impulse. The judgment is convinced by evidence so powerful, as has sometimes called forth the exclamation, "This is demonstration;" the will is persuasively inclined by appropriate motives; the affections are excited and fixed by suitable objects; and the conscience is impressed by the authority of Heaven,-all being according to the distinctive properties of a rational na

ture.

These remarks are not unconnected with the subject of this letter, for they relate to things which have kept not a few from discerning the gracious and consolatory nature of the Gospel of peace. On this subject I have yet some more observations to make, which I reserve for another letter.-In the meantime, believe me to be yours, &c.

LETTER XXI.

ON THE GRACIOUS AND CONSOLATORY NATURE OF THE GOSPEL.

The happinesss of the first Christians- Remarks on the witness of the Spirit-Christian comfort increased by obedience-Action the test of sentiments-The Gospel illustrated by the parables in Luke xv.-The riches of Divine Grace a manifesta❤ tion of the truth of the Gospel-Remarks on Luke xiii. 24, 25. Heb. x. 26, 27. Hos. iv. 17. Heb. xii. 17. and 1 Tim. i. 13.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I RESUME the subject of my last letter by referring you to the happiness of the first Christians. We cannot have a better rule to judge by than the effects produced in the first believers of the Gospel; for in them the genuine nature of its influences must certainly be

seen.

Now we find that they received it with emotions of joy and of gladness. They who received it on the day of Pentecost continued daily with one accord in the Temple, and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Acts ii. 46. Peter and John rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ. Acts v. 41. When Philip preached in Samaria, there was great joy in that city; when the Ethiopian Eunuch believed, he went on his way rejoicing; and we find the like happiness in the jailor of Philippi, and in the Thessalonians who received the word in much affliction, with joy in the Holy Ghost. Acts viii. 8, 39. 1 Thess. i. 6. Nor was this confined to the very first converts: Peter, when not far from the time of his death, said of the great body of Christians then on earth, Whom having not seen ye love; in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; and John, when far advanced in years, wrote to his brethren, that their joy might be full. 1 Pet. i. 8. The apostles address them as partakers of the Spirit of adoption,-as governed by love to God from a sense of his love to them, and as in the enjoyment of peace with him through the atonement of his Son. Rom. viii. 15. 1 John iv. 19. Rom. v. 1, 11. They exhort them to obedience to God,-to mutual love and forgiveness,and indeed to universal holiness, from the consideration of their being redeemed from sin and in a state of ac ceptance;-of their having been loved and forgiven of God, and blessed for the sake of their Lord,-and of their being the temples of his Spirit. Now all this supposes that they had a habitual consciousness of their being the subjects of Divine Grace, for otherwise these motives could not have had the influence which it is

taken for granted they possessed. It is wrong to ascribe this to the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, for of these, all, even of the first Christians, did not par

take, and neither were they always tokens of the acMatth. vii. 22, 23. ceptance of those who had them."

1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2. Their peace, confidence, and joy, arose from faith in the Gospel, and from the springs of consolation which it opened to them as they continued to exercise it in constant obedience and patient suffering. Rom. viii. 31-39; xv. 13.

You must see, then, that the same grounds of confidence and sources of happiness are exhibited to us, and our access to all of them is as free as was theirs. We ought therefore to look to the same great and tranWe have not sporting truths which animated them.

because we ask not, or because we ask amiss. We ought not to rest satisfied with expressing merely a willingness or a desire to love and obey the Redeemer, and to put our confidence in Him: we ought actually to confide in Him, and to serve and obey Him.

The witness of the Spirit is not a privilege peculiar to the primitive disciples. Never did it consist in a voice from Heaven proclaiming that an individual in particular was now made a child of God, or in any private internal revelation, assuring him of his being forgiven and accepted. Neither does it consist in suggesting some promise of Scripture to the mind, with a powerful impression, as if in this way God revealed to man that he is in a state of salvation. Were it so, it would follow that revelation is not perfect, and that God continues to give revelations, and revelations of new truths too; for with regard to the actual possession of spiritual blessings by any individual, the Scriptures contain no direct declaration. When, therefore, a person's dejection arises from the want of such impressions of Scripture promises as he has heard or read of others having felt, he is forgetting that all the promises are yea and amen through the work of Christ; and that every sinner who believes in that work has an interest in all of them, in as far as his circum

stances require the blessings they contain; and he is refusing to credit the Divine word without some additional evidence to confirm it. The Spirit does indeed bring the truth to our remembrance; but it is by directing us to the true meaning of his word, and not by detaching one part of it from another, and affixing to it a meaning which it does not bear where it stands. He opened the understandings of the apostles to perceive the meaning and the glory of the sayings of Christ, many of which they had forgotten, and of all of which they had been previously comparatively ignorant : He still keeps alive in our remembrance the doctrines, promises, and precepts of Scripture, and in particular he enlightens the mind as to the import of the great truths that regard the character and the work of the Saviour; and thus fills with strong consolation and good hope through grace. John xiv. 16, 17-26; xv. 26; xvi. 8-15.

I need not say that this is quite a different thing from applying promises or passages of Scripture without enlightening the understanding or rectifying the heart, and which have no relation to the situation of the person; which were to tear them from their connection, and wholly to misapply them. With regard to promises that teach the cause or origin of redemption, which is the grace of God, no one has a warrant to consider himself in possession of the blessing but in the way of his believing in the propitiation of Christ, through which this grace is manifested to sinners: And with regard to such promises as are made to particular characters, they can only apply to any individual in as far as his character and circumstances answer to those referred to in them.

When people wait for particular impressions as the rule of their duty, the ground of their faith, or the spring of their comfort, it is evident that the stress is laid not upon the truth contained in the Scripture im

pressed, but wholly on the impression itself, as a token that the passage is immediately sent from God to the individual. Does not this open a door to the wildest enthusiasm ? Does it not tend to disparage the word of the living God, to supplant his voice which is there heard, and to make that Gospel which is his power to give place to the roamings of fancy, and the offspring of mere imagination? Some, accordingly, who have lived in the neglect of the Scriptures, and of Christian diligence, have said that they enjoyed the hope of salvation, because certain promises had at some periods been powerfully impressed upon their minds. Such mistaken notions have done incalculable harm to those who have acted on them, and have excited much prejudice against every thing connected with the work of the Spirit; and in particular against that part of it which respects the comfort and the firm confidence of the people of God. On the Scripture doctrine concerning this, allow me to say a very few words.

The Scriptures unequivocally declare, that sinners become the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus : This, therefore, is the witness or testimony of the spirit and when he enables us to perceive the import, evidence, and excellence of the Gospel, he draws forth the witness of our conscience, that we now see, believe, and love the truth. It is not, then, by immediate revelation, or direct suggestions, nor even by shining upon his own work in the mind, (unless in as far as by mutual re-action, the truth illustrates its effects, and they again illustrate the truth,) but by so influencing us as to make us receive the love of what is proclaimed openly in the Scriptures, that the Spirit of God enables us to apply to ourselves his testimony in them to the sonship of all who believe in the Saviour. He may do so at one time by directing the mind to this, and in another case to that portion of Scripture, for there is