VI. Of the hazards attending conversion
Moreover, in all true conversion there is a positive turning unto God, a whole heart-choice of him, for your supreme and ultimate happiness and portion, Psal. 73:25 and of the Lord Jesus Christ, as your Prince and Saviour, Acts 5:31. And answerably, it will devote your whole life to his service and glory, Phil. 1:21. And thus it brings forth the new man, and the whole frame of your heart and life is marvellously changed and altered, 2 Cor. 5:17. "Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."
It may be, you will think such a change as this impossible to be made upon you. And so it is indeed, until the day of God's power come,
Psal. 110:3. What! to forsake with loathing your old companions, and courses, which you have so long lived with and delighted in; and to embrace with highest pleasure, strict godliness, which you have so loathed, and ridiculed! This would be a strange alteration indeed:
But as strange as it seems to be, it will be effected in a moment, when God fulfils that gracious promise (as I hope he is now doing) to you,
Ezek. 36:26. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." Operations follow nature: When the heart of a beast was given to that great king Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 5:21 his dwelling was with the wild asses; they fed him with grass, like oxen. But let the spirit of a man return to him again, and he will blush to think of his brutish company, and way of life; and so will you of yours also. As marvellous a change as this has passed upon as eminent and notorious sinners as yourselves, Gal. 1:22 the God of the spirits of all flesh can with ease and speed produce all this by that Almighty
Power, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.
VI.
Of the Hazards Attending Conversion