they hear it affirmed, they must be converted as well as St. Paul, they pertly afk, Whether they are Jews, and whether they must be ftruck to the earth by a voice from heaven? They wilfully forget, that our Lord fpake to his hearers as finful men, and not as bigoted Jews, when he said, "Except ye be converted, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." They obftinately refufe to fee, that the circumftances of the apoftle's falling to the ground, &c. were not effential to his converfion, and had no other ufe, than to make his call more remarkable for the converfion of the Jews, and comfort of the Chriftians. When the fame prejudiced perfons are told, that they must be born of the Spirit, and receive the Holy Ghoft, as well as Cornelius and his fervants, overlooking the ordinary baptifm of the Spirit, they pitch upon the extraordinary circumftance of the gift of tongues, imparted for a feafon, to remove the prejudices of the Jews, and to draw the attention of the Gentiles; and think, with a fneer, and a charge of enthusiasm, to overturn the apoftolic faying, "If any man hath not the Spirit of Chrift, he is none of his." Be not deceived, Sir, by these perfons. Acknowledge that, fo fure as you want the regenerating knowledge of Christ, you want the manifeftation of his Spirit, without which he can never be known favingly. To return,

Though I contend only for the ordinary manifeftations of Christ, I am far from fuppofing, that all extraordinary or mixed manifeftations have ceafed. Such a conceffion would favour too much of the fpirit of infidelity, which prevails in the church. They are more frequent than many imagine. To inftance in one particular how far I am from acquiefcing with that infidel fpirit. I am fo attached to that old book the Bible, as to fay of many, who pafs for ministers of Chrift, Wo to the foolith prophets, that follow their own fpirit and have feen nothing: that fay, The Lord fays, and the Lord hath not fent them. I think the defire of being filed Reverend, or Right Reverend, and the profpect of a living or a mitre, are

very improper motives for affuming the facred character. And I am fuch an enthufiaft as to believe our church in the right, for requiring that all her minifters fhould not only be called, but even MOVED by the Holy Ghoft to take the office of Ambaffador for Chrift upon themselves.*

V. Having mentioned the defign and ufe of ordinary manifeftations, it may not be improper, to touch upon the abufe of them. Their genuine tendency is to humble to the duft. The language of thofe, who are favoured with them, is,-Will God indeed dwell on the earth! Lord what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the fon of man, that thou visitest him! Now, that I fee thee, I abhor myfelf. I am not worthy of the leaft of thy mercies. I am duft and afhes. -But as there is nothing, which the heart of man cannot be tempted to corrupt and pervert, fo as foon as the power attending the manifeftation is a little. abated, Satan begins to fhoot his fiery darts of spiritual pride, You are a peculiar favourite of heaven, whispers that old ferpent, few are fo highly bleffed. All your enemies are fcattered; you need not be fo watchful in prayer, and fo ftrict in felf-denial; you fhall never fail. If the believer is not upon his guard, and quenches not these fiery darts with his fhield, as faft as the enemy throws them, he is foon wounded, and pride kindles again upon him.

St. Paul himfelf was in danger from this quarter. "There was given him a thorn in the fiefh, a meffenger of Satan to buffet him, left he fhould be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations." Aaron and Miriam, fell into this fnare, when they fpake againft Mofes, faying, "Hath the Lord indeed fpoken only by Mofes? Hath not he fpoken by us alfo ?" David likewife acknowledges his error in this refpect: "In my profperity, I faid, I fhall never be moved, thou, Lord, of thy goodness haft made my hill fo ftrong;" but my heart was lifted up, and my confidence partly carnal, therefore,

• Ordination.

❝thou didst turn thy face from me, and I was troubled.” The way to avoid the danger is to forefee it; to look much to the lowly Jefus, and upon the firft approach of a temptation to pride, to give, with double diligence, all the glory to him that graciously beftowed all, and to take, with double care, all the fhame of our fins to our felves. St. Paul's direction in this cafe is excellent Because of unbelief fome were broken off, and thou ftandeft by faith. Be not high minded, but fear."

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Another genuine effect of divine manifeftations is an increase of confidence in the Lord, and of activity in his fervice. What holy boldnefs filled the fouls of thofe worthies, who, through faith, wrought righteoufnefs, and turned to fight the armies of the aliens? How did the love of Chrift conftrain the difciples to fpeak and act for God after the day of Pentecoft? Nothing could exceed their fortitude and diligence. Nevertheless, if the temptation to pride is yielded to, the Comforter is griev ed, and carnal fecurity, indolence of fpirit, and indulgence of the flesh, infenfibly prevail. The deluded feffor though fhorn of his ftrength, like Sampfon, fancies himfelf the fame. Soul, fays he, thou haft goods laid up for many years, even for ever; though the Lord manifefts himself to thee no more, be neither uneafy nor afraid; he changes not. Sometimes the deJufion grows to that height, that the farther he goes from the kingdom of God the ftronger he imagines his faith. He even fpeaks contemptuously of that kingdom. He calls righteoufnefs, peace and joy in the Holy Ghoft, a frame, a fenfible feeling, a low difpenfation, beyond which he has happily got. He thanks God he can now reft upon the bare word, without an application of it to his heart; that is to fay, he can be fully fatisfied with the letter without the Spirit, he can feed upon the empty hufks of notions and opinions, as if they were power and life.

The end of this dreadful mistake is generally a reIapfe into grofs fin; witnefs the falls of David and Solomon; or what is not much better, a fettling in a

form, without the power of godlinefs, as the Laodiceans of old, and too many now, who have a name to live and are dead. The only way to avoid this precipice, is to follow the light of the first manifestation, and look daily for new vifits from Chrift, till he makes his abode with us, and we walk in the light, as he is in the light. A manifeftation of the Spirit last year will no more fupport a foul this year, than air breathed yesterday will nourish the flame of life to day. The fun which warmed us laft week, muft fhine again this week. Old light is dead light. A notion of old warmth is a very cold notion. We must have fresh food daily, and though we need not a new Christ, we need, perpetually, new difplays of his eternal love and power. The Lord taught us this important leffon, by making the manna he gave Ifrael in the wilderness to difappear every day, and caufing that which was not gathered afrefh, to breed worms and ftink. Neverthelefs, as the mysterious food kept fweet in the golden pot in the ark, fo does the heavenly power in Chrift, to whom every true Ifraelite will come daily for new fupplies of hidden manna; for fresh manifeftations of the Holy Spirit. Thousands by not confidering this, feek the living among the dead, fancying that a living Saviour is to be found in dead experiences, and that all is well though they live after the flesh, and are, perhaps, led captive by the devil at his will. But when their fouls awake out of this dangerous dream, they will be fenfible of their mistake, and frankly acknowledge," God is not the God of the dead, but of the living ;" and that, "if after they have efcaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worfe with them than the beginning."

Leaving these lukewarm, formal, Laodicean profeffors to the mercy of God, I fubfcribe myself, Sir, Yours, &c.

FOURTH LETTER.

SIR,

VI. THAT fome perfons are bleffed with clearer, ftronger, or earlier manifeftations than others, is undeniable; and why it is fo, is one of the myfteries of God's kingdom, that fhall not be explained until the day of judgment. In the mean time, the following reflections may poffibly caft fome light on that dark fubject, and help us to fay, He does all things well.

1. Our Lord fuits the manifeftations of himself to the various ftates of the church. Under the Mofaic difpenfation, which confifted much in externals, divine manifeftations had, generally, fome external circumftances but the Chriftian church, being formed upon a more fpiritual plan, is favoured with revelations of a more spiritual and internal nature.

2. The Lord confiders us as rational creatures, in a ftate of probation. Were he to indulge us with pow erful, inceffant, overwhelming difcoveries of himself, he would rather violently force, than gently lead us to repentance and obedience. Every day is not a day of Pentecoft. Soon after the Son of God had feen the heavens open, he was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil; and fo is his fpoufe after him.* St. Paul, by obferving, that he was not difobedient to the heavenly vifion, and that he kept his body under, left he should become a caft-away, intimates his bright. manifeftation was not of fuch continuance and force, but he might have difabeyed, as Jonah did in a fimilar cafe. Some have, in fact, refifted bright manifeftations in their day: witnefs Cain, Judas, Balaam, Saul, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Ifraelites who perifhed in the wildernefs; and too many backfliders are refifting them now. So fure, then, as there is a time of trial for faith, hope, and patience, there is alfo an abate

Hos. - 14.