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Believing that ye receive, ye shall have.' Here claiming the blessing by Faith. Fourthly, claiming it NOW,' as now is declared to be the acceptable TIME, and day of Salvation: to-day if you will hear His voice,' Come, for all things are NOW ready,'-God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself-therefore be ye reconciled to God. We love God because He first loved us.-He FIRST loved us, before we loved Him. We need not do something to pacify God, to make Him willing to receive us. He is willing already; the hindering cause is on the side of the Creature-his will being opposed to the Will of God-as Christ saith, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem; how often would I have gathered thy chil dren together as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings; but ye WOULD not!

Knowledge, as before explained, being the ef feet of self-evidence,' is therefore a sensible or moral CERTAINTY; which of course cannot admit of doubt: a man can TESTIFY no further than he knows.

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A Man who hath FELT conviction, can testify, as a witness of it, and give evidence to that truth. So one who hath experienced pardoni. e. Witness of justification by Faith; can justify, saying, we KNOW in whom we have beliered--because to him faith has been brought to sight-he has the inward divine Witness to the • sixth sense of the Soul; and the testimony corresponds with the demands of his seventh or common sense,' whereby he is able to give a rational account of it to others.

The Man who has experienced the blessing of sanctification, can testify what he knows, and no further; so the glorified Enoch and Elijah can testify what glorification is, for they know it; but we do not; and yet we firmly believe it and hope for it--yet when we obtain the same state of ex

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joyment, then faith brought to sight, and hope to the Fruition, and these two will then cease, being swallowed up in the knowledge and enjoyment for ever!

Then let every Inquirer, who wishes to escape to Jerusalem, from the overthrow of Babylon, strive in earnest for Salvation, in fervent expectation of the blessings of pardon and purity. And if you cannot believe as you would, believe as you can-Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief? And if you cannot pray and seek as you would, pray and seek as you can-resigning, submitting, and depending upon His bounty for deliverance; and never rest, until you find the Lord precious to thy soul. Christ was in earnest for thee: O be in good earnest for thyself;-and may God for Christ's sake speed you on the way.

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OF HOPE.

An Hope' of Future glory, is composed of Desire and Expectation, predicated upon Faith and Repentance; which were produced by a Divine Conviction in the MIND, of the reality of the invisible World, through the operation of the Holy Spirit of God.

Conviction being thus wrought in the Heart, the consequence to such as persevere, is a reformation; a forsaking of sin, and a conformity to the will of Gon--who is ever ready to receive and forgive returning penitents, for Jesus's sake ;---when the Mind finds a resting place, and the Inquirer finds a Home.

A Man may desire a thing which he never expeets to enjoy; of course he has no hope of it, but is in DESPAIR. Again, a man may expect a thing which is not desirable; and hence he does not hope for it, but is under a dread on that account.

Hence neither a desire nor an expectation, considered abstractedly, can constitute a Hope ;'--

they must be taken in conjunction; in order to remove the dread, avoid despair, and afford a consolation in the Mind.

The Christian hopes for Heaven and Glory.--His hope is composed of desires and expectation. Heaven he desires, being convinced it is a desirable place. He expects to get there, because there is a prospect before him. He has repented, and is forgiven. He enjoys a sense of the Divine Favour and feeling the evidence of pardon by the Witness of the Spirit of God in his souL; which witness is Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost; which is styled the assurance' of Faith and Hope.' For the aspect is animating, and the prospect is cheering, whilst looking through Hope, the perspective, by which we look into another and a better world.

Hence, said one Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that Man is Peace Another,Let me die the death of the Righteous, and let my last end be like His. the Righteous have HоPE in their death."

OF CHARITY.

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For

Charity consists in something more than giving away a few old worn out clothes to a begFor thus saith Paul; Though I give ALL my goods to feed the poor, and have NOT CHARITY, it profiteth me nothing.'

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And though a man had all Knowledge and all Faith; so as to remove mountains, and talk like an angel; and have not Charity, he would be only as sounding brass, and a tinkling Cymbal,

Charity does not consist in NAME, nor in outward form; but is a suitable disposition of heart, which is begotten by the Spirit of God. And hence those who are endowed with this precious grace are said to be born of God,' and are called New Creatures.'. They are new in many res

pects; first, they have new views and discoveries of things: their judgments are new, and so are their motives and desires, as also their objects and ends.

The term Charity is frequently misapplied, and thereby abused. Hence, says one, I have no charity for such and such persons---but such and such are very charitable.' In the first case, FAITH or belief is intended, and in the latter, kindness.

For a bountiful act is an act of kindness; but every act of kindness is not an act of Charity; because it does not always flow from a charitable motive; but often from pride, ostention, and vain glory.

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As the religion of Christ is summed up in one word, Love; to say, I have no charity is to say, I have no religion: for there can be no religion without Charity, which is Love: which principle causes its subjects to attend to the Moral Law, in point of duty: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:' Secondly, the Law of Nature,' which considers the Equal rights, wants, duties, and obligations of Man: and thirdly, the Rule of Practice,' which is, as ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so to them;' for the Law of Moses, the Spirit of the Prophets, and the example of Jesus Christ concur in enjoining them upon all Mankind.

Hence the importance of Charity. And the idea of a Christian without Charity, is a complete solecism; like an honest Thief, a Chaste Harlot, or an Holy Devil.

Charity never faileth;' being the Divine Etermal principle---but suffereth long and is kind’--suffer wrong rather than do wrong; and instead of being overcome with Evil, overcometh Evil with Good'---by returning good for evil.

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Charity--thinketh no evil,' i. e. is not jealous and evil-eyed, surmising evil; but hopeth and

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believeth all things; for the best, by making proper allowances, and putting the most favourable construction upon men and things, that the nature of the case will justly admit of.

But Charity is not a fool; she must have legs to stand upon knowing that justice should be done to every thing; and hence desires that God and man, and all beings should have their due---and feels determined to render the same to every Creature, she is ever ready to act in every case agreeable to the Moral Law---the Law of Nature, and the Rule of Practice.'

And upon this disposition hangs the eternity of Man; seeing he is to be rewarded according to the deeds done in the body.

OF FASTING.

Then shall they fast in those days,' which words of our Lord concerning His apostles and followers, came to pass in the Gospel dispensation, as exemplified in the Acts of the Apostles, and in Paul's writings.

The practice of fasting, and the benefits derived by it, are exemplified in the cases of the Ninevites; of Queen Esther in the deliverance of the Jews from Haman, who was executed upon his own gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai; and in the case of Daniel.

Our Lord mentioned a kind of Devil which was to be expelled only by fasting and prayer.

God does not require murder for sacrifice. A person instead of fasting may starve, and injure their health; while others do not fast at all, but in attempting to avoid one extreme, run into the other.

Jesus fasted, and afterward hungered:---Daniel fasted three full weeks, says--- I eat no pleasant bread; which implies a degree of abstinence, and bread of a coarser kind,

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