ner, and generates a new life in that fallen spirit, which before was dead to God, to itself, and to glory.

If these premises be true, or, rather, if the holy Scriptures be true from which these premises are gathered; is it possible to mistake the author and agent of so much infinite and everlasting love, for a creature, for an emanation, for a quality? If the Spirit bath love (and we read in God's revelation both of the love and the fruits of the Spirit ;) can the loye which exists in him, be the finite love of a created being, and yet be coeval and cooperative with the Father of mercies, in the everlasting salvation of sinners? If love be of God, can the love of the Spirit, which is everlasting in all its fruits and operations, be any thing else beside that love of God? And if God himself be love, can the very Spirit of that love be less or any thing else than God? Surely one should think, that no man, who credits the Bible, and certainly no man, who in the least understands it, can hesitate upon so obvious a matter. An infidel, indeed, escapes the conclusion by denying the premises, vet escapes it by involving himself in the mazes of inextricable doubt and perplexity, where he can give no clear or just account either of the author or design of his own being. But a professor of Christianity, with the Bible in his hand, rejecting the principles of that Bible which connect it as a system of saving truth, and these principles in particular concerning the personality in Jehovah, on which the whole fabric of redemption is raised; is indeed a most inconsistent creature, and would render the revelation of his maker just as incongruous as himself. 'Tis no wonder, that such men rail at divine truth in a system, while their blindness doth not see one, and which not being seen by themselves, the pride of an unsanctified understanding will not allow, that others should be favored to behold it. But Christ hath given the reason of all this, in Matth. xi. 25, &c. See also Dan. xii. IC. And yet, after all, it seems most palpably absurd, that men should study the order, relations and connections of other truth, as a bright and beautiful WHOLE, in all the sciences, and at the same time refuse to the revelation of the God of truth a character of symmetry, union, and perfection, which they think essential in every ordinary hypothesis. Blessed be God, however, his wisdom and truth are perfect; and the more the eyes of men are enlightened by his grace, the more of this perfection and harmony do they see in all his counsels of salvation.

* A late ingenicus philosopher, commenting upon his favorite Stagerite, hath truly said, that, "even negative truths and negative conclusions cannot subsist, but by bringing terms and propositions together, so necessary is this UNITING power to EVERY species of KNOWLEDGE." Harris's Hermes, p. 364, note,

He

The man, who hath tasted that the Lord is gracicus, and who KNOWS whom be bath believed,† hath the witness in bimself, that the Spirit is love and the God of love. In perfect conformity with the revealed word, which this Holy Spirit gave forth in antient times, he believes in the dignity of his person, and rejoices in the evidence of his power. The voice of the Spirit in the gospel, and the breathing of the Spirit in his inmost soul, are the flowing love of an infinite cause, and excite his affection, devotion, and gratitude, in return. reasons, and by this gracious Freceptor he reasons rightly, and from matter of fact, that an agent, acting upon him for his translation from darkness to light, overcoming the most rooted and inbred enmity of his heart to the will and ways of God, inducing at the same time a new and lively affection to them, and enabling him to resist the impetuous torrent of temptations from the world, the flesh and the devil, and to hold fast a hope, which hath very little to expect in this life, and in some cases is against all the carnal interests of it, with steadiness to the end; that such an agent as fully, at least, demonstrates himself to be God, as the material universe itself can prove, that the hand, which made it, is divine. 'Tis true, the argument, drawn fropi experience, would not be conclusive, if alone; nor, in that case, could it be expected to silence the opposition of the gainsayer; but when the experimental proof is not only corroborated by the testimony of God's word, but is appealed to by that word, one great purpose of which is to produce and confirm it; then it is no longer a particular argument, confined to individuals, but a general truth, which is consistently to be acknowledged by all

2 Tim. i. 12. To know God, or Christ, or the Holy Spirit, in the sense of the apostle, is not a theoretic or speculative notion,raised in the mind by the powers of reason; but a divine communication and impression, through the means of grace usually, upon the sensitive as well as intellectual faculties of the soul. Hence the Hebrew word for the wisdom which leads to salvation, is derived from a root which relates to the taste and sensible perception: And hence the apostle, evidently bearing in mind the original idea, mentions the savour of this knowledge, the tasting that the Lord is gracious, and the handling the word of life; which is a manner of speaking that applies to the certainty and demonstration, which the soul obtains concerning these objects. The consequence of this scriptural reasoning is, that "carnal men, lacking the Spirit of Christ," when they talk of believing God, cannot be said to KNOW whom they profess to have believed; but, at most, only to guess, or dream, concerning him. And they, of all others, are least likely to know any thing of the matter, who are hardy enough to deny the agency of that divine person, by whom alone all true knowledge of this kind can be obtained.

those, who profess to receive the outward testimony. We have a chart of the coast of New Zealand, and we have navigators who have landed upon that island: Would it be thought decent to say, that their landing proves nothing of the reality of that country to others, however it might identify the spot and confirm the chart to themselves? The case in divinity stands upon a stronger foundation than this in nature. God himself bath drawn the plan of his spiritual kingdom; and one particular portion of it is the earnest of bis Spirit in the heart; which, in the plan, is defined to be righ teousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Rom. xiv. 17. Will any man acknowledge the truth of the plan, and yet be so inconsistent as to deny the existence of what the plan delineates? Is it not grossly absurd to admit, that indeed the kingdom of God is all this righteousness, peace and joy, and yet that these are not to be felt, or known? And is it not equally absurd to allow, that though these do exist by the power of the HOLY GHOST, yet that HE is neither a person nor agent, or (if he be) that he is not essentially divine? All this would be not only making the word of God of no effect, but would be placing it beneath the mere morality of heathens, and putting it upon a level with the wildest reveries of impostors One might add, below even them; for there might be some show of consistency in these; but, in the other case, the Bible would be a bundle of contradictions, of promises unfulfilled, of intentions in themselves everlastingly important, never to be performed.

It may be retorted; "if the fruit of the SPIRIT be love, how is it, that those, who profess to believe in him, have often so little of this love in their hearts and lives? Why then are there so many seas and divisions among Christians? And wherefore do they hold such edia theologica, such religious oppositions among themselves "This is too much a truth, even though it were spoken by the accuser of the brethren. But it may be answered, that the profession of a truth by the tongue is one thing; and the possession of that truth in the soul quite another. There are thousands, who can give no better account of their name as Christians, than that it is the fashion and religion of the country in which they were born. There are thousands who never read the Bible through, nor scarce so much as look into it, who still would be offended at the very doubt of their Christianity. There are thousands also, who only read it to cavil out of it; as though it were a book of arguments, with which they were to dispute against all mankind. There are other thousands who have been bred up in a party or persuasion; and therefore they think themselves bound in honour to maintain it. And there are as many more, who fancy it a point of clever

ness and understanding to invent new methods of difference and distinction, to supply perhaps the place of those which are worn out and almost forgotten in the world. But all these litigious and irreligious wits, however they may be bemoaned for their own sakes, do not destroy the reality of the gospel, but rather fulfil its predictions. They do not prove, that there are no fruits of the Spirit, but, only, that they themselves have them not. Much less can they infer, that there is no SPIRIT OF LOVE, but, at most, that they have not the love of the Spirit. If such cannot be said to know whom they bave believed; how can their ignorance, or ignorance of any kind, affect the truth?

ter.

par

The Holy Spirit himself hath sufficiently cleared this matFrom whence come wars and fightings [or litigations of words] among you? Come they not bence, even of your lusts, that war in your members?These things are not the fruits of the Spirit, but of the flesh: They are not of God, but of man. The Spirit of peace is not the author of confusion and discord; but the restless, the pertinacious boldness of the carnal mind. The want of the Spirit of love, therefore, in ticular persons can be no argument against his own personal existence; but only against his positive operation in some human hearts. Wherever he comes and dwells, he never fails to bring peace, and to preserve it. He maketh men to be of one mind in an bouse, in the temple, in a kingdom: And whenever they are otherwise minded, we may be sure, that the Spirit of peace is by no means the occasion of it, but rather that the peace of God doth not RULE in their hearts. Though the truths of the gospel are to be maintained inviolate from error; yet this is not to be done merely by multiplying parties, which have too often much more of the heat of the flesh in them, then the wisdom of the Spirit; but rather in meck-. ness instructing those that oppose themselves, and perhaps against their own happiness and salvation. Luther, magnanimous and zealous as he was in contending for the grand pecularities of the gospel, would have yielded far more to the idle and nugatory ceremonies of the Romish church, then any modern protestant can or possibly ought to do, for the sake of peace. He was rather driven than inclined of himself to that degree of reformation, which he afterwards established. But for protestants to bite and devour, who are agreed in fundamentals, merely because of some external and non-essential circumstances, is matter of triumph at Rome, and, it may be, in Babylan below. One thing, however, appears very certain, amidst this world of brawling and contention about outward rituals, that it is not man which can render truth prevalent and effectual to the soul, but God alone. He will maintain Lis own cause, much better without than with the help of

66

man's evil tempers and passions, which are too often, like his tongue, (to use the apostolic language) set on fire of bell. Why all this (it may be said) is setting up the act of uniformity, and encroaching upon liberty of conscience and the natural rights of mankind."There is no plea in all this for human authority, nor yet for opposition to it. The whole of this matter stands upon much higher ground. God's book is the Christian's act of uniformity: And,every one, who is truly a Christian, is a conformist in grace, whatever he may be in.g in respects which are not gracious. Such a man must own, that God hath but one people, one flock, one family, among men; and that these have but one Lord, one faith, and one hope of their calling. Here is a uniformity, in which all real Christians are united: And, if they are united here, in the name of religion and common sense, what is the profit or use of all other unions or disunions?

But this is latudinarianism?"-Far from it, in the evil sense of that long name. It is no broader than that way of truth, the gate of which is so strait to human corruption, that no evil man desires to enter within it. There is such a thing as the grace of charity to bear and forbear, as well as the grace of faith to understand and believe. And if there be no schism in the natural body, and can be none without disfiguring it; what man living can point out the use or beauty of schism in that spiritual frame, which is called Christ's body? Rom. xii. 5. 1 Cor. xii. 27.

O for more fruit of this Spirit of Love among Christians! There would not be so much classing into denominations, nor clashing of parties; but more pure and fervent affection for ALL, of all parties and denomiations, who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.* The measure of love to Christ would

How truly amiable is the spirit of the famous Ambrose, bishop of Milan! and yet no one, who remembers his faithfulness to the emperor Theodotius, can suspect him for a trimmer. Quando hic sum [Mediol.] non jejuno sabbatho, quando Roma sum jejuno sabbatho ; et ad quamcunque ecclesiam veneritis, ejus morem servate, si pati non vultis scandalum aut facere. "When I am at Alilan I do not fast on the Sabbath, but I do the contrary when I am at Rome: And so whatever church you come to, follow its mode, if you would wish neither to suffer distraction and offence, nor to give any." To the same effect of the celebrated Augustine, his friend, justly says; Sit una fides universe ecclesiæ, etiam si ipsa fidei unitas quibusdam diversis observationibus celebratur, quibus nullo modo quod in fide verum est, imfeditur. Omnis enim puichritudo filiæ regis intrinsecus: ILLÆ QUtem observationes que varie celebrantur, in ejus veste intelliguntur. Unde ibi dicitur; In fimbriis aureis circumamnicta varietate. Sed ea queque vestis ita diversis celebrationibus varietur, ut non adversis contentionibus disipatur. Ep. 86..