must attend to our teacher. And the promise of gospel privilege is, "Thy teacher shall no more be removed into a corner; but thine eyes shall see thy teacher, and thine ears shall hear a voice behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk in it, when thou turnest to the right hand, and when thou turnest to the left."

Now let us consider, that this promised teacher is come; the gospel day is come: and it behoves every one of us to examine, and search, and prove ourselves, whether we are in the faith; and to know that the spirit of Christ is in us, leading and guiding us into all truth. Ah, my dear countrymen, let us take it close home, and know the work rightly begun and going on there; "for, if they escaped not who refused him who spake on earth, how much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him who speaketh from heaven ?" Now he that speaketh from heaven, doth not speak one thing through one, and contradict it through another, but all his words are truth and verity. Therefore it is clear that wisdom is lacking amongst us; and we are called upon to ask it of God, who, we are assured, by divine testimony, "giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not;" but "eit must be asked in faith, nothing wavering."

Now, I believe, we need not be long in doubt about wisdom being wanting; seeing some, called Christians, have usurped the authority to condemn

b Isaiah xxx. 20, 21.

Heb. xii. 25.

a James i. 5. Ib. i. 6.

others to eternal perdition, for no other cause, than their not assenting to the doctrine of predestination of persons to salvation and destruction; while they, on the other side, pronounce a similar sentence on those who believe it; and yet, each party professing to be sincere seekers after truth. But, alas! for poor mortal man! how weak and feeble is he, to draw decisions from the sacred records, except he be first taught by that Spirit, which reproves "the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." Oh! how the reproofs of this Spirit humble the poor creature in the dust, and prove all flesh to be grass, and the glory of man, with all his own acquired skill, to be as the flower of the field, when he feels the prince of this world judged; which, I believe, is as busy among professors, in stimulating them to clash one against the other, and exalting their minds by his secret insinuations to exercise in things too high, as in any other evil work. I say evil work, because I conceive, that whatever tends to disturb harmony and move to contention, is an evil work; and, while this prevails among you, my dear countrymen, descending from your pulpits into the minds of your illiterate, or even learned hearers, who place so much confidence in your words, it will remain as a cloud darkening the glory you mean to extol, and hinder beholders of your order, from seeing the King in

' John xvi. 8.

his beauty among you; and will also hinder yourselves from holding out the invitation in the language of demonstration: "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eye shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation; a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken."

Here is a state of stability set before us, no doubt describing a gospel church; let us look at it, and try how near we resemble it. This, I believe, is more needful for us than many of us are aware. My dear Christians, if we were more and more anxious to be rooted and grounded in love, we should be sure to feel its growth, and be qualified to know the depth, and height, and length, and breadth, and feelingly know the love of Christ, and be filled with the fulness of God. Religion is a self-evident work; it works inwardly, and it worketh out the leaven of malice, and strengthens the soul with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I long that we may all, ourselves, feel more and more sensibly on whom we are dependant for this bread of life; that we may be more and more united supplicants at his footstool, and then shall we be communicants at his table. This is what is wanting in poor divided Christendom; and may Christians of every denomination set about their own part of it in earnest :

Isaiah xxxiii. 20.

then, I believe, help would be sent from the sanctuary, and we should be strengthened out of Zion to break down the partition walls between us, and no more would be heard of those harsh sentences one against another, founded on far-fetched arguments, and on speculative ideas respecting certain passages contained in those Scriptures of truth, which we are now so far united as to join in sending far and near.

Again, I say, I rejoice at this union; but I am sorry to find that we should have any thing like war remaining among us, while we are united in publishing what we wish to produce "peace on earth, and good-will towards men."

Again, I beseech you to look well to the spring from which you draw your conclusions, and to abstain from condemning each other on points which are hard to be understood, and for which conduct I conceive you have no warrant from the Scriptures of truth. I believe the Scriptures; and yet I believe they grant me no warrant to condemn any man for not understanding all parts as I do.

It is as clear to me as the sun in the firmament, that there is great cause for fear and reverence in all professors of Christianity, when using the words of the sacred records against each other, lest they miss the true meaning, and thus hurt themselves and others, as well as the cause which they think to promote. This I have seen, and lamented, and am well persuaded there is but one remedy for

the evil; that is, to attend to that to which the Scripture directs us, namely, to the teachings of the Spirit which ""searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." But in order to be taught these deep things, we must first be taught small things, and shew faithfulness therein, by acting as we are taught. He that is not faithful in the little, hath no promise to be ruler over more: it is enough for little children "to desire the sincere milk of the word; and such will be fed with it, and grow thereby." This is what is wanting among us,-a growing in grace, and in the saving knowledge of our Lord and Saviour ; and I am fully persuaded, that true living faith would make us grow in love and good works, which are its genuine fruits. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

This is the desire I feel towards you, ye highprofessors of every name: I long to see you centred in the root of life, and your leaf to be green, and none of you cease from bearing fruit. Then would a demonstrative proof shine through you, not only that ye had been with Jesus, but that he was your light and life; that you had come to him by faith, and found "the substance of things hoped for," " " even the mystery which was hid from ages...Christ in you, the hope of

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