this was not only the case of Samuel, but of St. Paul himself, who could not tell whether the unspeakable words, he heard in paradise, struck his bodily ears, or only those of his soul.* 3dly, That no stress is to be laid upon the external circumstances, which have sometimes accompanied the revelation of Christ. If aged Simeon had been as blind as old Isaac, and as much disabled from taking the child Jesus in his arms as the paralytic, the internal revelation he had of Christ could have made him say with the same assurance, now let thy servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen thy salvation. If the Apostle had not been struck to the ground, and his eyes dazzled by outward light, his conversion would not have been less real, provided he had been inwardly humbled and enlightened. And, if Thomas, waving the carnal demonstration he insisted upon, had experienced only in his inner man, that Christ is the resurrection and the life, he could have confessed him, with as great a consciousness he was not mistaken, as when he cried out, My Lord, and my God! I am, Sir, Yours, &c.

Let the reader, see a strong parallel case in the remarkable conversion of Col. Gardner. [vide his life.] Every man who disbelieves the power of God to "change" the heart, should read that book. He be came emphatically a "renewed" man!

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LETTER III.

Why the Lord manifests himself to the children of

men.

WHY the Lord manifests himself to the children of men is an important question, which I now come to consider. It is not, we may easily think, for the gratification of their curiosity, buc for purposes worthy of his wisdom: and what these are, we shall soon learn, if we reduce divine manifestations to three general classes, extraordinary, ordinary, and mixed ones; and then consider the design and use of each, as it may be collected from scripture.

I. To begin with manifestations of the Extraordinary kind: they are such as are either merely external or vouchsafed to a few only on particular occasions, and are by no means essential to salvation.

1. Some of these are calculated to rouse the thoughtless into consideration. Of this kind was the manifestation some were favoured with, a little before our Lord's passion. "As he prayed, there came a voice from heaven, saying, I have glorified

my name, and will glorify it again. The people, that stood by, and heard it, said, it thundered;" they looked upon the extraorordinary call as something common and natural. “Others said, An angel spake to him. But Jesus said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes."

2. Others are intended as a last warning to notorious sinners. Of this nature was the terrifying sight Nebuchadnezzar had, in his second dream of "a Watcher and Holy One coming down from heaven, and crying aloud, cut down the tree." And that of the mysterious hand, which wrote Belshazzar's doom on the wall, while he profaned the sacred vessels in his night revels.

3. Some are designed for the protection of God's people, and the destruction or humiliation of their proud enemies. As when the "Lord looked to the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire, and troubled their host:" When "he cast down great stones from heaven" upon the armies of the five kings, who fought against Israel: Or when he manifested his presence in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, to quench the violence of the flame, preserve the three confessors, and convince the raging tyrant, that God's kingdom ruleth over all.

4. The design of others is to encourage the children of God in dangerous enterprises, or direct them in important steps. Of this kind was that to Joshua, before he began the conquest of Canaan; and that to St. Paul, when the Lord stood by him in the prison, and informed him he must bear witness to him also at Rome.

5. Some are calculated to appoint some persons to uncommon services and trials, or to the prophetic and ministerial offices. As that in which Noah was commissioned to build the ark, Abraham to offer up Isaac, Moses to deliver Israel, Nathan to reprove David, Balaam to bless Israel, and Jeremiah to preach to the Jews. 5

6. Others again are designed to answer providential ends for the deliverance of the people of God, as those of Gideon; or spiritual ends of reproof, instruction, and consolation to the church throughout all ages, as most of the revelations vouchsafed to the prophets, and to St. John.

II. The manifestations essential either to the conversion of sinners, or edification of saints, and which the word of God, and the experiences of christians show to be common to all believers, in all ages of the church, are of the Ordinary kind, and their use or design is,

1. To make the word spirit and life,

"quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder soul and spirit," that the gospel may not come to sinners" in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance."

2. To ease an anguished conscience, and impart the peace of God to a troubled mind as in the case of broken-hearted David, mourning Hezekiah, weeping Peter, and Paul agonizing in prayer.

3. To reveal Christ to us, and in us, so as to make us savingly believe, and know, in whom we have believed, according to the experiences of Peter, Lydia, Cornelius, and every living member of Christ.

4. To open a blessed intercourse, and keep up a delightful communion with Christ; as appears from the experiences of believers illustrated in the Canticles.

5. To silence the remains of self-righteousness, and deepen the humiliation of our souls; as in the case of Job. To make us grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To bruise satan under our feet, yea, to bruise the serpent's head in our hearts, and seal the exceeding great and precious promises given to us, that we might be partakers of the divine nature, and continue immoveable, always abound