sunshine, would, were the veil but put aside, exhibit the original of the picture, which Mr. Black has drawn above, of the interior of his own heart. Those who have perused Dr. Doddridge's interesting narrative of remarkable passages in the life of Colonel Gardiner, cannot fail to be here reminded of the striking corroboration of the truth of these sentiments afforded by the experience of that distinguished officer in the midst of his revelry and dissipation. The irrepressible buoyancy of his spirit had earned for him the appellation of "The happy rake," and often made him an object of envy to those who paid him the dreadful compliment. "Yet," says the Dr., "still the checks of conscience, and some remaining principles of so good an education, would break in upon his most licentious hours; and I particularly remember he told me, that when some of his dissolute companions were once congratulating him on his most distinguished felicity, a dog happening at that time to come into the he could not forbear groaning inwardly, and saying to himself, 'Oh that I were that dog!" who would find rest for his soul must despair of realizing it in the gay illusions of sense; retiring from the enchanted circle of worldly pleasure, he must seek it where alone it ever has or ever can be found-in the love of God, and its inseparable concomitant-a hope of glory that maketh not ashamed.

room,

"Thou art the source and centre of all minds,

Their only point of rest, Eternal Word;

From thee departing, they are lost, and rove
At random, without honour, hope, or peace

C

He

From thee is all that soothes the life of man;
His high endeavour and his glad success;
His strength to suffer, and his will to serve.
But O! thou bounteous giver of all good!
Thou art of all thy gifts thyself the crown;
Give what thou canst, without thee we are poor,
And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away."
COWPER.

CHAPTER II.

THE DIVINE ORIGIN OF THE GOSPEL CLEARLY DEMONSTRABLE-ITS SPIRITUAL EFFICIENCY-EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION ESSENTIAL TO A MINISTER OF CHRIST-ACCOUNT OF MR. BLACK'S CONVERSION IN A LETTER TO MR. WESLEY-DETAIL OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS CONVERSION-HIS VIVID DELINEATION OF HIS PEACE AND JOY THROUGH BELIEVING HE IS ASSAILED BY STRONG TEMPTATIONS OBTAINS THE VICTORY OVER THEM, AND ENJOYS GREAT PEACE-IS MADE A BLESSING TO HIS FAMILY.

THE Apostle Paul, in addressing the Galatians, thus emphatically asserts the divine origin of the system he had with singular success preached among them :"I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached of me, is not after man; for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." On this basis rest all its claims to reception and obedience. And those claims are, indeed, divinely sustained. The documentary proof of the divinity of the Christian system is luminous, varied, and abundant. Before the foundations on which the righteous build their elevated hopes are destroyed, the volume of inspired prediction, extant for ages, and for ages interpreted and fulfilled by the events of history, must sink into oblivion,-all confidence must be withdrawn from human and historical testimony the most unexceptionable,-the depositions

of the senses, though given in circumstances highly favourable to their calm and convincing exercise, must be set aside,—and the progressive character and intimate agreement, the peerless grandeur and majestic simplicity of the series of revelations that compose the sacred records, must be accounted for without the supposition of their having emanated from the Supreme Intelligence. Till then let the infidel suspend his propensity to indulge in invidious and self-complacent comparisons; let him not gratuitously felicitate himself on his intellectual magnanimity, and impugn the disciple of the New Testament, as weak and credulous.

The celestial origin of the Gospel is susceptible of another species of demonstration, as satisfactory to the heart imbued with its influence, as that, which has been just hinted at, is to the understanding. The Gospel is essentially a remedial scheme. Its grand and peculiar characteristic is, that it unfolds the ruin of man by himself, and his recovery by the mercy and grace of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Along with an exposure of the disease in all its malignancy, which has laid waste our moral constitution, it exhibits a divine specific, of unfailing virtue, to invigorate with spiritual health all who receive it. From such a system, the idea of EXPERIMENTAL RELIGION, however stigmatised as ENTHUSIASM by those who "know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God," is obviously inseparable. "The truth as it is in Jesus" cannot be adequately understood without being felt. "The natural man," however gifted by nature, or cultivated by education, "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." If, without this divine illumination and experience, a man can

have no proper perception of the things of God, it would seem altogether superfluous to prove that he cannot be qualified to teach them. Besides, it is preposterous to conceive, that He who ever adapts his instruments to the work in which they are employed, should select unconverted and unholy men to carry forward the moral renovation of the world. The objects of the Christian Ministry are thus represented by the Divine Author of the institution, in his address to Paul: "To turn" men "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified, by faith that is in me." To qualify Paul for this sublime and holy office, it was not enough that the Son of God was revealed to him-he was also revealed in him. (Galat. i: 16). And it is worthy of special consideration that he received this interior revelation of Christ that he might be qualified to preach him. The objects of that ministry are still the same; and the same spiritual preparation, on the part of those called to sustain it, is still equally necessary to their attainment. Without this, intellect of the highest order, though disciplined with care, and enriched with various and recondite knowledge, an imagination fervid yet chaste, a memory the most tenacious, and an elocution equally graceful and energetic, avail but little in the sacred desk. They may excite admiration, but they will not win souls. Cicero declares it as his settled persuasion, that no one can hope to attain perfection as an orator "unless he shall have acquired the knowledge of all the sciences."* Still more indispen

Ac mea quidem sententia, nemo poterit esse omni laude cumu latus orator, nisi erit omnium rerum magnarum atque artium scientiam consecutus.-De Orat. Lib. I,