may startle him; for I doubt not he thinks verily, that he believes, because he has examined for himself, and is fully convinced! But surely he has never made thoroughly the right examination, for if he had, he could never believe the common credenda of religion in our land. He may have gone as far as his natural powers can lead him, under all the clogs and prejudices of education and popular opinion; but it is to be feared, the Father which is in heaven, has not revealed his son in him, has not translated him into the kingdom of his dear son. He cannot then in this state, call Jesus, Lord, by the holy ghost; he may say, the Lord liveth, and Christ is the son of God, and nevertheless swear falsely!

The substance of what I have written, I have at least learned mostly of the Father. I learned the mystery of it, not of man, neither was I ever clearly and livingly taught it by man, as man; but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

If, courteous reader, thy mind is now, or at any time hereafter shall be, so opened and prepared, as to receive and assent to these declarations, and would wish them to be of real benefit to thy soul, I have this further to say to thee: have a care; catch not at it in the prying wisdom of man; seek not to have the vulture's eye to behold it; it will do thee no good, in the letter, out of the life of it. Wait on the Lord in stillness, in singleness, and holy abstraction of soul, before him. Be content with a little, make not haste. And as thine eye is single to the divine light in thee, thy whole body will become full of light; thou wilt not lack any good thing, any necessary information; but God will reveal all things to thee, as far and as fast as thou canst safely and usefully bear them. If thou advancest in this school rightly, it can never be further or faster than thou advancest in purification; and that must be through burning and fuel of fire. If thou canst not dwell with devouring fire, and with spiritual burnings, thou wilt never make a proficient in the science of salvation, nor stand faithful in the Lamb's warfare. But if thy heart is won to Jesus in good earnest, and thou art engaged to follow him, wherever he leads thee; through fire and water, through persecution, temptation, ridicule, and contempt; if thou art bent to bear him company

before the high priests, lawyers, and Pilate'; and to stand by him through all his perils, in his fast, agony, and death on the cross, hold on thy way, he'll be with thee, and will not forsake thee. Remember for thy encouragement what he said to his disciples, "Ye have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom." This will hold good to all his upright followers for ever.

I heartily wish thee a good journey in thy race to the heavenly Canaan, the communication and comfort of the holy spirit, and a blissful abode in the mansions of eternity.

I dedicate, in much real good will, the foregoing to thy use and service, and bid thee farewell; until we meet next in the realms of Emmanuel, to unite with saints, angels, and seraphs in the songs of salvation, round the throne of Jehovah for ever.

SOME OPENINGS OF TRUTH,

IN REGARD TO THE

DOCTRINES OF THE SCRIPTURES:

Mostly such as God has given me by his own Holy Spirit, which "searcheth all things; yea, the deep things of God."

MATT. chap. i. ver. 1. "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

- Christ is not only the son of David, and David the son of Abraham; but Christ himself is the son, (strictly so in spirit,) both of Abraham and of David; yea, of all the holy fathers.

Many good Christians may not have duly considered this, and so may be ready to doubt the truth of it. But many things are true which seem strange, and almost impossible, to those who have never been let into them. There are many deep mysteries, not only in spiritual things, but also in natural things, which thousands disbelieve, only because they have not been opened to their understandings; and yet those to whom they have been opened, are sure of the truth of them. It is, therefore, of excellent use in preparing us to understand and receive the truth, to stand open in our minds, with a full conviction that many things may be true, which we have never yet seen to be so. If this be the disposition of our minds, and we look to God, and humbly desire his divine assistance, he may graciously open things to us, one after another, which, of ourselves, we never could pry into, or behold. He may give us to see clearly, that Christ is not only the son of God, and of Abraham, and of David, but of every true born son of God in every age of the world.

It may be thought by many, that Christ is not the son of any

but God, and the virgin Mary; but Christ himself positively declares, he that doeth the will of his Father," the same is his mother, and sister, and brother." Shall we suppose he only meant that they were dearly beloved by him, and owned as if they were his nearest relations? By such glosses and interpretations, is the true meaning of many of his deep, and deeply instructive sayings qualified away. But, verily, he meant as he said; and had he not carefully confined his words to a strict meaning, he might have called such his father too. But in the spiritual sense in which he was speaking, no man can possibly be his father, but God. It is true that we read of his father David. In regard to his outward genealogy and descent, David was his forefather; but in regard to his birth in man, none can be Christ's father but God only. And in order to hold this forth to mankind, even his body that was born of the virgin, was conceived by the overshadowing efficacy of the holy ghost, without the agency of any other immediate father but God. Thus the outward holds a lively analogy with the inward. But though, speaking of the inward, no man can be his father, yet man can and must be, his "mother," as well as "sister and brother," if ever he comes to be truly regenerated and born of the "incorruptible seed and word of God." This new birth is ever produced by the overshadowing of the holy ghost upon the souls of men and if this gracious overshadowing produce not the holy birth in some men, it is through their default, or the want of their co-operation with it. In such as these, it is like the seed sown in bad ground, and fails of heavenly increase; for "the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord." There must be an assent of the mind, a uniting with, and cleaving to the holy overshadowing or regenerating influence of the holy ghost, in every soul where the new birth is effected. And even in the case of our Lord's conception in the virgin, it was not without the hearty assent of her mind; for at the time from which this conception is reckoned, the language of her assenting soul was, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word." And herein the generation of Jesus Christ appears in beautiful and instructive analogy. The conception even of the body not being

without the cordial submission, faith, and acquiescence of the virgin; which is a lively display of that state which invariably takes place in every soul that becomes the mother of Christ, which every one doth that is born again, or is born of God. For this new birth, or birth in man, "of the incorruptible seed of God," is as real a birth as is our first birth, or birth into this world.

Some may think it a mere metaphorical expression, but it is as perfect a reality as any in nature; and that babe of life, that true child of God, that cries "Abba, Father," is never brought forth, but through a union of the two seeds, the human and divine. And as both seeds are spiritual, hence," he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," as the apostle truly asserts. This is the true union with God; and those thus begotten of him. are all, strictly speaking, "the offspring of God," and children of the Most High. Stumble not at it, reader; it is the very truth of God; the only sure way of salvation by Christ. And had salvation ever been without a real birth of God in the soul, a substantial union of the very life of God, and of man, brought forth, and growing up into one new man, which, in all ages and nations, is the true Immanuel state, God with man, in a real living union and oneness, Christ's birth of the virgin would have had no relation to the salvation of souls. But now, blessed for ever be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, this outward coming of the son of his love, or this his appearance, work, and service in that prepared body, is a most lively and instructive exhibition and display of the alone true way and work of salvation. It shows us that no names, notions, creeds, forms, or performances, are of any avail in that great work, that are not in, and receive not all their life and virtue from and in the real life and virtue of the Immanuel state, the union of God and man. This it concerns each individual to experience in his own heart. For nothing done for us, without us, is of any further actual and final advantage to us, than as it promotes the life and growth of this divine union.

There is a great deal said of faith, regeneration, and imputation; and the adversary cares not how busy men are in talking, imagining, and building creeds and systems, and professionally