cannot comprehend; yet it being such a self-evident matter of fact, I must assent to the idea, &c. But says one, who knows these things in this our day? Ans. The Church of England prayeth to have the thoughts of their hearts cleansed by the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit; and with the church of Rome, acknowledgeth what is called the Apostles' creed; a part of which runneth thus, I believe in the communion of saints, and in the forgiveness of sins." Again, the above ideas are in the Presbyterian Catechism, which saith, that the assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost, doth accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification in this life," (not in the life to come.)

Agreeable to the above, the Baptists, when going to the water, tell how this assurance was communicated to their souls, and when, &e. The Quakers likewise acknowledge that the true worship is in spirit, (not in the outward letter), and in truth (not in error) and many other proof's might be brought, but let one more suffice, and that is in your own breast. You feel the witness and reproof sometimes for doing wrong; now why may we not, on the principles of reason, admit the 'idea of a witness within likewise of doing right; also of pardon from God through Christ, and ac ceptance. And now I have as good a right to dispute whether there were any such land as Canaan, as you have to dispute revealed religion; for if Ieredit it, it is by human information, and you have as strong proof about revealed religion. And such proof as this in other affairs, in common courts of equity, would be allowed, and

you cannot deny it.

*Conscience, so called, is the result of the judgment, and the judgment is the result or conclusion of the understanding-and according to the information or illumination of the understand

:

ing, so the judgment is formed pro or con, and accordingly the conscience speaks; from which I argue, that reason without revelation or the influence of the Holy Spirit, is not a sufficient guide for instance, a Roman's conscience will not allow him to eat an egg on Friday, and yet they will curse and swear. A Quaker's conscience will not allow him to partake of the sacrament; as a sincere one informed me, when taken prisoner by the Romish rebels in Ireland, they strove to make him conform to their ceremonies-he replied, "nothing that you can inflict will make me yield." Thus you see, men's consciences lead them diametrically opposite to each other--from which I argue, that conscience is not a sufficient guide, though a man ought not to go contrary to his conscience.For instance, if the understanding be misinformed, the judg ment draws a wrong conclusion, iewing things in false colours, by which means the conscience is not properly regulated, and thereby runs into absurdity, as Paul mentions some, whose consciences were defiled.

Any man who does a thing contrary to what he thinks or judges is right, his conscience, which is the result of his judg ment, will convict or condemn him. Therefore, supposing a man's understanding to be misinformed, he might conclude or judge a thing to be wrong when it is right, and thereby feel conviction, as if in an error, when in fact there is none but his mistake. From this I again argue, the need we have of revelation, in order to understand and know our duty aright, anst likewise to form proper ideas of GOD, and eternal things.

As God is a spirit, we can know no more of him than he is pleased to reveal, except we draw it from his dealings with his creatures, &c. and as we have not the language of immortality, we can form no just or proper ideas of the eternal, im mortal or celestial realms, or world; but by the representations of earthly things. Therefore, for the want of a better lan guage, we have to make use of the most striking metaphors or representations that mortal language will or can admit, &c. and this is so far short of the real essence of the matter, that if people are not much aware, they will form improper ideas from unmeaning expressions which we are obliged to use for the want of better, and so form wrong ideas by drawing a wrong conclusion relative to the same, and then lay down those ideas as positive arguments. By these means much error is gone abroad into the world; and from expressions similar to these, INFINITE NUMBER.--an ETERNAL DECREE, &C.Now observe, there is no number but may be enlarged by the addition of units; but that which is infinite cannot be enlarged: therefore to talk about infinite numbers, is a contradic tion in terms.

From light cometh sight, from sight cometh sense, and sense giveth sorrow. When the divine influence shines into the understanding, and gives the soul a discovery of the dan

ger to which sin exposes it, &c. the soul that yieldeth obedi ence to this light, findeth the mind to grow solemn, under a sense of eternal things, the heart to grow tender, and the conscience to be as the apple of an eye, arising from a view of their situation, occasioned by this divine revelation in the mind, &c. So the soul, seeing the evil of sin, which it once cleaved to in love, now abhors it like as one fleeth from a serpent. Here penitence takes place, the heart melts to tenderness like wax before the fire, and becomes willing to part with their sins and to be saved by free grace; they likewise feel a cry in their hearts for mercy, not like the man who says over his prayers as a lazy school-boy says his lesson and thinks he has done his stint, but rather like a drowning man that cannot swim, calls mightily to one on the share for help or I am drowned, &c. Their cry, what shall I do to be saved? God be merciful to me a sinner!

Here is repentance pointed out, which implies three things -first, a sensibility of the evil done-secondly, brokenness of heart, or contrition of mind for it—and thirdly, a willingness to make confession or satisfaction, &c. Observe, a man cannot repent of his error till he is sensible he is in one-here I again argue the need of revelation to give an internal conviction, with regard to that which is displeasing in God's sight, &c. Again, if a man persists in a thing, he does not abhor it, and of course does not repent of it, for if he did, he would forsake it instead of delighting and persisting in it, &c. Again, if one be in an evil, and will not confess it from his heart to the injured or abused, he is impenitent; of course he does not repent-God pity him! The way to have repentance towards God, is to yield obedience to the influence of God's awakening spirit, and consideration is the first thing. O God help thee, reader, to adhere to the inward whispering voice and seriously reflect on the value of thy soul; the shortness and uncertainty of time, and the necessity of improving your accountability for eternity. Again, a resolution is posi tively necessary to be on the Lord's side, as saith Christ, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. The prodigal son came to himself, (which implies he was beside himself, as every sinner is) and reflected or considered, how many hired servants, &c. at my father's house, and I perish with hunger. A resolution was then formed; I will arise and go to my father; and the resolution was put into practice, not in a dilatory way, as though he must first go and tell the citizen; but he at once left all behind, and his father did not wait for him to get clear home, but met with him when he was yet a great way off.

So, reader, if you intend to serve God, you must count the cost, and then enlist for the war; i. e. set out for eternity and give up the idols of your heart, for you cannot serve two masters, saith Christ. And again, he that loveth father, mother,

Brother or sister, wife or children, houses or lands more than me, is not worthy of me; and except a man deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me, he cannot be my disci. ple. Gon help thee to reflect whether you will set out and encounter the difficulties to enjoy future happiness, or whether you will slight the offers of heaven, and sell your soul for the sake of the pleasures of vice, which you can now roll un der your tongue as a sweet morsel, but your latter end will be bitter: O, will you run the risk of being cut off in your sins!! FAITH is a divine conviction of the attributes of God wrought IN THE MIND by the Spirit of God, that there is a reality in the invisible world, or a supernatural evidence communicated to the understanding, that there is a reality in spiritual things, as saith the apostle," Say not in thy heart, who shall ascend into heaven to bring Christ from above, or who shall descend into the deep to bring up Christ, &c. But the WORD

is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, i. e. the woRD of FAITH which we preach." Rom. x. 6, 7, 8. The word there spoken of, is what in other parts of the Bible is called the word of God, which is the voice or power of Jesus Christ, speaking to the hearts of the sons of men, as you may observe, John i. 1 to 4. and xv. 3, 22. where is the man who hath not heard? consideration and resolution are actions of the mind. Some people suppose that faith and believing are synonymous expressions, with one and the same meaning; but I think they are different, and that believing is the Acr of faith, the same as seeing is the act of sight. I cannot see without sight: God gives me sight, but the act of seeing is mine. So believing is the act of the creature; if it were not so, why should we be commanded to believe, and condemned for unbelief, or not believing 2

Surely, believing is the action of the creature, but he cannot believe without a power, any more than I can see without sight-faith is the gift of God, that is, the internal POWER to realize spiritual and eternal things. Well, says one, when I at. tempt to pray, what shall I believe? Answer-prayer being the sincere desire of the heart, earnestly ascending to God; when you feel your need of a blessing, raise your desires with fervency in expectation, believing that God is able to give you the things you feel you need. Believe, secondly, that he is willing to do it, as he willeth not the death of a sinner, but that all should come to repentance, Ezek. xxxiii. 11. 2 Peter fii. 9. Believe, thirdly, that he will bless you because he has promised it. Observe, sme people claim the promises when they have no right to them, for they live in the commission of known sin, "for the wages of sin is death," and "the soul that sinneth it shall die." But those who are willing to part with their sins have a right the promises of God, according to Prov. xxviii. 13. and Matt. xi. 28. for God cannot lie, says ul. Therefore God is bound by the law of his mature, to

perform his promises to the sons of men when they fulfil the condition, which is to be sensible of their need, and become penitentially passive in his hand, so far resigned as to have no will of their own abstract from his, and yet active to inquire his will, willing to do it as far as it is manifested, &c.Some people, under a sense of their unworthiness, think that God is so very angry with them, that he will not receive them till they are better, and of course, that they must do something to pacify him, just as if his will must be turned in order to be willing to receive them. But observe the poet saithIf you tarry till you 're better,

"You will never come at all."

Therefore, you cannot make yourself better by tarrying from him a space, by striving to do something to recommend yourself to his favour. But remember that God is willing to receive you, if you are but willing to receive him at the expense of your sins, and submit for him to take possession and reign within. For we read, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, 20. that God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself; and it is for us to be reconciled to God, as God is love; and his love, according to John iii. 16, 17, influenced him to send his Son to make it possible for our salvation. Therefore, he is willing to receive us, if we are willing to receive him, as now is the Lord's ac cepted time and day of salvation; all things are now ready, &c. Therefore, take God at his word now, and let thy soul's desires be enlarged in expectation of the blessing, as the watchman looketh out for the dawn of day, believing as Christ died for all, he died for me. Now is the time for salvation, and I can only receive him by faith, and rest my soul upon him as the sinner's Saviour.

The very moment you thus yield and give up, and submit to the grace of God by throwing down the weapons of your re bellion, relying your whole dependence on the mercy of God in the merits of the Redeemer for salvation, &c. that very mo ment the spirit which converts will give the testimony of par don and reconciliation in the beloved; for the Spirit bears wit. ness to truth: (Rev. iii. 20.) and thou wilt feel a change within, whereby thou canst say, one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, I now see; for the thing I once hated I now love, and the thing I once loved I how hate: i. e. the things of the world, which I once placed my heart upon, I see how empty and vain they are, and religion, which I little esteemed, I prize to be of more value than all the world besides. Give me Christ or else I die!

"Only Jesus will I know,

"And Jesus crucified.".

The word HOPE, implies a well grounded expectation of the enjoyment of something in future, therefore it is more than a