converted sinners, publicans, harlots, Jews, and Heathens, into an holy apostolical church at the first; a church which knew they were of God, that they belonged to God, by that Spirit which he had given them, and which worked in them.

"Ye are not in the flesh," says the apostle, "but in the Spirit;" but then he adds, as the only ground of this, "if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you;" surely he méans, if so be ye are moved, guided, and governed by that which the Spirit wills, works, and inspires within you. And then to shew the absolute necessity of this life of God in the soul, he adds, " if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."- And that this is the state to which God has appointed and called all Christians, he thus declares, "God. hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Gal. iv. 6. The same thing, most surely, as if he had said, nothing in you can cry, or pray to God as its Father, but the Spirit of his Son Christ come to life in you. Which is also as true of every tendency in the soul towards God or goodness; so much as there is of it, so much there is of the seed of the woman striving to bring forth a full birth of Christ in the soul.

"Lo, I am always with you," says the Holy Jesus," even to the end of the world." How is he with us? not outwardly, every illiterate man

knows; not inwardly, says many a learned doctor, because a Christ within us is as gross enthusiasm, or Quakerism, as the light within us. How then shall the faith of the common Christian find any comfort in these words of Christ's promise, unless the Spirit brings him into a remembrance and belief, that Christ is in him, and with him, as the vine is with and in the branch. Christ says, "Without me ye can do nothing;" and also, "if any man love me, my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Now, if without him we can do nothing, then all the love that a man can possibly have for Christ, must be from the power and life of Christ in him; and from such a love, so begotten, man has the Father and the Son dwelling and making their abode in him. What higher proof, or fuller certainty can there be, that the whole work of redemption in the soul of man is, and can be nothing else, but the inward, continual, immediate operation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, raising up again their own first life in the soul, to which our first Father died?.

Again, Christ, after his glorification in heaven, says, "Behold, I STAND at the DOOR and KNOCK.” He does not say, Behold ye have me in the Scriptures. Now, what is the DOOR at which Christ, at the right-hand of God in heaven, KNOCKS? Surely it is the heart; to which Christ is always present.

He goes on, IF ANY MAN HEAR MY VOICE;" how hear, but by the hearing of the heart, or what voice, but that which is the speaking or sounding of Christ within him? He adds, “AND OPEN THE DOOR," that is, open his heart for me, " I WILL COME IN TO HIM," that is, will be a living holy nature, and spirit born within him, "AND SUP WITH HIM, and HE WITH ME.”—(Revelations.) Behold the last finishing work of a redeeming Jesus, entered into the heart that opens to him, bringing forth the joy, the blessing, and perfection of that first life of God in the soul, which was lost by the fall, set forth as a supper, or feast of the heavenly Jesus with the soul, and the soul with him! Can any one justly call it enthusiasm to say, that this supping of the soul with this glorified Christ within it, must mean something more heavenly transacted in the soul than that last supper which he celebrated with his disciples, whilst he was with them in the flesh. For that supper of bread and wine was such as a Judas could partake of, and could only be an outward type or signification of that inward and blessed nourishment, with which the believing soul should be feasted, when the glorified Son of God should, as a creating spirit, enter into us, quickening, and raising up his own heavenly nature and life within us. Now, this continual knocking of Christ at the door of the heart, sets forth the case or nature of a continual imme

diate divine inspiration within us; it is always with us, but there must be an opening of the heart to it; and though it is always there, yet it is only felt and found by those who are attentive to it, depend upon, and humbly wait for it. Now, let any one tell me how he can believe any thing of this voice of Christ, how he can listen to it, hear, or obey it. but by such a faith as keeps him habitually turned to an immediate constant inspiration of the Spirit of Christ within him? Or how any heathenish profane person can do more despite to this presence and power of Christ in his own soul, or more effectually lead others into it, than that ecclesiastic who makes a mock at the light within, a Christ within, and openly blasphemes that faith, and hope, and trust, which solely rely upon being moved by the Spirit, as their only power of doing that which is right, and good, and [pious, either towards God or man. "Let every man whom this concerns lay it to heart." Time, and the things of time, will soon have an end; and he that in time trusts to any thing but the Spirit and power of God working in his heart, will be ill fitted to enter into eternity. God must be all in all in us here, or we cannot be his hereafter. Time works only for eternity; and poverty eternal must as certainly follow him who dies only fully stuffed with human learning, as he who dies only full of worldly riches. The folly

of thinking to have any divine learning, but that which the Holy Spirit teaches, or to make ourselves rich in knowledge towards God, by heaps of common-place learning crowded into our minds, will leave us as dreadfully cheated as that rich builder of barns in the gospel, to whom it was said, "Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; and then, whose shall all these things be? Luke xii. So is every man that treasures up a religious learning that comes not wholly from the Spirit of God. But to return. To this inward continual attention to the continual working of the Holy Spirit within us, the apostle calls us in these words: "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn from him that speaketh from heaven.” Heb. xii. 25. Now, what is this speaking from heaven, which it is so dangerous to refuse or resist? Surely not outward voices from heaven. Or what could the apostle's advice signify to us, unless it be such a speaking from heaven as we may and must be always either obeying or refusing? St James saith, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." What devil? Surely not an outward creature or spirit, that tempts us by an outward power. Or what resistance can we make to the devil, but that of inwardly falling away, or turning from the workings of his evil nature and spirit within us?