thee of sin, and that thou hadst lost the image and forfeited the favour of God? Didst thou ever see thyself fallen in Adam, in him a child of wrath, a ruined miserable sinner? Hast thou felt how utterly unable thou art to atone for thy sins, or to make thyself holy? And wast thou brought to submit to Christ's righteousness after many legal trials and self-righteous efforts?-at last forced to give up all hope in thyself, and to look to the Lord who made heaven and earth, from whom alone thy help could come?

And hast thou been taught the true knowledge of the unity of the Godhead, and of the Persons in it, Father, Son, and Spirit, the covenant of the everblessed Three, and the absolute security of all covenant mercies promised by the Father, and engaged to be given to the Son, as the head of his body the church, who is now actually as God-man in possession of them, and by his Spirit he freely and fully bestows them upon his members? for they will never cease to be receiving out of his fulness grace for grace, until they receive out of the same fulness glory for glory.

O my soul, examine closely, and prove thyself by the standard of the divine word. Search and try, what the conviction of thy lost estate has been. Was it deep and practical? Is it an abiding truth with thee, that there is no help or hope in thyself? And hast thou fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before thee in the Lord Jesus? Is thy knowledge of the Godhead mere theory, or is it brought into practice? Dost thou enjoy the Father's love, through faith in the finished salvation of the Son, by the influence of the Holy Spirit? This is the saving know

ledge of the Godhead. thou honour the divine Persons, by acknowledging their immutable counsel, and immutable oath, entered. into for the security of the heirs of promise, that they might trust, and not be afraid? Dost thou see with any clearness the absolute safety of relying upon the promises of God, and dost thou expect to draw from hence comfort to thy conscience, and joy to thy heart?

And is this thine? Dost

If thou art indeed set out in the way to heaven, art thou settled in the knowledge of thy fallen state? Hast thou found thyself unable to do any thing, but to hasten on thy ruin? And from the sight and sense of this, hast thou been led to see all undertaken for thee, and secured to thee for time and eternity, in the covenant of the ever-blessed Trinity? These truths lie at the very foundation of all comfortable walking with God. See that thou be well grounded in them. The knowledge of thyself is to bring thee to God: the knowledge of God is to lead thee to walk with him. The one is to teach thee to renounce all trust in thyself; the other is to show thee that thou mayest safely place the confidence of thy heart on thy reconciled Father, thy Saviour, and thy Guide. Look up to him then, O my soul, and be often praying to him, and saying

O Lord God! that which I see not, teach thou me. Keep me an humble disciple in the school of Christ. Let me be daily learning there, what I am in myself, a fallen sinful creature, justly deserving everlasting destruction from thy presence. let me never lose sight of my want of á Saviour, nor ever be without the sense of what he said—" With

out me ye can do nothing." Teach me this, thou eternal Spirit. Open thou mine understanding to understand the Scriptures. What thou hast revealed in them concerning the Godhead, and concerning the counsels and works of the ever-blessed Trinity, that reveal to my soul. Thou hast declared, that no man can say Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost: O shine then into my dark mind, and lead me into the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Make me acquainted with his covenant undertakings, and his perfect fulfilling of them, that, by resting on his finished salvation, I may find the Father's love in the Son, his Father my Father, and may be brought, through thy blessed influence, to have fellowship with the Father and the Son. O lead me into all truth, thou Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that I may know the things which belong to my peace, and may, through thee, be made wise unto salvation! Amen.

CHAPTER II.

The believer is reconciled to God, and has the peace of God ruling in his conscience; and they two walk together, because they are now agreed.

It is written in the prophets-" They shall be all taught of God"-every one of his children shall be brought to the knowledge of the truth, and what they have been taught in the understanding shall be made practical, that it may have its proper effect upon the conscience. And this is answered, when it comes

under the authority and power of the word of God, and faithfully accuses or condemns according to that unerring rule.

Conscience supposes the knowledge of some rule, and it consists in comparing a man's state or actions with that rule, in order to discover whether they agree with it or not.

The rule is the Scripture, the whole revealed will of God, which is the unerring, and the only standard of right and wrong: for all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, to teach the man of God what is truth, and to make him wise in it unto salvation. Fallen man has no means of discovering the will of God, but as it is revealed to him. He has no innate knowledge. He has no implanted principles. He is born as ignorant of God, and of the things of God, as a wild ass's colt. His understanding is darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in him, because of the blindness of his heart. And he has no means in his own power of attaining any divine knowledge; for he cannot, by searching, find out God. The world by its wisdom never did find him out. The Hottentots know as much of him as the Greeks and Romans did: indeed the natural man, let him be ever so wise, knoweth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them; because they are spiritually discerned.

The Scripture, then, is the only rule of right and wrong. Conscience has no direction but this rule. Neither ethics nor metaphysics, no fancied light of dark nature, no lawless law of rebel nature, no hu

man science, whether pretended to be implanted, or by the use of reason to be acquired, have any right to guide the conscience. These are blind leaders of the blind; they undertake what they are not only unfit, but what they have no warrant for. A parcel of felons in jail may think what they will of their state. They may take it upon them to form a mock court, and to try one another. They may acquit or condemn as they please; but the judge and the jury will pay no regard to their foolish proceedings. There is a word which is to try us at the last day, and by that we should try ourselves at present. It was revealed for this purpose. And when the revealed truth is clearly understood, then conscience is acting aright, if it finds a true verdict for God, either accusing, or else excusing, according to the direction of his unerring word.

And this is the work of the Holy Spirit. He enlightened the judgment with the knowledge of the truth, in order to make it practical; which he effects by bringing the conscience to submit to the sovereignty of God in the law, and to submit to the righteousness of God in the gospel. Herein he displays the omnipotent power of his grace, according to the promise. He carries with demonstration the conviction of guilt, and the conviction of righteousness, to the conscience. By the former, he gives the sinner a real heart-felt sense of his sin and misery, and he acknowledges himself a convict of the law, justly deserving all its penalties in time and eternity. By the latter, he sets open a door of hope, showing him the perfect righteousness of the God-man, wrought out for such guilty creatures as he is: he enables him