preached the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, to enable the preachers to speak the divers tongues of these strangers, and of all others to whom they were sent, that so their faith might stand on what they clearly understood.

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This brings us to our last reflection on christian experience. If means have no place in the christian religion till after the production of something in the soul containing the whole new man, then the use of means is only to nourish and cherish this new principle, that is to say, they are to a christian what air and earth and moisture are to an acorn. All christians seem to act as if they thought the means appointed to produce the end, and the fitness of the means is the support of christian action. On this principle we educate our children, because instruction seems to us a proper method of producing in them knowledge. On this principle we read and expound the Scriptures in public; not that the Scriptures want any expounding, to cool and attentive minds, but because the minds of most men are not in such a state, but blinded with prejudice, custom, and passion, and because we know such a mind is not prepared to attend to reason. On this principle we address the Gospel not only to the righteous and well disposed, but also to men of a quite different character..

One great argument in defence of our holy religion is that it is fitted not only to saints, but also to

are in the last and most If you say, God works in

sinners, even to such as deplorable stages of vice. the means; this is what we plead for; if you affirm on the contrary that he works immediately, then there is no more fitness in instructing the ignorant, and reasoning with the wicked, and expecting knowledge and reformation to follow, than there would be in planting and watering flints and pebbles, and expecting them to grow into oaks. Go further, go back to the regeneration of any one christian in this assembly, and divide yourselves into two parts. Some of you do not know the time of your conversion; that is as much as to say, the work of the Spirit was so connected with other events that one thing brought on another till all together issued in your conversion, for you are a sincere convert to the faith of Christ. Others of you resemble the man supposed some time ago, and know what events fell out when you became christians; but the connexion of an effect with a cause destroys the notion of immediate influence. One says, such a providence set me a thinking; another says, such a discourse set me a repenting; a third says, such a book gave me information that produced comfort. All of us believe, the means of religion are highly fitted to answer their end; and the certainty of obtaining the end in the use of means, is the sun that rules the day, and the moon that rules the night of life.

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We cannot conclude this subject without two reflections. First, we perceive a wonderful inclination in christians toward something in religion so sublime as not to be understood; whereas the true sublimity of religion lies in its plainness, as the true excellence and dignity of man consist in his becoming such a plain man as Jesus Christ was. This inclination is a remnant of the old education given this country by monks and priests, whose majesty stood in the credulousness of their followers. They made creeds, or articles to be believed, and gave them to our forefathers to say over. You do not understand them, said they, but we do; and, while they were doing that, the creed-makers ran away with their houses and lands. Let us renounce this disposition, and let us believe nothing but what we understand.

Lastly, we observe with great pleasure that all christians allow the Spirit of God is a Holy Spirit ; and even they who think him hidden, think they have no right to conclude he is where they suppose, till the fruits of a holy life declare it. Should a man, who had lived wickedly all his days, be intoxicated with liquor over night and regenerated at six next morning by an immediate work of the Spirit, no christians would believe it that day; and should he, like Saul, assay to join himself to the disciples, they would be all afraid of him, and not believe that he was a disciple till some Barnabas should declare two things unto them; one, how the Lord had spoken to him ;

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and the other, how he had boldly preached at Damascus ; till he had given substantial proofs by his conduct that his pretensions were true and real. If an extraordinary conversion was not credible without proof, how much less are ordinary changes? The proof of proofs is laid by the Holy Spirit where it ought to be. If ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law, for the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. Let not a man think himself to be something when he is nothing; but let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another man,

THE

CHRISTIAN RELIGION

EASY TO BE UNDERSTOOD.

FROM THE VILLAGE DISCOURSES.

When ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Ephes. iii. 4.

By christianity, I mean that religion which Jesus Christ taught his disciples, and which is all contained in the New Testament. Retain this observation, for it frees the subject from many difficulties. Some misguided christians propose a great number of mysteries, that is, secrets to us; such as that the bread and wine in the Lord's supper cease to be bread and wine, and become the flesh, and bones, and blood of Christ; such as that a wicked man is inspired by the Holy Ghost to lead us to heaven without our knowing the way; and that these wonders are performed by the uttering of certain words by a certain set of men; and these secrets, which nobody so much as pretends to understand, we are required to believe. However, we have one short answer for all mysteries of this kind; that is, they are