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"And this is the will of him that sent me," said Christ, "that every one that believeth in me hould have everlasting life;" "and this life is in the Son," saith his apostle.

I wish that every one were as attentive to the great truths recorded in the Scriptures as he should be, and would read them with that ancient simplicity which the primitive Christians possessed, seeking food from the great object to which they direct us, instead of using them to prop up favourite topics, and empty opinions, which some men may have told us are to be found in them. I believe these empty speculations and borrowed opinions have clouded the understandings of thousands of sincere people, and that there is no way to expel these clouds but by returning to those first principles which the inspired records sufficiently inform us were possessed by all churches, in a greater or less degree, in the apostles' days. They were made quick of understanding, not by bare speculation, but by the fear of the Lord. But, alas for us in this day! how dull of understanding are we become, if none but bachelors of arts are to unfold the meaning of the excellent epistles written by the apostle Paul to these primitive Christians! I am persuaded that he who was so desirous to speak with the understanding, did not write in an unknown tongue; and I therefore conclude, that these converted Christians were all

* John vi. 40.

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bachelors of arts, without university learning; and that these letters, when read, were quite easy to be understood by every one who was obedient to the teachings of the Spirit, and acted in obedience thereto. But such as were inattentive to the teachings of the Spirit, remained unlearned in spiritual knowledge, and were also unstable in walking by faith.

Such superficial professors could not understand the apostle's spiritual language; and I wish there was not so much reason to fear, that both cause and effect still exist, and will exist, while we trust in human learning to make ministers of the gospel, neglecting the teachings of the Spirit, or considering them as of secondary importance. These are the neglectful scholars, who are unlearned and unstable in the Scriptures, and wrest them in a contrary way to the mind of the Spirit, which the apostle Peter saith is "to their own. destruction." And the apostle Paul, speaking of himself and his fellow apostles, saith, they were made able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; and then adds, " for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."

I do therefore conceive, that, in order to be able ministers of the gospel, the same qualifications are at this time needful; and that most of the objections advanced against it, are inconsistent with Christian gravity, and a striving about words to

2 Pet. iii. 16.

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2 Cor. iii. 6.

no profit, but to subverting the hearers or readers of such unsound reasoning. I am fully persuaded, that there is one infallible teacher, who has been from the beginning of time, and will remain until time shall be no more.

With this teacher the primitive Christians were acquainted, and so may we be, if we follow on to know the Lord as they did. But we remain dwarfish in the truth, through contenting ourselves with the bare hearing of it, and neglecting to attend to the divine monitor within. He is the only sure guide to keep us abiding in the vine, after being grafted into him, through the first act of faith, which is being brought to a sense of sin, repenting of sin, and fleeing to the Saviour, as the only Mediator, for reconciliation with the Father and pardon for sin. This pardon being granted, we are reconciled to God, through the death of his Son. Here many stop, and fall short of being saved by his life, at least, so far as to eclipse the glory of the Redeemer, and to silence the language of conduct, from speaking, as it ought to speak, through every believer,-Follow me, as I follow Christ.

For, my dear fellow Christians, if we come in at the right door, namely, that of conviction, repentance, and faith, all which are the work of the Spirit, we feel a humiliation of ourselves, which, like our great Master, takes all our judgment away, as men and creatures; and the sense of what we were, and what is done in us, makes us

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tremble, like the poor woman, when Christ inquired who touched him: she could not conceal the effect it had produced on her mind, as well as her body. My heart's desire is, that all young converts would stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free, and not run into self-conceited ideas, or any yoke of bondage. But let them, under a sense of unmerited mercy, remain buried with Christ by baptism, into the death of all their self-consequence, until stones of memorial can be brought up to shew forth the power and the glory of him, who hath dealt so bountifully with them; that, "like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so ye also should walk in newness of life." This is the best proof of a sound faith, and was doubtless the meaning of the apostle, when he, in one of his epistles, exhorted a church to do all things without disputings and murmurings, that they may be the "sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation; amongst whom," he says, "ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain."

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Every Christian is called upon to walk in newness of life: this is plain from the whole contents of the New Testament, as well as from the prophetic declarations in the Old; wherein the Spirit

Mark v. 30.

b Gal. v. 1.

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Rom. vi. 4. Philip. ii. 14.

of Christ, in and through the prophets, testified of his sufferings, and of the glory that should follow. All this was realized in the first gospel days; and why is the glory now withdrawn? The same eternal Sun of Righteousness will never cease to shine on those who seek it in the same faith, hope, and love, that was known and felt by the first believers. And hence, I conceive, there is great cause to fear, that disputing and reasoning on the letter, have hindered the progress of the spiritual life, and quenched the spirit of vital Christianity from lighting the candle, and placing it on the candlestick to give light to all that are in the house.

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Let us look well to the consequences of losing our spiritual hearing of what the Spirit saith to the churches; let us repent, and do our first works of penance and love, lest our candlestick be removed out of its place, and leave us without a receptacle to receive and contain the light of life. It is needful for Christians to take a survey of the work of faith, and not content themselves with a hear-say religion, or with the mere admiration of what they read about ages past; but to read with a desire to be made partakers of that holy faith, which is so conspicuously conveyed to our view; and thereby be assured, "that the grace of God, which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men ;" and then, by beholding the

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Matt, v. 15.

f Tit. ii, 11.

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