ing to his purpose:" and these are identified with them that love God.

SECONDLY, I come now to speak of the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit. By these I mean all those influences by which the mind is enlightened, convinced, converted, sanctified, comforted, sustained, actuated in obedience, edified in faith, expanded with benevolence, martialed in duty, and matured for heaven; as also those that ETERNALLY glorify the being of saints, and make their everlasting conservation in blessedness to be infallible. These I suppose are substantially the same in every age, vitally and totally necessary to salvation. I however subdivide them into objective and subjective.

OBJECTIVE ordinary influences. By these I mean those influences of the Spirit in which THE OBJECTS OF RELIGION are afforded to the mind as the occasions and moral causes of devout affection and the stamina of usefulness in the world. Of these I shall make some observations at the commencement of successive paragraphs.

(1) These influences are all exerted THROUGH

THE

INSTRUMENTALITY OF TRUTH ALONE, from whatever medium accepted by the mind;—whether that medium be at the time the volume of God's blessed and luminous word; or the mighty works of his hand; or the senses in any way conveying it to the thoughts; as preaching heard, or the sacraments seen, or pious example witnessed, or the appeal of providential events of joy or grief considered, or to one who knows the general truth

night visions may befriend" and dreams help us awake. 2 Cor. 3: 8, 11, 12, 18. In a word, God may use almost any means to bring the truth into living contact with the mind.

(2) All truth, that savingly influences, is derived, since the first ages of christianity, from the volume of scripture alone; and that directly or indirectly, immediately or remotely, formally or virtually: so that but for the scriptures, we should be sunk in the profane barbarism and stupid idolatry of the heathen nations. Rom. 15: 4. Prov. 29: 18. John, 17: 17, 19, 20. Eph. 6: 17. James, 1:18, 21, 22. 1 Pet. 1: 22-25. Rom. 3: 1, 2. 1 Thes. 45. There are other passages innumerable to to the same point. These however may suffice.

(3) The grand MANNER in ordinary of truth's access savingly to the mind, is THROUGH PREACHING; when the Spirit speeds the progress of his own truth to the latent "springs and principles" of the mind; not by altering the truth; but by so presenting it to the mind as to give the truth "free course" and efficacy through all its faculties. The truth, being right, needs not the Spirit to convert or improve it; or to give it life, being itself "quick and powerful;" but the mind needs to be arrested, awakened, transformed, through the truth, to perceive and love and pursue the glorious objects of religion, the fixed stars of the eternal firmament. 1 Thes. 1: 5–7 ; 2:13. 2 Thes. 2: 11-14. Whence we pass to treat,

2. Of SUBJECTIVE ordinary influences. By these I mean all the influences of the Spirit on the subjects or men whom he affects, bringing them to con

sider, seek religion, repent, obey, worship, believe, practise holiness, and persevere to life everlasting; including awakening, conviction, regeneration, sanctification, consolation, universal piety, and ultimate salvation.

I call these subjective, because men are the subjects of them, and because they are considered distinctly with respect to the subjects themselves. I call them the influences of the Spirit, because they are virtually so denominated in the word of God; and because he is the Grand Agent who produces them and is immediately glorified in them; since all these belong to his revealed office-work. Of these I remark,

(1) That the true order in our consideration of them is, that OBJECTIVE precede SUBJECTIVE influences; and not the contrary. Give to subjective influences the precedency, and you have made an inlet to all the enthusiasm, spiritual pride, and specious sin, that ever spurned the scriptures, hated order, violated purity, misrepresented truth, degraded religion, glorified blundering ignorance, and scandalized the souls of men. In such an inversion knowledge is despised as infamous and Satan enthroned in his celestial disguises. This is, no doubt, the philosophy of all religious wild-fire and spiritual extravagance, and pious ill manners, and spurious illumination. Thus men learn to worship their own experiences, to deify their feelings, and to follow every imagination as the voice of God. I am sorry to record that real christians, and even christian ministers, are sometimes carried away-in

degree-with this lawless influence. The weakness of the human mind, the infinite themes of religion, the infirmity of faith, opinionated ignorance, silly credulity, the arts of false teachers, the stimulus of a solemn occasion, spiritual pride, the deceitfulness of the heart, officious and erring counsellors, and the devices of the devil, are the proper causes, as the scriptures are only the innocent occasions of all these scandals: which however may be resolved into a principle which is in fact digested into the creed of Friends and made the focal point of all their religion; that principle is the precedency of subjective influences! I believe that this was the precise inspiration of that lustrous son of moonshine, George Fox. Whether he had piety or not beside, is another question-and I leave it to him who knows. Thus I do of all Friends, wishing their salvation. I attack their tenets, not them. To be sure, they are very much identified with their tenets; but this is not my fault:-I wish they were more than the moon's distance apart! But to return. Give to objective influences the precedency; and then subjective follow in their place, and all is order, symmetry and wisdom; the feelings are made to honor their proper sphere in subordination to truth; the intel'lect is "exercised to discern both good and evil ;" the whole moral manhood is subjected to "the glorious gospel of the blessed God;" and the subject learns to "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh him a reason of the hope that is in him, with meekness and fear." 1 Peter, 3:15. I observe further

(2) SUBJECTIVE influences are never to be considered genuine but as they may be seen to correspond with OBJECTIVE. This result need not be always immediate, formal or known, in order to be real. We cannot conceive of gospel holiness but as the counterpart of truth. Holiness is the image of God; and divine truth is the royal stamp on which that image is cut, and which the Spirit uses as the universal instrument of all his own impressions. However he may melt or soften or prepare the mass, before he coins it into heavenly currency, it never gets the king's "image and superscription," till that unrivaled signet imparts it by the power of the Spirit of God. I venture to translate Rom. 6: 17, more as it ought to be, in favor of this view. "But God be thanked that ye are not, though ye were, the servants of sin; seeing ye have obeyed from the heart that mould of doctrine into which ye were cast." It is elsewhere said; "so we preach, and so ye believed." And again we read of others "that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." Says John, "We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us; and he that is not of God, heareth not us, Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

(3) THE MODE of subjective operation, ESSENTIALLY considered, is equally inscrutable and unimportant. "How can these things be?" How does the Spirit reach, open, impress, and actuate the mind, so that now the same things engross and enrapture it which once were insipid and even re