and truc because he submits himself to it, and thoug. douhtlcss it is a much better thiug for tire that he turns fo religion than that he should hecome a miser or a misanthrope, still, xvhen he acts on such motives as I have described, he eannot be said fo do any honour fo the cause of religion by his conversion. Yet it is such persons who at various times bave been thought great saints, and been reckoned to recommend and prove thc truth of the Gospel to the world! Now if any one asks what test there is that this kind of sudden conversion is not from God, as instability and frequent change are the test, on the other hand, in disproof of file divinity of the conversions just now mentioned, I answer,—its moroseness, inhumanity, and unfitness for this world. Men who change through strong passion and anguish become as hard and as rigid as stone or iron; they are hot fit for lire; they are only fit for the solitudes in which they sometimes bury themselves; they tan only do one or two of their duties, and that only in one way; they do hOt indeed
(.lmnge thcir principles, as the fickle conveoE, but, on the other hand, they cmmot apply, adapt., accommoda.te, modify, diversify their principlcs to the existing" st,te of things, which is the opposite fault, q'hey do hot aim af a perfeet obedienee in little things as well as g'at; and a mos serious thult i is, looking af it mevly as a nmtter of practiee, and without any referente to t.he vievs and motives from which if proceeds; lnost opposed is it fo the spirit of truc religion, whieh is intended fo fit us fi»r all cireumst:mces of ]ife as they corne, in order that we may be humble, docile, ready, pat.icnt, and chcerful,—in order that we may really show ourselves God's servants, who do all things for Itim, coming whcn IIe calleth, going when He sendeth, doinff this or t.hat at His bidding. So mueh for the practice of such men; and when we go higqer, and:sk vhff they are thus formal and unbending in their mode of lire, what are the principles that lnake them thus hm-sh and unserviceable, I fear we musf. tra.ce it to some tbrm of selfishness and pride; the saine principles which, under other circulnstances, would change the profligate into the covetous and pmimonious. I think if will appear af once that St. Paul's conversion, however if was eflbcted, and whatever was the ptx)cess of it, resembled neither the one nor the other of these. That it vas hot the chane of a fickle mind is shown by his firmness in keeping to his new thit.h by his constancy unto death, a death of martyrdom.
Suddcn Conve'sions. 225 ThaL if was noL the change of a proud,and disappointed mind, quitting with disgusL what he once loved too well, is evideneed 1,y the variety of his labours, his active services, and eontinued presenee in the busy thoroughfares of the world; by the eheerfulness, alaerity, energy, dexterity, and perseveranee, with whieh he pleaded the cause of God among" sinners. He reminds us of his rl|lness, as well as gentleness, when he deelares, « XVhat mean ye fo weep, and break my heart? for I mn ready not fo be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the Naine of the Lord Jesus;" and of his ready accommodation of himself to the will of God, in all its forlns, wheu he says, " I aih ruade all things fo all men, that I might by all means save some 1.,, 3. But there is another ldnd of sudden conversion, or rather what appears to be such, hot uncommonly round, and which may be that to which St. Paul's conversion is to be referred, and whieh I proceed to describe. When men change their religious opinions really and truly, it is hot merely their opinions that they change, but their hearts; and this evidently is hot done in a moment—it is a slow work; nevertheless, though gl'adual, the change is often hot uniform, but proceeds, so to sa)', by fi{s and starts, being intluenced by external events, and other circumstances. This we see in the growth of plants, for instance; it is slow, gradual, continual; yet one day by chance they grow more than another, they t Acts xxi. 13. 1 Cor. ix. 22. [vm] q mke a shoot, or,t ]east we are attraeted fo their growth on tlmt dy by some accideutal circumstance, and it remains on out mcmory. So with our souls: we ail, by nature, re fitr from God; nay, and we bave ail eharacters fo fi»rm, which is a work of time. All this must bave a beinning; and those who are now leading religions lires have bêgun a.t diffcrent rimes. Baptism, indeed, is God's rime, when ]Ic first gives us gmcc; but alas! throuh the perverseness of out will, we do hot follow IIim. There must be rime then ibr beginnin. Many men do not af all recollect any one marked and definite rime wen thêy begau fo scck God. Others recollect a rime, hot, properly speaking', when they began, but vhen they made what mav be called a shoot forward, the thct either being so, in consequence of external events, or t least for some reason or othcr their attention being cllêd to it. Others, again, continue forming a religions character and l'eligious opinions s the result of if, though holding" at the same rime some outward profession of faith ineonsistent with them; as, for instance, suppose it has been their unhappy condition fo be brought up as heathens, Jews, infidels, or heretics. They hold the notions they have been taught for a long while, hOt perceiving that the character forming" within them is af variance with these, till at length the inward growth forces itself forward, forces on the opinions accompanying it, and the dead outward surfitce of error, which bas no foot in their minds, from some aecidental occurrence, suddenly falls off; suddenly, —just as a building might suddenly fitll, which had been going, many years, and which falls at this moment rather than that, in consequence of some chance cause, as it is called, which we cannot detect. Now in all these cases one point of time is off, en taken by religious men, as if the very time of conversion, and as if it were sudden, though really, as is plain, in none of thcm is there any suddenness in the marrer. In the last of these instances, which might be in a measure, i|" we dare say if, St. Paul's case, the rime when the formal outward profession of error fell off, is taken as the rime of conversion. Others recollect the first occasion when any deep serious thought came into their minds, and reckon this as the date of their inward change. Others, again, recollect some intermediate point of time when they first openly professed their faith, or dared do some noble deed for Christ's sake. I might go on to show more particularly how what I bave said applies to St. Paul; but as this would take too much time I will only observe generally, that there was much in St. Paul's character which was hOt changed on his conversion, but merely directed fo other and higher objects, and purified; it was his creed that was chaned, and his soul by regeneration; and though he was sinning" most grievously and awfully when Christ appeared to him from heaven, he evidenced then, as afterwards, a most burning energetic zeal for God, a most scrupnlous strictness of lire, au abstinence from all selfindulgence, much more from all approach to sensuality or sloth, and an implieit obedîence to what he considered God's will. It was pride which was his iilward enemy—pride which needed an overthrow. IIe acted rather as a defender and proteetor, than a minister of wlmt he considered the trnth; he relicd on his own views; he was positive and obstinate; he did hot seek for lig'ht as a little child; he did Ilot look out for a Sa.viour who was fo corne, aild he missed Him when He caille. But how g, reat was the chane in these respects when he bccame a servant of Him whom he had persecuted! As he had been conspicuous for a proud coilfidence in self, on his privileges, on his knowledge, on his birth, on his observances, so he became conspicuous for his humility. What self-abascment, when he says, "'I am the least of the Apostles, that ana Ilot meet fo be called an Apostle, because I persecutcd the Church of God; but by the g'race of God I am what I ana." What keen and bitter remembrance of the past, when he says, "' V(ho was before a blasphemer, and persecutor, and mjurious; but I obiined mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief'." Ah! what utter self-abandonment, what scorn and lmtred of self, when he, who had been so pleased to be Hebrew of IIebrews, and a Pharisee, bore fo be called, ny gloried for Christ's sake in being" 1 1 Tire. i. 13.
Sudd,'n Couvcrsions. 229 called, a.n apostate, the mosL odious and miserable of tifles!—bore fo be spurn.ed and spit upon as a renegade, raitor, a false-hearted and perfidious, fallen, a lost son of his Chureh; shame o his mother, and a eurse to his countrymen. Such was the light in which those furious zealots looked on the great Apostle, who bound themselves together by an oath that they would neither ea nor drink till they had illed him. It was their iustifica.tion in their own eyes, that he was a "pestilent fellow," a "stirrcr of seditions," and an abomination amid sacred institutions which God had iven. And, lastly, what supportcd him in this geat trial? that special mercy which converted him, which he, and he only, saw—the Face of Jesus Christ. That all-pitying, all-holy eye, which turned in love upon St. Peter when he dcnied Ihm, and flmreby roused him to repentance, looked on St. Paul also, while he persecuted IIim, and wrought in him sudden conversion. " Last of all," he says, " He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due rime." One sight of that Divine Countenance, so tender, so loving, so majestic, so cabri, was enough, first to convert him, flen fo support him on his wa.y amid the bitter hatred and fury which he was fo excite in those who hitherto had loved him. And if such be the effect of momentary vision of the glorious Presence of Christ, what think you, my brefl»ren, will be their bliss, whom it shall be given, this lire ended, to see tiret Face eternally?