ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."-2 Tim. iii. 16.

For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. The Scriptures came not in old time, by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit was the moving power, and the written word is a blessed instrumental means, by which the mind of Christ is made known to man, and it is only by a measure of the same Divine illumination as the holy penmen had, that we can read and understand the Scriptures, so as to become wise unto salvation. Running streams may be sweet and clear and wholesome, but if once their communication with the source be cut off, they become, at length stagnant and unhealthy. No man can savingly say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

With the Bible in our hands, and the word of God

ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

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hidden in our hearts, we shall have a twofold Counsellor, both agreeing in one, for the outward word of revelation, and the word nigh in the heart, will be found in accordance with each other, and both to speak the same thing. The Holy Scriptures are they which testify of Christ; let us search them diligently and with a prayerful mind, not in the wisdom of this world, but with the Spirit and with the understanding; for the things of the Spirit knoweth no man by study or by education, but by the Spirit of God which is in him. The Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God.

The Holy Scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation through faith in Christ, but without faith it is impossible to please God.

Blessed is the man, who from time to time, is refreshed by the streams of Divine love, whether by reading or hearing the Gospel, but more blessed is he when favoured to drink of that living fountain from which these waters flow. David declared that he had more understanding than all his teachers, because God had taught him.

ON REVELATION, AND THE PERCEPTIBLE MOTIONS OF

THE HOLY SPIRIT.

"If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."-John xiv. 16, 17.

God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."The comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you: at that day, ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you. If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."[See John xiv.] He is in our very essence, as a soul within the soul, to irradiatę its understanding, rectify its will, purify its passions, and to regulate all the powers of man.

It has pleased our heavenly Father, in all ages of

ON REVELATION, &c.

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the world, to reveal himself to his watchful dependent children immediately by his own Holy Spirit in the secret of their hearts, even before the Scriptures were written, and he still has regard to the prayer of those who seek to be directed by him, even in the concerns of this present life, whether in things momentous or minute. A sparrow falls not to the ground without his permission: the very hairs of our head are numbered; and he knows the thoughts and intents of all hearts.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians, that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened in divine knowledge. Again, the same apostle, speaking of himself and his fellow-believers, said, "We have the mind of the Spirit," and the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God; "God," said he, "hath revealed them unto us." Some years after his conversion, Paul went up to Jerusalem by revelation, taking with him Barnabas and Titus. Here he had the mind of the Spirit as to time and place, when and where he was to go to preach the Gospel, and who were to be his companions -the Spirit had revealed those things unto him.

The Lord hath promised (and he is not slack to perform) to put his law in the inward parts, so that all men may know the mind of Christ, from the least of them to the greatest. They who are not conformed

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ON REVELATION, AND THE PERCEPTIBLE

to this world, but are renewed in their minds by the transforming power of Christ, do know and are able to prove what is the good and acceptable, and perfect will of God, concerning them: they have the witness in themselves; for what is to be known of God is made manifest in man, for God hath shewed it unto him. The Holy Spirit, in a measure of its manifestation in the heart of every one, is the silent and secret instructor, as well as a reprover and comforter, of all those who wait upon him, and whose expectation is from him only, teaching them as never man taught. The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh to God, and the Spirit beareth witness with our spirits.

Many learned theologians teach, that immediate revelation ceased when the canon of Holy Scripture was closed, and therefore, say they, all that is to be known of God is made manifest in the Bible. Do we not receive from our Father which is in heaven, our daily bread and other blessings richly to enjoy, and can there be a constant Giver and a thankful receiver, and no communicative medium, without the Bible? Upon embarking on any, or most of the important concerns of this life, which are beyond the reach of human foresight to discern the result, where shall we find, in Scripture, any precise directions to guide us : nevertheless, there are many pious people who can