St. John informs us, that Ifaiah SAW Chrift's glory, and fpake of him, when he defcribed the glorious manifeftation, in which he received a new feal of pardoning and fanctifying love. "I faw the Lord, fays he, fitting upon his throne, high and lifted up; his train filled the temple. The Seraphims covering their faces with their wings, cried one to another, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hofts. Then faid I, wo is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have feen the King, the Lord of Hofts. Then flew one of the Seraphims, and touching me with a live coal from off the altar, he faid, Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy fin purged." Many never witness the forgiveness of their fins, till they fee by faith the Lord of hofts, and are melted into repentance, and inflamed with love at the glorious fight. Ifaiah not only beheld Chrift's glory, but was bleffed with the cleareft views of his fufferings. He faw him as "a man of forrows, and acquainted with griefs;" and asked him, "Why he was red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treadeth the wine vat?" Thefe revelations were not only calculated for the good of the church, but also for the establishment of the prophet's faith.

I fhall not mention those of Ezekiel; they are fo numerous, that a particular account of them would alone fill a letter, I refer you to the book itself. Jeremiah fpeaking of God's people fays, in exprefs terms, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me faying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlafting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee." Daniel enjoyed the fame favour. "He faw the Ancient of days, and one like the fon of man coming with the clouds of heaven." We may naturally fuppofe, that Daniel's three companions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were fenfible of their heavenly Deliverer's prefence. They were more concerned in the difcovery than Nebuchadnezzar, who B b

+ Ifa. vi. 1. &c.

cried out, "Lo, I fee four men loofe, walking in the midst of the fire, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

It would be abfurd to fuppofe, that the leffer prophets, and other men of God, to whom the word of the Lord came, had no discovery of the Lord himself, the effential Word. If fome difplay of his prefence had not attended their every revelation, might they not have faid, Thus fays my warm imagination,thus fays my enthusiastic brain, as well as, Thus fays the Lord?

From the variety and authenticity of these manifestations left upon facred record, I conclude, that the doctrine I maintain, far from being new and unfcriptural, is fupported by the experiences of God's children for 3600 years, viz. from the creation of the world till the clofe of the Old Testament.

With respect to what is extraordinary, as to the defign, and barely external, as to the circumstances of fome of these manifeftations, I refer you to the diftinctions I made on that fubject in my fecond letter. Should you object, that the contents of this prove only, that God favoured the Patriarchs and Jews with immediate revelations of himself, because they had neither the gospel nor the scriptures: I anfwer,

1. The gofpel was preached to them, as well as to us. The Patriarchs had tradition, which anfwered the end of the fcriptures in their day. The Jews, in the time of the judges, had not only tradition, but a confiderable part of the fcriptures, even all the writings of Mofes. Under the kings, they had the Pfalms, Job, Ecclefiaftes, the Proverbs, and a thousand and five fongs of Solomon, one of which only has been handed down to our times. They had alfo the book of Nathan the prophet, the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the vifions of Iddo the feer, which are now loft. Thefe contained the fubftance of the Bible.

2. When the Lord answered Saul no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams, the reafon affigned for '

it by the Holy Ghost is, not that the canon of fcripture was filled, and there was no more occafion for immediate revelations; but that the Lord was departed from him, and was become his enemy.

3. David, who had the honour of being a facred writer himself, after his relapfe into fin, could not be fatisfied with the Pfalms he had penned down, but mourned, prayed, and watered his bed with his tears, inconfolable till the Lord immediately revealed his pardoning love, and faid to his foul, I am thy falva

tion.

4. If, because we have the letter of fcripture, we must be deprived of all immediate manifeftations of Chrift and his Spirit, we are great lofers by that bleffed book, and we might reafonably fay-" Lord "bring us back to the difpenfation of Mofes. Thy "Jewish fervants could formerly converfe with thee "face to face, but now we can know nothing of thee, "but by their writings. They viewed thy glory in "various wonderful appearances, but we are indulged "only with black lines telling us of thy glory. They "had the bright Shekinah, and we have only obfcure "defcriptions of it. They were bleffed with lively "oracles and we only with a dead letter. The ark "of thy covenant went before them, and ftruck ter"ror into all their adverfaries; but a book, of which "our enemies make daily sport, is the only revelation "of thy power among us. They made their boast "of Urin and Thummim, and received particular, "immediate anfwers from between the Cherubim ; but "we have only general ones, by means of Hebrew "and Greek writings, which many do not under"ftand. They converfed familiarly with Mofes, their "mediator, with Aaron their high-prieft, and Sa"muel their prophet; these holy men gave them un"erring directions in doubtful cafes; but, alas! the "apoftles and infpired men are all dead, and thou Je"fus, our Mediator, Prieft, and Prophet, canft not "be confulted to any purpofe, for thou manifestest "thyfelf no more. As for thy facred book, thou

"knoweft that fometimes the want of money to pur"chase it, the want of learning to confult the original, the want of wifdom to understand the tranfla❝tion, the want of fkill or fight to read it, prevent "our improving it to the best advantage, and keep fome froin reaping any benefit from it at all.

"Lord, if, becaufe we have this bleffed picture of "thee, we must have no difcovery of the glorious "original, have compaffion on us, take back thy "precious book, and impart thy more precious felf "to us, as thou didst to thy ancient people."

5. St. Paul declares, that though the Mofaic difpenfation was glorious, that of Chrift exceeds it in glo

But if Chrift revealed himfelf immediately to the Jews, and to Chriftians only mediately, by the letter of a book, it is plain, the apostle was mistaken; for no one can deny, it is far more glorious to fee the light of God's countenance and hear his voice, than merely to read fomething about them in a book.

6. That particular manifeftations of Chrift, far from ceafing with the Jewifh, have increafed in brightness and fpirituality under the Chriftian difpenfation, I fhall endeavour to prove in my next. I am, Sir, &c.

SIXTH LETTER.

SIR,

ACCORDING to my promife, I fhall now prove, that the New Teftament abounds, as well as the Old, with accounts of particular revelations of the Son of God.

Before his birth, he manifefted himself to the bleffed virgin, by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghoft. She rejoiced in God her Saviour, and glorified more, in having him revealed as God in her foul, than in finding him conceived as man in her womb. Soon after Jofeph, her husband, was affured in a hea

venly dream, that the child the bore was Emmanuel, God with us. He revealed himself next to Elizabeth. When she heard the falutation of Mary, fhe was filled with the Holy Ghoft, and made fenfible, that the virgin was the mother of her Lord. So powerful was this manifestation, that her unborn fon was affected by it-The babe leaped in her womb for joy, and was filled with the Holy Ghoft even from his mother's womb.

So important is a particular knowledge of Jefus, that an angel directed the fhepherds, and a miraculous ftar the wife men, to the place where he was born: and there the Holy Ghoft fo revealed him to their hearts, that they helitated not to worship the feemingly defpicable infant, as the majeftic. God, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain.

Simeon, who waited for the confolation of Ifrael, had it revealed to him by the Holy Ghost, that he fhould not fee death, before he had feen the Lord's Chrift. The promife was fulfilled; and while his bodily eyes difcovered nothing but a poor infant, prefented without pomp in the temple, his fpiritual eyes perceived him to be the light of Ifrrel, and the Salvation of God. Nor was this extraordinary favour granted only to Simeon, for it is written, all flesh fhall fee the falvation of God; and St. Luke informs us, that Anna partook of the fight with the old Ifraelite, gave thanks to her new born Lord, and fpake of him to all that waited for redemption in Jerufalem.

When he entered upon his miniftry, he first manifefted himself to his forerunner. "I knew him not" perfonally, faid John; "but he that fent me to baptize with water, faid unto me, Upon whom thou fhalt fee the Spirit defcending, and remaining on him, the fame is he, who baptizes with the Holy Gholt. And I faw, and bear record, that this is the Son of God, the Lamb, that taketh away the fins of the world.”

Jefus had manifefted himself ipiritually to Nathaniel under the fig tree; and the honeft Ifraelite, being