2. That conversion doth not consist in those things, which the blindness of some, the pride of others, and the pharisaical zeal of not a few, would substitute in its stead. For instance; baptism is not conversion. It is only the outward sign of it. And, to mistake the sign for the thing itself, is as absurd as to make a shadow equal to the substance. The thing signified in baptism is, “a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness:” and this is conversion. But how many content themselves with having partaken of the outward ordinance, who do not understand the significancy of the institution, and know nothing of the blessings symbolically represented in it! “He is not a Jew, who is one outwardly,” (nor is he a Christian who is one no farther); “but he is a Jew,” (and a Christian,) “who is one inwardly: and circumcision,” (or baptism) “is that of _the heart_, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Rom. ii. 28, 29.—Neither does the great change consist in a transient effect on the passions. These may often be mechanically wrought upon, and violent emotions excited in them, without the least concomitant influence from the Spirit of God. One man may be affected under a sermon, and another weep at a tragedy, and both be in the same predicament as to their state of heart towards God. When the passions are moved, because the affections are engaged, and the understanding enlightened in the subject, then the work is produced, not by the pathos of eloquence, or the violent mechanism of bawling and unmeaning vociferation, but by the finger of God. A change of the latter kind will be permanent and abiding. But conversions, such as spring from a transient gust of passion, will always evaporate, “like the morning cloud or the early dew, that passeth away.” Hos. vi. 4.—It would be equally absurd and dangerous to place true religion in an outward and partial reformation, often accompanied with a shew of zeal, which, at the bottom, is nothing but emptiness and ostentation. When a man all of a sudden cuts off some superfluities of naughtiness in dress and outward indulgence; when he prunes off some excrescences, while the root of corruption remains untouched; when to-day he acts the part of a novice, and to-morrow, like a fungus that shoots up in a night, he raises his head as a Reformer, without wisdom or materials for beginning or conducting a reformation; in such cases, the conversion is often from bad to worse; it is as if a harmless statue should be transformed into a venomous reptile; or folly, stealing the venerable garb of truth, should commence tyrant, and like Solomon’s madman, with the hand of outrageous zeal, scatter about arrows, fire-brands, and death. Prov. xxvi. 19. From such conversions, and such converts as these, may the Lord at all times defend and save his church!—To change a denomination, or to adhere to that in which one may happen to have been born and educated, is not