arguments which may stop his mouth, and be more convincing to him than my assertion, which is all that hitherto he has. But yet these arguments are not that whereon my mind rests satisfied as to the truth, though they may be of great use, not only to convince him, but to relieve my mind against such subtile sophisms as he shall make use of, which, though they could not persuade me out of the sight of my eyes, or the evidence shining to my mind, yet troubled me how to answer them, and at times when, through my inadvertency, or indisposition of my eyes, and through clouds overspreading or interposing betwixt this light and me, these objections might shake me a little."

The Scriptures are never believed to be the word of God, until the majesty and truth, the wisdom and grace, the authority and power of God, are perceived in the doctrines and duties they declare unto mankind. But whenever these glorious views of the character and will of God are discerned in his own testimony concerning himself, his words enter the conscience with irresistible light and sovereign power, and then the faith of the soul begins to "stand, not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Hereby the mind obtains a clear and undeniable evidence of the truth and authority of the Scriptures, and comes under their influence as a rule of faith and obedience.

What has been said on this subject, suggests to us the following reflections. 1. Men may very accurately examine, explain, and defend the external evidences of the Christian lief of its saving: truths.

religion, without any beA faith founded upon

such evidence, does not put the soul into the possession of any of the truths contained in the Scripture. Such convictions, in their highest degrees, leave the person without the knowledge and comfort of the great things contained in the word of God. There was never an age wherein the truth of Christianity was demonstrated with more ability, in opposition to infidelity, than the present; and, perhaps, infidelity never prevailed more than it does at present, in the face of all these demonstrations of its folly and absurdity. Christianity was at first established by a faithful manifestation of its own truths; and it must be supported by the same means. 2. The strongest and the weakest capacities of mankind are on the same footing, as to the perception of the grounds of believing the gospel. The strongest sight sees that the sun shines, by means of his own beams; and the weakest sees it in the same medium, and has the same assurance of the fact by the same kind of evidence. The one, indeed, perceives it in a greater degree than the other, because his eye-sight is stronger; but they both perceive the same sun shine, and they both perceive it by his own light. The same may be said of the philosopher and the peasant ; they both know that the sun shines, and both know it by the same evidence. The greatest scholar, and the meanest Christian, supposing them to be both. believers of the gospel, receive its precious doctrines upon the same evidence, namely, upon the testimony of God speaking in the word. And, 3. The power that renders the gospel effectual to the salvation of sinners, must be altogether divine and irresistible. It calleth things that are not as though they were;

and demonstrates things eternal and unseen, giving them a kind of present subsistence in the mind. But as this coincides with the next observation, I shall not pursue the subject any further.

PROP. III. The Holy Ghost must enlighten the eyes of our understanding, to perceive the authority and truth of the divine testimony, in the word which we believe.

"The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." When the great things of the divine law, relating to the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ, are proposed, in the clearest light, to the understanding of a natural man, who acts only upon the principles of reason, they are as a sealed book unto him, or as a book which is put into the hands of one that cannot read. As long as the veil remains upon the heart, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God cannot shine in it. The Holy Spirit must enter into the mind with such irresistible light, as convinces the judgment, awakens the conscience, and engages the will to a compliance with every branch of revealed truth. This inward illumination removes the natural depravity and prejudices of our hearts, with their numerous indispositions to discern the true meaning, authority, and faithfulness of scripture-declarations. They teach us to profit. There is something efficacious and never-failing in the success of it; for "every man who hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh

to the Son." But unless the Spirit of wisdom and revelation enlighten the eyes of our understanding, all external revelations will be ineffectual as to sav

ing purposes. Hence is that pathetic expostulation of the prophet, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" It

is the Spirit that irradiates our souls with the glories of the word; and hence true believers are said to "receive, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that they might know the things that are freely given them of God."

If we consider the success of our blessed Lord's own excellent ministry, and of the ministry of his apostles, we will perhaps be surprised at the amazing difference. He went about always doing good, and he spake as never man spake; yet his ministry was successful to very few during the course of several years. But upon the day of Pentecost, that immediately succeeded his ascension, light and grace shot their rays into the souls of multitudes by one sermon of one of his apostles, and three thousand were converted that very day. To imagine that this difference arose from the superiority of the servant to the Master, would be blasphemous; and to impute it to the better disposition of Peter's hearers, were contrary to fact. The plentiful effusion of the promised Comforter was the only reason of the extraordinary success that accompanied the preaching of Peter; whereas the Spirit was not yet so plentifully given while Christ was on earth. But after Jesus was glorified, the Spirit was poured out; and then "the gospel came not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance;" it ran and

was glorified, and many believed, according as the hand of the Lord accompanied it, and as the Lord gave to every man.

The Scriptures reveal every thing that it is profitable for us to know concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; yet the Comforter must, by the exceeding greatness of his mighty power, open the eyes of our understanding, and set the great things of the law and gospel in a strong, clear, convincing, and impressive light before our mind. It is not his office to reveal unto us something which is not contained in the word;* but to convince us, with the evidence of demonstration, that every thing reported to us in that precious book is real; that the testimony it gives is the testimony of God; that the whole is every way adapted to our wants and comfort; that it is the only means of salvation to our souls; and that we have an immediate interest in all the truths which are delivered to mankind in these living oracles: I say, the chief office of the Spirit is to convince us, with the evidence of demonstration, concerning these things; and in performing this office, he opens the understanding to know, he opens the heart to believe, the Scriptures themselves. Mr. Harvey remarks, that "such is the darkness, such the depravity of our minds, that they will not, they cannot, be made wise unto salvation, even from the Scriptures themselves, without the powerful agency

* For persons to expect an additional new revelation from the Spirit, is great presumption; to depend upon such a fancied revelation, is gross delusion; and to make such a deluding pretence the rule of their conduct, is the highest reproach unto the sure word of prophecy, unto which we do well to take heed, as to a light that hath shined in a dark place:" 2 Pet. i. 19..