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 "Do you think, Sammy, that you have been born again?" 
 
 p. 57. 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 A MANUAL FOB 
 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 AMEKICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 
 
 No. 1122 Chestnut Street. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 Nos. 7, 8, & 10 Bible House. Astor Place. 
 
33^531 
 
 K 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by the 
 
 AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 LC Control Number 
 
 tmp96 031643 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 This little book is warmly recommended 
 for circulation among all classes. It is a 
 vigorous exposition of the great principles 
 of evangelical religion ; and it is admirably 
 calculated to arouse the careless, undeceive 
 the self-righteous, reclaim the backslider, and 
 comfort the sincere. 
 
 l* 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 THE QUESTION ASEED. 
 
 A^r I A child of God ? If you are a 
 child of God, then you are an heir of 
 glory, and heaven will be your home 
 after death. If you are not, then you 
 are a child of perdition, and exposed to 
 the danger of being driven away with 
 the wicked in their wickedness. 
 
 Persons who become deeply interested 
 on the subject of their souls' salvation 
 are always anxious to know in what 
 conversion consists, and how they can 
 tell when their sins are pardoned. A 
 
8 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 correct understanding of this subject is 
 of vast importance ; for it is a want of 
 this that leads into the church great 
 numbers who have not truly turned 
 from their sins unto God. I do not be- 
 lieve that there are very many down- 
 right hypocrites in the church, — persons 
 who have made a profession of religion 
 for the purpose of furthering some evil 
 end. Most unconverted professors are 
 undoubtedly self-deceived. Their views 
 of the plan of salvation are not clear, 
 and they do not properly understand 
 what constitutes the new heart. 
 
 And among those who give real evi- 
 dences of piety there is often found 
 great confusion and darkness in their 
 views on the subject of a change of 
 heart, so that they are troubled with 
 doubts and a fear of death. They have 
 no settled peace, and go all their days 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 9 
 
 carrying a heavy burden in their souls. 
 Passages of Scripture designed to arouse 
 the formal professor give them constant 
 alarm. They know not but at the last 
 they may be shut out with the five 
 foolish virgins, or bound in bundles with 
 the tares and burned, or forever driven 
 from the presence of the Lord with the 
 workers of iniquity whom he knows 
 not. In great sadness the burdened 
 soul often sings, — 
 
 " 'Tis a point I long to know, 
 Oft it causes anxious thought, 
 Do I love the Lord or no ? 
 Am I his, or am I not?" 
 
 There are others who know that they 
 are not children of God : of these, some 
 are sensible of their great danger ; some, 
 alas ! " care for none of these things." 
 To all classes this treatise is affection- 
 ately commended. 
 
10 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 CAN THE QUESTION BE ANSWEEED? 
 
 Am I A -child of God? Can this ques- 
 tion be answered this side the bar of 
 God? Can it be so answered that I 
 may be absolutely certain that my sins 
 are all forgiven, and that the Holy 
 Spirit is abiding with me, sanctifying me 
 for glory? Troubled, anxious soul, it 
 can ! The plan of salvation is simple, — 
 one of the simplest things in the world, 
 — so simple that little children and 
 "clouded intellects" may embrace it. 
 The evidences of piety are easily under- 
 stood. Learn what they are, and apply 
 them to yourself, and your doubts will 
 vanish. If you are a child of God, you 
 will know it; if not, then the question 
 will be settled that you are yet "in the 
 gall of bitterness and in the bond of 
 iniquity." 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? H 
 
 KEASONS POK SETTLING THIS QUESTION 
 WITHOUT DELAY. 
 
 1. The state of doubt is one of uncer- 
 tainty to yourself. You may be saved ; 
 you may be lost. You may be an heir 
 of glory; you may be a child of per- 
 dition. Hence, " Examine yourselves, 
 whether ye be in the faith ; prove your 
 own selves. Know ye not your own 
 selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, 
 except ye be reprobates?" (2 Cor. 
 xiii. 5.) 
 
 2. The state of doubt is one of un- 
 happiness. Peace and joy are your 
 rightful portion as a Christian. " The 
 kingdom of heaven is not meat and 
 drink; but righteousness, and peace, 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Rom. iv. 
 17.) "The fruit of the Spirit is love, 
 joy, peace," &c. (Gal. v. 22.) Now, 
 
12 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 peace and joy arise mainly out of the 
 belief that we are the children of God. 
 If you were satisfied that your sins were 
 all forgiven, and that you have a sure 
 title to a home in heaven, you would 
 rejoice. So that spiritual joy must be 
 a stranger to your breast as long as 
 anxious doubts and fears occupy your 
 mind. 
 
 3. The state of doubt is one that un- 
 fits you for active service in the cause 
 of Christ. To be a useful Christian, you 
 must be satisfied that you are a Chris- 
 tian. Doubts call away your mind from 
 Christ and his work to yourself. You 
 do not feel like asking a sinner to give 
 his heart to Jesus, unless your own soul 
 in confidence and love reposes in the 
 Saviour. You cannot ask an impeni- 
 tent man to accompany you to heaven, 
 when you are not satisfied that you 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 13 
 
 yourself are travelling the narrow way 
 of life. 
 
 4. The state of doubt is one that is 
 displeasing to our heavenly Father. It 
 can certainly give him no pleasure to 
 behold his children doubting his love for 
 them, and doubting the evidences which 
 he gives them of their acceptance through 
 Christ. Much less can he be pleased 
 with such a state of mind in him who 
 has not really been born again. The 
 doubter has some hope that at the last 
 he will be admitted to heaven; and, if 
 he is not a true Christian, his very state 
 of doubt is so far a state of false security. 
 Hence God exhorts you to "give dili- 
 gence to make your calling and election 
 sure." (2 Pet. i. 10.) He desires that 
 every one " draw near with a true heart, 
 in full assurance of faith;" and "that 
 every one of you do show the same dili- 
 
14 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 gence to the full assurance of hope unto 
 the end." (Heb. x. 22 5 vi. 11.) 
 
 HOW CAN THE QUESTION BE SETTLED? 
 
 Am I A child of God ? How can this 
 question be settled? I answer, On the 
 testimony of the Holy Spirit : — " The 
 Spirit itself beareth witness with our 
 Spirit, that we are the children of God." 
 (Rom. viii. 16.) If you are born of God, 
 the Holy Spirit furnishes you with the 
 evidence of the fact. He testifies to 
 your adoption into God's family ; so that 
 you may feel assured that you are an 
 heir of God, and joint-heir with Christ 
 (Rom. viii. 17). 
 
 The testimony of the Holy Spirit is a 
 sure ground of confidence. He is " the 
 Spirit of truth" (John xvi. 13) ; and he 
 is " the Spirit that beareth witness, be- 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 15 
 
 cause the Spirit is truth" (1 John v. 6). 
 He cannot testify to that which is false, 
 nor would he in anywise deceive us. 
 We always credit the testimony of good 
 and truthful men. We receive their evi- 
 dence. Now, the Holy Spirit has all 
 knowledge ; for " he searcheth all things, 
 yea, the deep things of God." (1 Cor. ii. 
 10.) He knows the names of all the 
 true children of God. And he cannot 
 bear false testimony : that would be con- 
 trary to his nature. Hence his evi- 
 dence must be trustworthy : it cannot be 
 otherwise. And it must be relied on by 
 us ; we must receive it : to doubt it is 
 a sin. You sometimes doubt the testi- 
 mony of men, for they may not have 
 perfect knowledge of the case, or may 
 be influenced by self-interest or preju- 
 dice; but to question the testimony of 
 the Holy Spirit is always a sin. 
 
16 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 I know that doubts, in multitudes of 
 instances, arise out of a mistaken view 
 of the nature of the testimony of the 
 Spirit. Some persons seem to have no 
 sort of idea .as to what that testimony 
 is ; and others are looking for that which 
 the Spirit never gives. Very many, in 
 seeking light on this subject, look to 
 men, and not to God; to the professed 
 experiences of others, and not to the 
 teachings of the Bible. But this is a 
 dangerous course to pursue ; for even 
 well-meaning people, in a state of deep 
 excitement, often imagine things that 
 have no real existence. Now, the Holy 
 Spirit not only gives us the evidence 
 of our adoption into the family of God, 
 but he also carefully and fully informs 
 us in the Bible what that evidence is. 
 We must therefore come to the word 
 of God, and try our experience, and the 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 17 
 
 professed experiences of all others, by 
 this touchstone of divine truth. To the 
 law and to the testimony must be our 
 appeal. 
 
 WHAT THE TESTIMONY OF THE SPIEIT 
 IS NOT. 
 
 It may be well to consider here some 
 things wherein the witness of the Spirit 
 does not consist. 
 
 1. It is not a testimony addressed to 
 the bodily senses. It is not something 
 which we can hear or see or apprehend 
 with the sense of touch. Some persons 
 have imagined that at the time of their 
 supposed conversion they have heard a 
 voice speaking to them comforting words, 
 and thus assuring them of their salva- 
 tion. I have heard two different persons 
 say that they saw bright lights. A man 
 once told me that at the time he gave 
 
 2* 
 
18 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 his heart to God he had a vision of 
 heaven. A woman, anxious about her 
 soul's salvation, was expecting to receive 
 some sort of sensible shock. In our de- 
 praved state, we are very much creatures 
 of sense, and we desire a religion that 
 addresses itself to our senses. Naaman 
 supposed that the prophet would come 
 forth from his chamber at the call of a 
 Syrian nobleman, and with a great cere- 
 mony display visible manifestations of 
 the power of the God of Israel. Hence 
 he was greatly disappointed when the 
 message came, " Go, and wash in Jordan 
 seven times." We are all more or less 
 like Naaman. The Lord is well pleased 
 and angels do rejoice over penitent sin- 
 ners. But God does not work miracles 
 simply to gratify our vanity. These 
 voices and lights and visions are things 
 for which we are not to look. They 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 19 
 
 are not promised in the Bible. There 
 is no intimation in the Scriptures that 
 these are the witness of the Spirit. And 
 those who think such miracles have been 
 wrought for them are simply mistaken. 
 Their visions were mental hallucina- 
 tions, the workings of an excited or dis- 
 tempered imagination. The witness of 
 the Spirit, then, is not a testimony ad- 
 dressed to the bodily senses, or in any 
 way to be apprehended by them. 
 
 2. The witness of the Spirit is not 
 usually of the nature of a sudden im- 
 pression coming into the soul that it is 
 converted. This impression may be the 
 result of the workings of that law of the 
 mind termed the law of association. You 
 may have heard or read some comfort- 
 ing verse of Scripture in the days of 
 your impenitence. Years have passed 
 since then. In the kind dealings of God 
 
20 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 with you ; you are brought under con- 
 cern for your soul. A great burden 
 rests on your heart. In an unexpected 
 moment some association of ideas brings 
 up that comforting verse. You do not 
 remember ever to have heard it before, 
 and your conclusion is that the Holy 
 Spirit has spoken it to you with his still 
 small voice. 
 
 This impression may originate in an- 
 other way. During times of revival, 
 persons often become intensely excited. 
 Ministers frequently labour too much 
 to produce excitement. They preach 
 terrifying sermons, and resort to mea- 
 sures intended to arouse feeling. But 
 the powers of the mind cannot remain 
 strung up to so high a pitch. There 
 must be a calm after every storm. If 
 the excitement comes on suddenly, it 
 will usually pass away suddenly. And 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 21 
 
 this change from excitement to calm- 
 ness is mistaken for religious conversion. 
 The storm has subsided, the terror is 
 gone, and the sudden impression comes 
 that it is all God's work. Doubtless, 
 multitudes are deluded in just this way. 
 
 Now, with regard to these voices, and 
 lights, and visions, and impressions, I 
 would remark : — 
 
 1. That the Scriptures give us no 
 warrant for expecting such things at the 
 time of conversion. These things were 
 not common in the days of inspiration. 
 Jacob, indeed, had the vision of the 
 ladder, and wrestled all night with the 
 angel of the covenant. Paul saw a 
 bright light shining round about him; 
 and John had visions of heaven. The 
 Lord appeared to Elijah by the still 
 small voice. But even these manifesta- 
 tions, in so far as they were miraculous, 
 
22 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 were not designed to attest the piety of 
 the saints. Wicked men, such as Pha- 
 raoh, Balaam, Saul, Nebuchadnezzar, 
 were visited by God with dreams and 
 visions. The Scriptures nowhere inti- 
 mate that such things were ever in- 
 tended to constitute the witness of the 
 Spirit, nor do Bible saints ever appeal 
 to them as the evidence of their accept- 
 ance with God. 
 
 2. Of course the witness of the Spirit 
 must be something which is common to 
 all God's people. A testimony given to 
 only one in a thousand would be of no 
 practical benefit to the church at large, 
 
 3. The persons who profess to have 
 enjoyed such visions are usually persons 
 of an excitable temperament and a strong 
 imagination. They seem naturally in- 
 clined to fanaticism, and many of them 
 sooner or later show, by their errors of 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 23 
 
 doctrine or practice, that they are not 
 the true children of God. 
 
 On this whole subject of the witness 
 of the Spirit, we must be careful to 
 ascertain just what the Bible teaches, 
 and to discard all opinions which are 
 not warranted by the plain declarations 
 of God's word. 
 
 THE TRUE WATUEE OF THE WITNESS OF 
 THE SPIEIT. 
 
 What, then, is the witness of the 
 Holy Spirit? I answer, It is the work 
 which he performs in our minds and 
 hearts, converting us to God and purify- 
 ing us for glory. It is the testimony of 
 work, and not of mere word or im- 
 pression. When Jesus was baptized, 
 the Father testified by an audible voice 
 from heaven, saying, " This is my be- 
 loved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
 
24 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 (Matt. iii. 17.) But the Father after- 
 wards gave a fuller testimony in the 
 miraculous works that Jesus was com- 
 missioned to perform; and our Saviour 
 enforced his claims partly by this evi- 
 dence : — " The works which the Father 
 hath given me to finish, the same works 
 that I do, bear witness of me, that the 
 Father hath sent me." (John v. 36.) 
 These works of mercy were evidence 
 that one sent from God had appeared in 
 Judea to show forth his great loving- 
 kindness among the people, So the 
 work that the Spirit performs on our 
 hearts is the sure evidence of his holy 
 presence with us, and of his loving pur- 
 pose to sanctify us for glory. The Lord 
 says, " A new heart also will I give you, 
 and a new spirit will I put within you." 
 (Ezek. xxxvi. 26.) It is the Holy Spirit 
 who gives us this new heart, and pro- 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 25 
 
 duces this new state of things within us. 
 The new heart is his work. The Spirit 
 is sometimes compared to a seal : — 
 " Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby 
 [i.e. by whom) ye are sealed unto the 
 day of redemption." (Eph. iv. 30 ; also 
 i. 13, and 2 Cor. i. 22.) The seal makes 
 a stamp or impression, which renders the 
 title-deed or package or property sure for 
 the person to whom it properly belongs. 
 Christians belong to God, being bought 
 with the blood of his Son ; and the Holy 
 Spirit puts a mark or stamp on their 
 souls, which designates them as God's 
 possession ; and that mark is the image 
 of God. The great seal of government 
 sometimes bears the image of the king. 
 The Holy Spirit stamps the image of 
 God on our hearts ; for we are " renewed 
 in knowledge after the image of him 
 that created" us (Col. iii. 10). And this 
 
26 AM I A CHILD OF GOB? 
 
 seal — this image of God as the work of 
 the Holy Spirit — is the evidence that 
 we belong to God. 
 
 Now, this evidence is common to all 
 God's people. The new man must be 
 stamped upon all who enter the king- 
 dom of heaven. No one can become a 
 child of God without having given to 
 him a child's heart. The children must 
 bear the image of the Father. 
 
 Again, this evidence is simple and 
 easily known. A new heart is some- 
 thing of which we can readily be con- 
 scious. Our bodily senses are one source 
 of knowledge to us. They reveal the 
 world without. They give us a know- 
 ledge of matter, with its properties, laws, 
 changes, &c. Consciousness tells us of 
 the world within. It tells us of our 
 thoughts, our feelings, our dispositions, 
 our purposes, and all changes in these. 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 27 
 
 Whatever work, therefore, the Holy 
 Spirit performs on any one's heart, he 
 may be conscious of the change brought 
 about. Were we dependent on visions 
 and voices, it might be difficult to dis- 
 tinguish the truth from our own men- 
 tal hallucinations. And then the blind 
 could not see them, and the deaf could 
 not hear them. But all, whether old or 
 young, whether learned or unlearned, 
 whether possessed of the bodily senses 
 or deprived of them, can be conscious 
 of the new heart. Had poor Laura 
 Bridgeman stood before Mount Sinai, 
 she could have neither heard the rolling 
 thunders nor seen the awful clouds and 
 terrible flashes of lightning. But Laura 
 Bridgeman, though she can neither see 
 nor hear, is conscious that she has a 
 new heart. 
 
 And then this evidence is constant 
 
28 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 and abides with us all the time. So 
 great are the remains of depravity 
 within us, and so varying our frames 
 of spirit, that we need a permanent wit- 
 ness to which we can daily make our 
 appeal. Should God, at the time of our 
 conversion, speak from heaven with an 
 audible voice, or show us a vision, it 
 would be only for once, and would not 
 answer us for future days of darkness 
 and gloom. 
 
 So that the true witness of the Spirit, 
 given in the form of work in and upon 
 our hearts, is the very best kind of evi- 
 dence that could be furnished us of our 
 acceptance with God. 
 
 IN WHAT WAT THE SPIEIT WOKKS. 
 
 Here we must be well on our guard. 
 We must ever bear in mind that the 
 
t 
 
 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 29 
 
 Holy Spirit is a spirit without bodily- 
 parts, so that we cannot perceive his 
 presence by any of our bodily senses. 
 We do not hear him with our ears, nor 
 see him with our eyes, nor feel him with 
 our hands, nor in any manner appre- 
 hend him by the sense of touch. He is 
 a spirit, and his work is entirely within 
 the domain of the soul and wholly spi- 
 ritual in its nature. 
 
 Now, in the great work of converting 
 us to God and purifying our hearts, the 
 Holy Spirit employs an instrument. God 
 can work with or without instruments 
 at his pleasure. By a simple exercise 
 of power he caused Aaron's rod, laid up 
 in the tabernacle, to blossom and bring 
 forth fruit in a single night. Usually 
 he produces corn and fruit for man and 
 beast through the instrumentality of the 
 soil and sun and refreshing showers. So 
 
 3* 
 
t 
 
 30 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 the Holy Spirit could work on human 
 souls without the intervention of any 
 instrument. But his usual method of 
 operation is to employ the truth as an 
 instrument. It is the means both of 
 conversion and sanctification : — " For 
 the word of God is quick and powerful, 
 and sharper than any two-edged sword, 
 piercing even to the dividing asunder 
 of soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
 marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts 
 and intents of the heart." (Heb. iv. 12.) 
 But the word of God is thus quick (i.e. 
 living) and powerful, because it is " the 
 sword of the Spirit" (Eph. vi. 17). It 
 is the means used to bring us to God; 
 for "of his own will begat he us with 
 the word of truth" (James i. 18) ; so 
 that we are u born again, not of cor- 
 ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by 
 the word of God, which liveth and 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 31 
 
 abideth forever." (1 Pet. i. 23.) And so 
 are we also " sanctified through the 
 truth." (John xvii. 19.) 
 
 We ascertain the presence of the Holy 
 Spirit with us, therefore, by the fact that 
 gospel truth is performing its appropriate 
 work in our minds and hearts. We are 
 conscious of the incoming of certain views 
 and feelings, brought there in connection 
 with gospel truth. We are not directly 
 conscious of the agency of the Spirit. 
 If the canvas could feel, it would feel 
 only the paint put on with the brush, 
 and not the hand wielding the brush. 
 If one steal noiselessly upon a blind 
 man and wound him with a sword, the 
 man will feel only the pain and wound 
 made by the sword, and not the active 
 agent employing it. So we are con- 
 scious only of certain views and feelings 
 produced by the instrumentality of gospel 
 
32 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 truth. Hence you must not expect to 
 see the Spirit, or hear him, or feel him, 
 nor even to be able to ascertain his pre- 
 sence by a direct act of consciousness. 
 
 HOW WE ENOW IT IS THE SPIEIT WHO 
 WOKKS IN US. 
 
 How do we know, then, that the Holy 
 Spirit is present at all in the work of 
 conversion and sanctification? We know 
 it (1.) On the testimony of God. The 
 Lord everywhere in the Bible ascribes 
 the great work of purifying human 
 souls to the direct agency of the Holy 
 Spirit: — "It shall come to pass after- 
 ward, that I will pour out my Spirit 
 upon all flesh." (Joel ii. 28.) " He shall 
 baptize you with the Holy Ghost and 
 with fire." (Matt, iii. 11.) "Except a 
 man be born of water and the Spirit, he 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 33 
 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
 (John iiL 5.) " It is expedient for you 
 that I go away; for if I go not away, 
 the Comforter w T ill not come unto you ; 
 but if I depart, I will send him unto 
 you. And when he is come, he will re- 
 prove (i.e. convince) the world of sin, 
 and of righteousness, and of judgment. 5 ' 
 (John xvi. 8.) " Not by works of right- 
 eousness which we have done, but ac- 
 cording to his mercy he saved us, by the 
 washing of regeneration, and the renew- 
 ing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus iii. 6.) 
 " That which is born of the Spirit is 
 spirit." (John iii. 6.) " As many as are 
 led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
 sons of God." (Rom. viii. 14.) "And 
 hereby we know that he abideth in us, 
 by the Spirit which he hath given us." 
 (1 John iii. 24.) Thus, in the plainest 
 and most unequivocal terms, does the 
 
34 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 Lord ascribe the work of changing human 
 hearts and fitting them to be the chil- 
 dren of God, to the direct agency of the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 2. The work is of such a character 
 as to require the direct intervention of 
 divine power. There are some things 
 which the creature can do, and there 
 are some things which finite power can- 
 not accomplish. Human agency lies 
 within restricted bounds. Man can to 
 a limited degree educate and train na- 
 ture ; but he cannot take away from any 
 thing its old nature and give it one that 
 is entirely new. He can train a thorn- 
 bush and somewhat improve its appear- 
 ance and fruit; but he can never so 
 transform its nature as to cause it spon- 
 taneously to bring forth the delicious 
 apple. You may pet the tiger, and in 
 many respects render it quite docile; 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 35 
 
 but you can never deprive it of its thirst 
 for blood. Now, man is born with a 
 sinful nature. This is a universal fact. 
 No other truth is more clearly esta- 
 blished than this one, that man comes 
 into the world a depraved being. It is 
 natural for him to love sin and dislike 
 the service of God. Of course education 
 and systems of moral training can do 
 much. They can make a Confucius, a 
 Socrates, a Franklin ; but they can never 
 make an Enoch, a Paul, or a Luther. 
 They can restrain depravity; but they 
 can never make a new creature in Christ 
 Jesus. And the children of God are a 
 new creation ; for " if any man be in 
 Christ, he is a new creature" (i.e. new 
 creation). (2 Cor. v. 17.) " For we are 
 this workmanship, created in Christ 
 Jesus unto good works." (Eph. ii. 10.) 
 The work of changing human souls and 
 
36 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 fitting them for glory is necessarily a 
 divine work. 
 
 There is great comfort in this doctrine 
 of the Bible. For if the Holy Spirit 
 undertakes the work of preparing us for 
 heaven, (1.) We shall be sure of an ad- 
 mission to the mansions in the Father's 
 house. The Lord might well reject our 
 work; but he will not reject the work 
 of his own Holy Spirit. (2.) If the 
 Spirit undertakes to fit us for glory , the 
 work will be well done. All the Lord's 
 works are perfect. The Spirit will eradi- 
 cate every evil thing from our hearts, 
 wash out every stain of sin, and so en- 
 large and ennoble our spiritual powers 
 as to prepare us for the enjoyment of all 
 the blessings of heaven. This doctrine, 
 therefore, is one which is full of comfort 
 to God's children amid the toils and sor- 
 rows of their earthly pilgrimage. 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 37 
 
 WHAT THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IS. 
 
 The Spirit of God performs a work in 
 and upon our hearts. That work is the 
 evidence of his presence with us, and is 
 the witness that he bears to our spirits 
 that we are the children of God. What, 
 then, is the work? We usually divide 
 it into two parts, or consider it from a 
 twofold point of view, — viz. its begin- 
 ning, and its progress. Its beginning 
 the Bible calls the new heart, or the 
 new birth into the kingdom of God. Its 
 progress is the subsequent work of making 
 the heart pure, i.e. sanctification. 
 
 Now, as the Spirit employs the truth 
 in our conversion and sanctification, he 
 is said to lead us : — " For as many as 
 are led by the Spirit of God, they are 
 the sons of God." (Rom viii. 14 ; Gal. v. 
 18.) And most usually, I suppose, — 
 
38 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 1. He begins his work with the im- 
 penitent by leading the soul to a thought- 
 ful and serious consideration of its con- 
 dition. _ Man's native depravity tends to 
 make him not only neglectful, but even 
 forgetful, of his soul's interests. He goes 
 on in sin, living for the present world, 
 unaware of his true state before God, and 
 careless with respect to the prospects 
 of eternity. The Lord, knowing the 
 dreadful condition of sinners, expresses 
 the wish, " Oh that they were wise, that 
 they understood this, that they would 
 consider their latter end." (Deut. xxxii. 
 29.) And his compassion leads him to 
 send to the careless sinner the messages 
 of grace, and to accompany them with 
 the agency of the Holy Spirit. The 
 Spirit comes "to convince the world." 
 (John xvi. 8.) He says to the impeni- 
 tent, "Come now, and let us reason 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 39 
 
 together, saith the Lord." (Isa. i. 18.) 
 The sinner reads the word, or hears it 
 spoken, or some providence brings to 
 recollection words heard years gone by, 
 and his indifference begins to pass from 
 him. His thoughtlessness gives way to 
 seriousness. He begins to think about 
 his soul and its undying interests. He 
 grows restive and uneasy. He may not 
 know what is the matter with him. He 
 may even try to banish his increasing 
 anxiety, and may make special efforts to 
 appear unusually cheerful. But the work 
 of conviction goes on, and eventually as- 
 sumes a definite shape. Hence,— 
 
 2. His thoughts and feelings are con- 
 cerned about sin. Now, an impenitent 
 man may know in some general sense 
 that he is a sinner and that he is im- 
 perfect. But this imperfection he looks 
 upon as a sort of natural infirmity, and 
 
40 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 his sins as something which he cannot 
 very well avoid. He has no correct idea 
 of his true state before God. He would 
 unhesitatingly reject the teachings of 
 the Bible as to his most deplorable con- 
 dition. But when his mind becomes en- 
 lightened by the truth and the Spirit of 
 God, he then takes a very different view 
 of himself. The Lord Jesus promised to 
 send his Holy Spirit "to convince the 
 world of sin, and of righteousness, and 
 of judgment. " (John xvi. 8.) 
 
 Of Sin. — Man is a sinner in a twofold 
 sense, — viz. in his heart and in his life. 
 He breaks God's laws, and with his un- 
 renewed heart he cannot keep its pre- 
 cepts. Indeed the sinner does not want 
 to keep God's law. His heart is set 
 against it; for his "carnal mind is 
 enmity against God ; for it is not subject 
 to the law of God, neither indeed can 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 41 
 
 be." (Rom., viii. 7.) Now, the truly 
 awakened sinner sees all this. He is 
 convinced that God's account of human 
 nature is at least true in his case. He 
 has been sinning all his life. His trans- 
 gressions are so numerous that he can- 
 not reckon them up. And the imper- 
 fection of his heart is far more than an 
 innocent infirmity. It is a wicked de- 
 pravity which makes him love sin and 
 dislike holiness. He is convinced espe- 
 cially of the great sin of unbelief. It 
 would be unnatural in a son who has 
 a loving and devoted father not to re- 
 pose any confidence in that father, nor 
 to love him, nor ever do any thing to 
 please him. Our heavenly Father is a 
 kind Father ; he loves us, and supplies 
 us with all our temporal blessings, and 
 has given his own Son to die for us. 
 The careless sinner lives in constant 
 
 4* 
 
42 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 disobedience to the commands of this 
 Father ; never does any thing to please 
 him, reposes no confidence in him, and 
 has no personal affection for him. No 
 other sin, perhaps, can be greater than 
 for a man not to love God nor repose 
 confidence in him. The awakened sin- 
 ner sees this. But this is an entirely 
 new view of himself: he never had such 
 in the days of his unconcern. He is 
 now led into a conviction of sin. 
 
 Of Righteousness. — Righteousness is 
 what God's law demands. And that 
 law demands absolute purity of heart, 
 and perfect uprightness before God and 
 man in the whole conduct of life. The 
 law is a transcript of God's own nature. 
 Hence it demands of man just what God 
 is : — " Ye shall be holy ; for I am holy" 
 (Lev. xi. 44), — holy in heart and holy 
 in life. Now, the truly awakened sinner 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 43 
 
 sees his need of this twofold righteous- 
 ness. He has it not ; he is utterly desti- 
 tute of it. In his days of thoughtless- 
 ness he regarded himself as very good. 
 He was not perfect; but yet he was 
 honest, and sometimes gave to the poor, 
 and was about as good as most members 
 of the church. But now he is fully con- 
 vinced that his fancied righteousness is 
 a covering of filthy rags. He has no 
 true holiness of either heart or life. Kp 
 is convinced of his utter destitution of 
 it. And yet that is what he must have, 
 or he can never again be happy; that is 
 what he must have, or he will be shut 
 out of heaven. He is convinced of 
 righteousness. 
 
 Of Judgment.— God sits in judgment 
 on the state and conduct of men both 
 here and hereafter, and justly condemns 
 them for their sins : — " He that belie veth 
 
44 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 not is condemned already." (John iii. 
 18.) Sin deserves to be punished. The 
 man who violates civil law ought to 
 suffer the penalty of that law. The 
 thief ought to be imprisoned and the 
 murderer hanged. So those who violate 
 God's law ought to suffer for it. And 
 those who have depraved natures ought 
 not to be admitted into the holy society 
 - Q{ heaven. Gocl does not want any chil- 
 " jn there unless they have hearts to 
 repose confidence in him, and love him, 
 and obey him. Hence God must sit in 
 judgment on sinners, and condemn them 
 to death for their transgressions and to 
 banishment from heaven for their de- 
 pravity. Now, the careless sinner does 
 not see this. He does not believe that 
 he ought to suffer the penalty of God's 
 law for his foibles, or be banished from 
 heaven for his infirmities. But the truly 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 45 
 
 awakened sinner does feel this. His 
 conscience condemns him, and forces 
 him to confess the justice of God's sen- 
 tence against sin. He feels that it is 
 right for God to sit in judgment on him 
 and condemn him. He is convinced of 
 judgment. 
 
 3. The Holy Spirit leads the awakened 
 sinner into the conviction of his utter 
 helplessness. He does not always see 
 this at the first. He has been in the 
 habit of regarding himself as a mode- 
 rately good man, with the ability to 
 break off from his sins at his pleasure. 
 Hence, when he becomes awakened, he 
 makes the effort to turn from sin, and to 
 keep God's law, and to make himself a 
 better man. Of course his efforts are all 
 failures. And the more he tries, the 
 more fully does he become aware of his 
 condition; and this leads him to think 
 
46 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 that he is really growing worse. At 
 last he awakes to the fact that he is 
 helpless. He is fast bound in the cords 
 of his sins, and he has no strength to 
 loosen himself. He sees himself to be 
 wretched and undone. He is convinced 
 of his helplessness. 
 
 4. All this while the sinner has been 
 hearing of Jesus as a Saviour; but he 
 has been unwilling to look to him for 
 salvation : that involves too much. He 
 is not ready to sacrifice the world. He 
 is not ready to give up all his sins. He 
 is not ready to break away from all his 
 ungodly companions. He is not ready 
 to come out and unite in association 
 with God's people. Hence he fights 
 against his convictions. Indeed he has 
 fought the idea that he is such a dread- 
 ful sinner, justly condemned of God. 
 He has even tried to banish his religious 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 47 
 
 impressions. He has laid before liis 
 mind multitudes of excuses and pretexts. 
 He has pleaded for delay. He has per- 
 haps avoided Christian friends and ab- 
 sented himself from the house of God, 
 or tried to appease conscience by a more 
 careful attendance upon the means of 
 grace. But at length his disinclination 
 to enter the service of Christ gives way. 
 He has fought his convictions and re- 
 sisted the Holy Spirit. But his soul is 
 conquered. He is made willing in the 
 day of God's power. It is God that is 
 working in him to will. 
 
 A great change is thus going on in 
 the mind and heart. The soul has an 
 entirely new set of views and feelings. 
 It looks upon itself as a poor, miserable, 
 helpless sinner, justly condemned of 
 God ; and it is willing to do any thing 
 that God may require. The soul is in 
 
48 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 a new state. Is it in the Christian state ? 
 It is, — 
 
 5. The moment it actually trusts in 
 Jesus as a personal Saviour. Nothing 
 short of this amounts to complete con- 
 version. And just here it is all-important 
 to understand the relation of Jesus to 
 the work of our salvation. 
 
 There are two great difficulties in the 
 way of our salvation, — the one is legal, 
 the other is moral. The one grows out 
 of the fact that we have broken God's 
 law, and the other grows out of the fact 
 that our hearts are polluted with sin. 
 We have broken the law, and hence it 
 utters its dreadful curse against us, say- 
 ing that we must die ; for it is written, 
 " Cursed is every one that continueth not 
 in all things written in the book of the 
 law to do them." (Gal. iii. 10.) " For the 
 wages of sin is death." (Eom. vi. 23.) 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 49 
 
 We are also defiled within ; for " that 
 which is born of the flesh is flesh." 
 (John hi. 6.) "The heart of the sons 
 of men is full of evil, and madness is in 
 their heart while they live." (Eccles. 
 ix. 3.) 
 
 Now, Jesus meets and removes both 
 these difficulties for those who are will- 
 ing to trust him and give themselves 
 to him. For (1.) He assumed our place 
 under the law, and as our substitute 
 kept its precepts and suffered its penalty. 
 So that he is "the end of the law for 
 righteousness to every one that be- 
 lieveth." (Rom. x. 4.) Righteousness 
 is what the law demands, and that is 
 perfect obedience. And Jesus rendered 
 this. He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, 
 and separate from sinners." (Heb. vii. 
 26.) "Who did no sin, neither was 
 guile found in his mouth." (1 Pet. ii. 
 
50 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 22.) He also suffered the penalty of the 
 law for us : — " Christ hath redeemed us 
 from the curse of the law, being made a 
 curse for us." (Gal. iii. 13.) " Who his 
 own self bare our sins in his own body 
 on the tree." (1 Pet. ii. 24.) We owed 
 ten thousand talents : Jesus has paid all 
 the debt. For our numerous sins we 
 deserved ten thousand stripes : Jesus 
 has received them all in his own body. 
 The law demanded blood of us, in peal- 
 ing thunder uttering its curse that we 
 must die : Jesus gave his life on the 
 cross, baring his breast to the sword of 
 eternal justice. But (2.) Jesus, through 
 the agency of the Holy Spirit, purifies 
 our hearts, and thus fits us for heaven*. 
 This work of freeing us from the pollu- 
 tions of sin and making us perfect is a 
 gradual work. It begins with our con- 
 version, and continues throughout the 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 51 
 
 period of our earthly pilgrimage. The 
 new heart is the beginning of the great 
 work of our sanctification. 
 
 The two great blessings that we need 
 at the outset are the removal of the sen- 
 tence of the law, or pardon, and the new 
 heart. We want the curse of the law 
 removed, so that w r e will no longer be 
 under condemnation and in danger of 
 suffering its fearful penalty; and we 
 want the new birth into the family of 
 God, so that we may be reckoned among 
 his children. 
 
 Of course these two blessings always 
 go together and can never be separated. 
 God does not pardon our sins without 
 the new heart; he does not give us the 
 new heart and yet leave us unforgiven. 
 The two are bound together as golden 
 links that can never be severed. If the 
 soul has one, it knows that the other 
 
52 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 exists along with it. In this way we 
 tell that our sins are all forgiven and the 
 whole curse of the law removed from us. 
 God does not speak from heaven with 
 an audible voice, informing us of our 
 pardon ; but he bestows the new heart, 
 and that is the proof that the curse of 
 the law is taken away. If you have the 
 new heart, then you know that your sins 
 are all blotted out. And do you now ask 
 me what is the new heart, and how you 
 can tell when you have got it ? I answer, 
 " The new heart is a heart trusting in 
 Jesus as a personal Saviour : — ' Whoso- 
 ever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is 
 born of God.' (1 John v. 1.) Whosoever 
 believeth {i.e. whosoever trusts in Jesus 
 as the Christ, as the Messiah, as the 
 soul's personal Saviour), is born of God, 
 has the new birth into the family of God, 
 has the heart of a child of God." 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 53 
 
 " But does not the Bible say a great 
 deal about repentance, and is not that 
 one of the first commands, ' Repent ye' ?" 
 "Of course. He who trusts in Jesus 
 trusts in him as a Saviour from sin. 
 Repentance is a turning from sin with 
 the whole heart. The angels have no 
 sins to turn from, and hence have no 
 need of a Saviour. So that the very 
 fact of trusting in Jesus necessarily im- 
 plies repentance. Only those who are 
 mourning over their sins and trying to 
 escape from them can trust in Jesus." 
 
 " But does not the Bible say a great 
 deal also about love for Jesus, — loving 
 him with all the heart?" "Of course. 
 If your eyes have been opened to see 
 your wretched condition in sin, and you 
 have fled to Jesus for refuge, you cannot 
 help loving him. You naturally love 
 those in whom you have great con- 
 
 5* 
 
54 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 fidence. And more especially Jesus; 
 for he loves you, he has died for you, 
 he forgives all t your sins, he purifies 
 your heart, he defends you from your 
 spiritual foes, and he conducts you home 
 to heaven. But you cannot love Jesus 
 until after you trust him. You cannot 
 love those in whom you have no con- 
 fidence, or towards whom you have a 
 feeling of indifference. If you really 
 trust in Jesus as your Saviour, love for 
 him will necessarily spring up in the 
 heart." 
 
 " But how about obedience ?" " Well, 
 if you are trying to escape from your 
 sins, and are trusting in Jesus, and your 
 soul is beginning to love him, these feel- 
 ings will all prompt you to make the 
 effort to keep his commandments. You 
 will feel that Jesus has done so much 
 for you, that now you must try and do 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 55 
 
 all you can to please him. You will 
 feel, with Saul of Tarsus, ' Lord, what 
 wilt thou have me to do?' (Acts ix. 6.) 
 You are his, soul and body, bought with 
 his blood, and you must live for him. 
 You must observe all his precepts : — 
 ' If a man love me, he will keep my 
 words/ (John xiv. 23.) Those whom 
 you love and to whom you are under 
 great obligations, you will acknowledge, 
 you should endeavour to please. Now, 
 it will please Jesus and show your love 
 for him, for you to break off from all 
 sin, to seek frequent communion with 
 him in the study of the Scriptures and 
 prayer, to come out openly before the 
 world and confess his name and identify 
 yourself with his people, to frequent his 
 house and participate in all the ordi- 
 nances of public worship, and to labour 
 to build up his cause and save perishing 
 
56 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 sinners. And if you are really trusting 
 Jesus as a personal Saviour, and feel 
 any glow of love in your soul, you will 
 be willing to enter upon such a course 
 of life." 
 
 This, then, is the new heart. It is 
 the soul that has made the discovery 
 of its wretched condition in sin; that, 
 giving up all its vain excuses and all its 
 vain efforts, has trusted in Jesus for de- 
 liverance ; and now trusting in him, it 
 is willing to be his, to put itself under 
 his authority and direction, and to be 
 guided by him in all things. This new 
 state of things has been brought about 
 by the Holy Spirit, through the instru- 
 mentality of the truth. The soul itself 
 has opposed, and resisted, and begged to 
 be excused from the very outset. But 
 the Spirit has urged its entreaties and 
 sweetly constrained, until at last the 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 57 
 
 soul has laid down all opposition and 
 willingly trusted in Jesus and taken up 
 his service. " Do you think, Sammy." 
 said a pastor to a poor, simple-minded 
 man who presented himself, during a 
 time of revival, to the officers of the 
 church, seeking admission to the visible 
 kingdom of our Lord, — " do you think, 
 Sammy, that you have been born again?" 
 " I think I have," was the answer. 
 " Well, if so," said the minister, " whose 
 work is that ?" "Oh, God did a part, and 
 I did a part." " Ah, what part did you 
 do, Sammy?" "Why, I opposed God 
 all I could, and he did the rest." Yes, 
 the new heart is truly the gift of the 
 Holy Spirit. And this gift is accom- 
 panied with that other great blessing, — 
 the pardon of our sins : — " He that be- 
 lieveth on the Son hath everlasting 
 life." (John iii. 36.) " He that believeth 
 
58 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 on him is not condemned" (John iii. 18), 
 "but is passed from death unto life." 
 (John v. 24.) The curse of the law is 
 removed, the sentence of death no longer 
 hangs over him, and he has eternal life 
 bestowed upon him. The moment the 
 sinner trusts Jesus as a personal Saviour, 
 that moment his sins are all forgiven, 
 and his name is written in the book 
 of life. 
 
 And such is the witness of the Spirit. 
 It is not a voice from heaven, nor some 
 supernatural vision or impression. It is 
 his work in the soul, bringing it to see 
 its wretched condition in sin, persuading 
 and enabling it to trust in Jesus, and 
 with a willing heart to take up his ser- 
 vice. He thus bears witness by his 
 work. The testimony is silent; the 
 Holy Spirit has quietly led the soul 
 away from sin and danger to Jesus 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 59 
 
 Christ ; but yet the evidence is real and 
 abiding. 
 
 And this testimony increases in clear- 
 ness and fulness as Christians advance 
 in the divine life. The Holy Spirit first 
 gives the new heart, which is simply a 
 heart trusting in Jesus. He then fol- 
 lows this up with the work of making 
 the heart pure. 
 
 1. We are led by the Spirit more and 
 more into a knowledge of the whole 
 truth (John xvi. 13). We learn more 
 of God's law, — its spirituality and the 
 extent of its demands. We learn more 
 about sin, — what things are sinful, and 
 the loathsomeness of all sin, and the 
 extent of our personal sinfulness. We 
 learn more about Jesus, — his person, as 
 the God manifest in the flesh ; his work, 
 — as our Prophet, Priest, and King. 
 
 2. Our spiritual feelings become more 
 
60 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 manifest to our consciousness. We have 
 more of godly sorrow on account of sin. 
 Our faith grows stronger, our love more 
 fervent, our humility deeper. We have 
 stronger aspirations after holiness, hun- 
 gering and thirsting after righteousness, 
 and longing to be transformed into the 
 image of Christ. 
 
 3. Our endeavours after obedience also 
 are greater. Religion must show itself 
 in the life. The new-born babe declares 
 its inward life by its cries and the efforts 
 to move its limbs and body. The new- 
 born soul in Christ declares its spiritual 
 life by its earnest cries after Jesus and 
 its efforts to move itself in obedience to 
 his commandments. He who has Christ 
 in his heart will walk, to some extent 
 at least, under the direction of Christ. 
 He is led by the Spirit. 
 
 Religion consists of right knowledge, 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 61 
 
 right feeling, and right action. It is a 
 right head, a right heart, a right life. 
 As the Christian makes progress in the 
 divine life, his mind becomes more fully- 
 enlightened, his heart more fully sancti- 
 fied, and his life more completely con- 
 formed to the will of God. And this 
 work of enlightening our minds and 
 purifying our hearts is the Spirit's work, 
 and is his constant testimony to our ac- 
 ceptance with God. He leads us into a 
 clearer perception and fuller understand- 
 ing of divine truth, into a more com- 
 plete exercise of all spiritual emotions, 
 and, in the conduct of life, into a nearer 
 compliance with all the precepts of 
 Christ. 
 
 This is all clear, simple, and easily 
 understood. He who trusts in Jesus as 
 a personal Saviour has the new heart. 
 The new heart is a child's heart : so 
 
 6 
 
62 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 that he who has the new heart is a child 
 of God. And every child of God is par- 
 doned ; his sins are all forgiven, and the 
 whole curse of the law is taken away. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES SOLVED. 
 
 But still there are difficulties with 
 which many are perplexed; and these 
 difficulties often fill the soul with anxious 
 doubts and fears. 
 
 I. Many are troubled because they 
 cannot secure that wonderful manifesta- 
 tion for which they were looking. They 
 have been led to believe that religion is 
 some great mystery, and that in con- 
 version there will be a sudden unfolding 
 or revelation of the mystery. Now, 
 there is a change, and a very great 
 change, at the time of conversion. The 
 Holy Spirit leads the soul into a state 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 63 
 
 of concern, of conviction of sin and help- 
 lessness, of willingness to forsake sin 
 and embrace Jesus, and of actual trust 
 in Christ. The soul can undergo no 
 greater and no more important change 
 than this. It is a great change for you 
 to give up your prejudice against a fel- 
 low-man and begin to trust and love 
 him. It is the greatest of all changes 
 for you to give up your confidence in 
 the world and your love for it, and to 
 turn and bestow your confidence and 
 your love upon Jesus Christ. And this 
 great change which takes place in the 
 soul is conversion. It may not be as 
 you expected. It may seem too simple. 
 But that is all there is of it, and you 
 must be satisfied with it. 
 
 II. It may be a trouble to some that 
 they, have not had a conscious expe- 
 rience of the change which we term 
 
64 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 conversion or regeneration. They have 
 been brought up by pious parents in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord, 
 and they cannot remember the time 
 when they did not pray to Jesus with 
 real trust in him. But this should give 
 them no trouble. Samuel was lent to 
 the Lord from his infancy, and John the 
 Baptist was sanctified from the womb. 
 I have no doubt but that the children 
 of pious parents are often thus sanctified 
 by the Holy Ghost. Their hearts are 
 changed in infancy or early childhood, 
 and as soon as they begin to learn about 
 Jesus they turn to him with confidence 
 and love. Be not troubled, therefore. 
 You mourn over your sins, and look to 
 Jesus for deliverance from them. You 
 trust in Jesus as a personal Saviour. 
 You love him. You love his people and 
 his service. You are trying to run in 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 65 
 
 the way of his commandments. The 
 Spirit is engaged in the blessed work 
 of sanctifying your heart ; and it should 
 be a matter of great rejoicing to you 
 that he began the work when you were 
 a little child. " By their fruits ye shall 
 know them." (Matt. vii. 20.) Are the 
 fruits of right views, right feelings, and 
 right actions showing themselves in your 
 heart and life ? If so, you have the wit- 
 ness of the Spirit ; and that is all you 
 need care to know. 
 
 III. Many trouble themselves because 
 they cannot tell the time of their new 
 birth. But in this respect there is a 
 great variety of experience. Some are 
 suddenly arrested in their career of sin, 
 and are immediately converted to God, 
 like the three thousand on the day of 
 Pentecost. The whole change, from the 
 moment of first concern to that of con- 
 
66 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 secration to Christ, is limited by the 
 space of a few hours ; and such persons 
 can always celebrate the day of their 
 new birth. With vast multitudes, how- 
 ever, the change, in some of its parts at 
 least, is more gradual. Their anxious 
 concern comes on gradually, and lasts 
 for days, or months, or even years. 
 They struggle long with their convic- 
 tions. They read the Bible and pray, 
 and perhaps seek Christian counsel. 
 The light begins to break in upon their 
 souls ; but at the first it is so dim that 
 they cannot tell when they first saw it. 
 We can never tell the precise moment 
 when day begins to dawn. No babe 
 can tell the hour when its eyes first 
 opened upon the light of day. 
 
 A large proportion of anxious persons 
 do not understand what are the evi- 
 dences of our acceptance with God. 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 67 
 
 Hence they are looking for something 
 which God has not promised to bestow 
 in conversion; and it is often days, 
 sometimes months and years, after the 
 change has taken place, before they can 
 be made to understand that that is the 
 new birth. 
 
 For these and other reasons, it seems 
 probable that very few persons can tell 
 the time of their conversion. But this 
 need give you no trouble. The Bible 
 does not say that you must know the 
 day and the hour when the Holy Spirit 
 gave you a new heart. The great ques- 
 tion is, Have you got the new heart? 
 The gift may have come in so quietly 
 and been laid down so gently that you 
 did not know it for a considerable time. 
 
 IV. Many are troubled because they 
 are so imperfect after conversion, and 
 find themselves so little able to keep 
 
68 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 Christ's commandments. Perhaps most 
 persons, struggling with their sins in 
 their days of anxious concern, have the 
 impression that after conversion they 
 will be almost perfect. They mistake 
 their own strength and God's plan. A 
 new heart is not a pure heart. A new 
 heart is simply the old heart with the 
 little germ of grace planted in it. The 
 old heart is a field overgrown with weeds 
 and thorn-bushes. When the farmer 
 goes forth to plant the corn, he first cuts 
 down the weeds and briers, and burns 
 them. He makes the ground clean and 
 breaks it up, and then plants the good 
 seed. God does not so with the human 
 heart. He inserts the little plant of his 
 grace right in the midst of the tall and 
 evil weeds of wrong thoughts and tem- 
 pers and passions. The young plant of 
 faith looks small and tender beside those 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 69 
 
 evil things that for years have been 
 growing in the soil of the heart. But 
 the young Christian was not expecting 
 this. He thought religion would be the 
 chief thing in his soul, and sin the least. 
 Hence he is surprised, disappointed, and 
 even grows despondent, and perhaps 
 imagines that his change was not real 
 and his conversion not genuine. Reli- 
 gion in the soul is at first a little plant. 
 God says to the young Christian, u Go 
 to work, and I will help you. Watch 
 over the plant of grace. Cultivate it by 
 prayer, and the study of the Scriptures, 
 and all appointed religious exercises, 
 and my Spirit will be present to make 
 it grow. Labour likewise to destroy all 
 the evil that is within you. Cut down 
 and root out all the evil weeds of wrong 
 thoughts and tempers and passions ; and 
 as you work the Spirit will help you, 
 
70 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 and gradually grace will grow and sin 
 die out." "In many things we offend 
 all." (James iii. 2.) "For the flesh 
 lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit 
 against the flesh ; and these are contrary 
 the one to the other ; so that ye cannot 
 do the things that ye would." (Gal. 
 v. 17.) 
 
 V. It troubles many that their con- 
 victions of sin are not as deep and pun- 
 gent as they think they ought to be. 
 But in this you may be measuring your 
 experience by that of somebody else, 
 and not testing it by the truth of the 
 Bible. The Holy Spirit does seem to 
 lead some persons through the very 
 deepest portions of the " slough of des- 
 pond/' and their convictions of sin are 
 almost overwhelming. But others are 
 treated differently. Now, what is com- 
 mon to all who are truly led by the 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 71 
 
 Spirit is this : — they are convinced that 
 they are sinners and in need of Jesus as 
 a Saviour. Are you satisfied that you 
 are a helpless sinner, and are you trust- 
 ing in Jesus, and in Jesus alone, as your 
 Saviour ? If so, then you must be in a 
 saved condition. You will not turn to 
 Jesus and trust him unless you feel your 
 need of him. Now, your feeling may 
 not be as strong as you think it ought to 
 be ; but is it strong enough to make you 
 act ? If it is, if impelled by it you have 
 gone to the cross and cried for mercy, 
 then you have done what God requires. 
 You see that you are a sinner and that 
 your soul is in peril, and, seeing this, 
 you have fled to Jesus for refuge. You 
 are at the cross, and you find there 
 multitudes of others. Some of these 
 may manifest a deeper feeling, a higher 
 degree of excitement, may shed more 
 
72 ' AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 tears, than you. But you are *all at the 
 cross. You have all come there for the 
 same purpose, — viz. to secure deliver- 
 ance from sin. You all call on Jesus 
 for mercy. You all trust in him. And 
 now Jesus says, " Him that cometh to 
 me I will in nowise cast out." (John 
 vi. 37.) He does not say those who 
 have the most pungent convictions of 
 sin and those who weep the most, but 
 those who come to him, those who trust 
 him, those who see their need of him 
 and call on him for mercy. 
 
 VI. Some are troubled because they 
 do not make progress in the divine life. 
 They complain that they are not grow- 
 ing Christians, and therefore fear that 
 they may not be Christians at all. 
 
 1. On this point some are doubtless 
 mistaken. The Holy Spirit gives them 
 wonderfully clear views of sin. They 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 73 
 
 are learning more of the amazing reach 
 of God's law. Their views of what con- 
 stitutes sin are becoming more accurate. 
 Their consciences are growing more ten- 
 der and more sensitive to that which is 
 wrong. The light of God in their souls 
 is daily increasing in brightness, so that 
 they see more of their own depravity. 
 Such persons often think they are grow- 
 ing worse, when in reality their hatred 
 to sin is becoming more intense and 
 their desires after holiness deeper and 
 stronger. " Blessed are they which do 
 hunger and thirst after righteousness ; 
 for they shall be filled." (Matt. v. 6.) 
 If you are conscious of such a thirst for 
 holiness, you must be a child of God; 
 for no impenitent sinner can have such 
 a feeling. 
 
 Still there are multitudes who do 
 make little or no progress in the divine 
 
 7 
 
74 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 life. They are not growing in conformity 
 to the image and will of their blessed 
 Lord. Now, — 
 
 2. Some do not grow in grace for the 
 reason that they are looking too exclu- 
 sively within. They are all the time 
 meditating on themselves, contemplating 
 their own imperfections of heart and 
 life. The hungry man will not get rid 
 of his hunger if he sits down and mourns 
 over his hunger and does not eat the 
 food that is set before him. The sick 
 man will not get well if he does nothing 
 but think of his disease and does not 
 apply to the physician and use the pro- 
 per remedies. Very many Christians 
 are hungering for the bread of life ; but 
 ihey do nothing but mourn over their 
 hunger and weakness, and do not really 
 partake of the divine bread given them 
 in the gospel. They are sick at heart 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 75 
 
 with their sins ; but they sit down and 
 mourn and weep all their days, and do 
 not look up to Jesus, the great Physician 
 of souls. If you desire to grow in grace, 
 look away from yourself all the time to 
 Jesus : — " We all, with open (i.e. un- 
 veiled) face beholding as in a glass (i.e. 
 mirror or looking-glass) the glory of the 
 Lord, are changed into the same image 
 from glory to glory, even as by the 
 Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. iii. 18.) 
 The Scriptures are a looking-glass in 
 which is seen the image of the Lord 
 Jesus; and those who constantly and 
 intently gaze upon that glorious image 
 are changed by the Holy Spirit into the 
 same likeness. 
 
 3. Some do not grow in grace because 
 they are not wholly consecrated to Christ. 
 Very many seem to seek connection with 
 Christ and his church simply as a means 
 
76 AM I A CHILD 01* GOD? 
 
 of personal deliverance from the dangers 
 to which they are exposed in sin. Some 
 such persons do, no doubt, really give 
 their hearts to Jesus. They actually 
 trust in him as a Saviour; but they 
 seem to have no proper conception of 
 their infinite obligations to him or of the 
 
 o 
 
 extent of his requirements. Hence they 
 seem to think it enough if they read the 
 Bible sometimes, and pray once or twice 
 a day, and attend church whenever con- 
 venient, and partake of the Lord's Sup- 
 per. They are not really and wholly 
 consecrated to their Master and his 
 cause. They do not feel that their souls 
 and bodies and property all belong to 
 Christ, and are to be employed for the 
 promotion of his glory. They cannot 
 take up their crosses and deny them- 
 selves. They cannot go about doing 
 good, labouring to promote the temporal 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 77 
 
 and spiritual welfare of their fellow-men. 
 Of course, where there is such a want 
 of consecration, there can be no progress. 
 Children grow by means of wholesome 
 food and healthful exercise. Christians 
 grow when they feed their souls daily 
 on the milk and bread of the word, and 
 exercise their souls in religious services 
 and doing good. If you give your child 
 but little food, and permit it to take no 
 exercise, it will be but a sickly, delicate 
 child as long as it lives. Multitudes of 
 Christians remain spiritual babes to the 
 day of their death, because they neglect 
 the scriptural food and spiritual exer- 
 cise. 
 
 4. Some do not make progress be- 
 cause they are habitually indulging in 
 known sin. This is really but another 
 way of stating what is considered under 
 the foregoing head. Those not fully 
 
78 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 consecrated to Christ are living in con- 
 stant sin. They are neglecting Christ's 
 commands. They are consulting their 
 own ease or pleasure or worldly advan- 
 tage. They are indulging in a worldly 
 spirit and leading a worldly life. They 
 neglect their closets and their family 
 religious duties. They stay away from 
 the prayer-meeting and take no part in 
 the Sabbath-school. They make no 
 effort to build up Christ's cause and 
 save souls. In these and other ways 
 they quench and grieve the Holy Spirit. 
 " Quench not the Spirit." (1 Thess. v. 
 19.) " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of 
 God, whereby ye are sealed unto the 
 day of redemption." (Eph. iv. 30.) 
 
 5. Some are timidly refusing to take 
 up the entire service of Christ. They 
 know what all his commands are; but 
 they select for themselves those which 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 79 
 
 they will keep, and the rest they will 
 not comply with. 
 
 Very many anxious inquirers are in 
 this condition. They are very willing 
 to serve Christ secretly, observing all 
 their private religious duties; but they 
 plead that they are not good enough to 
 come out before the world and openly 
 confess his name and identify them- 
 selves with his people. 
 
 Many professors of religion likewise 
 decline to take up their whole Suty. 
 They cannot pray in their families or 
 in the prayer-meeting. They cannot 
 labour personally to bring sinners to 
 Christ. And they excuse themselves 
 on the ground of natural timidity or a 
 conscious want of qualification. 
 
 The difficulty in almost all such cases 
 is a want of entire consecration to Christ 
 and a want of faith. Of course we have 
 
80 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 no right to select between Christ's com- 
 mands. He has given them to us, and 
 our simple duty is to try, and keep on 
 trying, to keep them all. Perseverance 
 in trying is indeed our main duty; for 
 that shows that the intention of the 
 heart is right. Jesus has promised to 
 help those who rely on him. If, there- 
 fore, you are selecting between Christ's 
 commands, you are doing that which is 
 exceedingly displeasing in his sight and 
 must* grieve the Holy Spirit. 
 
 6. Some do not make progress in 
 grace because they are endeavouring to 
 sanctify themselves by their own works. 
 They feel that they cannot do any thing 
 to make amends for their transgressions. 
 It is only the blood of the cross that can 
 atone for their sins. But in the matter 
 of getting their hearts purified from sin 
 they make a great and serious mistake. 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 81 
 
 Now, purity of heart comes just as 
 much by faith as does pardon. We 
 trust Jesus for pardon ; so do we trust 
 him for sanctification. 
 
 " But does not the Lord require us to 
 work out our own salvation, and to 
 make a diligent use of all the means 
 of grace ? I try to do this. I read the 
 Bible, and pray, and attend prayer- 
 meeting and church, and labour to build 
 up the cause of Christ ; and yet I do not 
 grow in grace." 
 
 " Yes ; you may do all this, and never 
 make much progress, because you may 
 be trusting in the work you do and rest- 
 ing in the mere outward means. You 
 can never pay Jesus for what he has 
 done for you in pardoning your sins and 
 giving you a new heart; and no more 
 can you by your works buy of him a 
 pure heart and a home'in heaven. You 
 
82 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 can no more make your heart pure by 
 your own works than at the first you 
 can give yourself a new heart. Prom 
 beginning to end salvation is all the 
 gift of Jesus and the work of the Holy 
 Spirit. But then Jesus desires to see 
 the fruits of his grace within us. We 
 are under infinite obligations to him; 
 and if we have in our hearts the slightest 
 measure of love and gratitude, these will 
 prompt us to do all we can to please 
 him. And he has told us in his word 
 what will please him. And if we set out 
 to try to please him, by cheerfully doing 
 what he tells us, he will bestow more 
 and more grace. As you run along the 
 pathway of obedience to his command- 
 ments, he will by his Spirit carry on the 
 work of purifying your heart. It is not 
 prayer, or any religious exercise or work, 
 that of itself wiH make you any better. 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 83 
 
 The work of purifying your heart is the 
 work of the Holy Spirit : so that you 
 trust for your sanctification just as much 
 as for the pardon of your sins and the 
 removal of the curse of the law." 
 
 VII. Many are troubled because they 
 have so little spiritual comfort and joy. 
 " I try to be diligent in the use of the 
 means of grace; but I have very little 
 spiritual comfort. The Bible says a 
 great deal about the joys of the saints, 
 and even calls them unspeakable and 
 full of glory ; but such is not my expe- 
 rience." 
 
 1. Too many Christians are in the 
 habit of seeking joy as a mere end. 
 They engage in their closet devotions, 
 and attend the prayer-meeting and 
 church, that they may feel happy ; and 
 they think that they secure no benefit 
 from the services if they do not carry 
 
84 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 away with them this feeling. But this 
 is a wrong view to take of the matter. 
 We belong to Jesus, and are under in- 
 finite obligations to him ; and the great 
 motive that should control us in all the 
 conduct of life is the desire to please our 
 Lord. We should rise above all con- 
 siderations of self, and engage in all re- 
 ligious services and work, out of pure 
 regard to the will of the Master; and 
 if you do this, he will give you the com- 
 forts of religion and all proper spiritual 
 joy. When you seek joy as an end in 
 the service of Christ, you do not obtain 
 it. No child that loves its mother will 
 strive to please that mother simply that 
 it may feel happy itself. If the child 
 forgets itself, and from pure love endea- 
 vours to conform to the mother s wishes, 
 it will be happy in its obedience. If you 
 go to the closet and the prayer-meeting 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 85 
 
 that you may feel good, you are con- 
 trolled by a selfish feeling, and selfish- 
 ness always begets more or less of dis- 
 comfort, if not of positive misery. But 
 when you forget self, and strive to please 
 Jesus, by running in the way of his 
 commandments, then he makes you 
 happy. 
 
 2. Too many Christians are all the 
 time looking at themselves, and, of 
 course, the view is any thing but a 
 pleasing one. When beholding a person 
 upon a sick-bed and writhing in pain, 
 or when looking upon evidences of 
 poverty and sin, or contemplating the 
 ruins that fire and sword may have 
 made in a ravaged city, you necessarily 
 feel sad : so a constant view of self — all 
 the time looking upon the corruptions 
 and imperfections of our hearts and 
 lives — must give us sorrowful feelings. 
 
86 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 Happy Christians are those who lose 
 sight of themselves in the contemplation 
 of Jesus ! 
 
 3. Too many Christians neglect hea- 
 venly contemplation. This is one great 
 source of spiritual joy. If you go on an 
 eminence, and there, forgetting all your 
 cares and sorrows, become rapt in the 
 view of a beautiful landscape all instinct 
 with joyous life, your soul will rise and 
 swell with emotions of beauty until you 
 seem lifted out of your former state and 
 elevated to a new world. And so, if 
 every day you will retire to some private 
 place, and there by prayer and medita- 
 tion go up on the mount, and in the 
 vision of faith contemplate the glories 
 of heaven, your everlasting home, your 
 soul will become a very well-spring of 
 pleasure, and you will no more complain 
 of your want of spiritual joy. 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 87 
 
 VIII. It troubles many that their 
 religious feelings are so exceedingly 
 variable and change with such rapidity. 
 Now they are happy, and the next hour 
 they are sad. During the Sabbath ser- 
 vices their hearts glow with love and 
 zeal for the Master; but on Monday 
 morning they are cold and lifeless. Well, 
 (1.) Mere frames of spirit are not reli- 
 gion. Religion consists essentially in 
 an abiding trust in Jesus as a personal 
 Saviour; and this faith the true Chris- 
 tian never loses from his soul. He may 
 lose spiritual comfort and peace; he may 
 fall into sadness, and even despondency; 
 but there is always left faith in Jesus. 
 In the darkest hour the soul says, 
 " Jesus is all my trust." The faith 
 may seem weak ; but, little as it ap- 
 pears, the soul would not take worlds 
 for it; and that faith, small as it may 
 
88 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 seem, is true religion : it is a real bond 
 uniting the soul to Christ. 
 
 2. Our frames of spirit are often af- 
 fected by our bodily health. Headache, 
 dyspepsia, and various other diseases, 
 affect the mind and tend to beget gloomy 
 feelings. The body and the soul are 
 very intimately related to each other, 
 and what affects the one often equally 
 affects the other. Hence many diseases 
 tend to produce depression of spirit : 
 so that religious despondency frequently 
 originates in a diseased body. 
 
 3. Our spiritual frames are very much 
 dependent, too, upon our fidelity in the 
 service of Christ. When we are in the 
 actual discharge of duty, we have good 
 frames ; when we are neglecting -duty, 
 we lose them. You come to Sabbath- 
 school and church on Sunday, and en- 
 gage with all your heart in the services 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 89 
 
 of the sacred day. You draw nigh to 
 the warm heart of Jesus, and exercise 
 your soul in the spiritual services, and 
 thus you are warmed. You are in 
 the line of duty, and Christ rewards 
 you ; and you form holy resolutions to 
 serve Jesus all the week out in the 
 world. You purpose to try to win souls 
 for him. But when Monday morning 
 comes, you fail to carry out your reso- 
 lutions. You live all the week in the 
 neglect of duty, and of course your good 
 frames leave you. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Am I A child of God? You are if 
 you are trusting in Jesus as a personal 
 Saviour. Those who trust in him thus 
 are born of God, have the new heart, 
 and are adopted into God's family. Un- 
 
 8* 
 
90 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 belief characterizes the old heart in sin ; 
 faith characterizes the new heart in 
 Christ. A soul wholly in unbelief is 
 under thd curse of the law, and is a child 
 of the evil one. A soul trusting in Jesus 
 is free from the curse of the law, and is 
 a child of God ; and the soul that has 
 turned from sin and trusted in Jesus, 
 has been led into this new state by the 
 Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit con- 
 tinues to lead the soul into a nearer con- 
 formity to Christ's will in views and 
 feelings and conduct. So that those 
 who are trusting in Christ may know 
 that they are converted and pardoned ; 
 those becoming more and more con- 
 formed to Christ's will may know that 
 they are growing in grace. Conversion 
 and increasing sanctification are the 
 evidence of the presence of the Holy 
 Spirit with the soul; for they are the 
 
AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 91 
 
 work of the Spirit. And this work is 
 the evidence he gives that our sins are 
 all pardoned and that we are adopted 
 into God's family as his children. 
 
 Am I a child of God ? If not, then 
 you are a child of the evil one and an 
 heir of perdition. You are under the 
 curse of the law, and, living in sin, you 
 are treasuring up for yourself wrath 
 against the day of wrath. You may 
 say your prayers every day, you may 
 unite with the church, you may come 
 to the communion-table, you may give 
 all your property to feed the poor, but 
 it will all avail you nothing in the day 
 of final account if you are not a child 
 of God through Jesus Christ. Oh, then, 
 believe in Jesus without delay. Flee to 
 him as the only one who can give you 
 security in the coming time of wrath. 
 
 Am I a child of God? If so, then 
 
92 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? 
 
 happy are you. Your sins are all for- 
 given, the Holy Spirit abides with you 
 to sanctify your heart for heaven, and 
 angels daily minister round about you. 
 The Lord is your shade by day and 
 your light by night. He is your strength 
 in weakness and your comfort in sorrow. 
 He guides you by his counsel, and after 
 death will receive you up into glory. 
 And there a rich inheritance awaits 
 you ; for if you are a child of God, then 
 you are an heir of God and joint-heir 
 with Jesus Christ. But the Lord Jesus 
 is the only-begotten Son of the Father, 
 and hence he is the heir of all the uni- 
 verse. So that you have a title to an 
 inheritance vast as the dominions of 
 God. 
 
 Oh, what a glorious privilege to be 
 a child of God! 
 
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