stant aid of any human ministry. Although these persons may differ from us in the precise view of these very subjects, they appear to be aware that the tendency of our peculiarities is good, and they will allow that Christianity, in its progress through the world, may derive no trifling advantage from the circumstance, that these religious principles are, by some, at least, among the followers of Jesus, plainly and resolutely upheld.

That such an apprehension is well founded—that the consistent and religious part of the Society of Friends are actually occupying an important and useful station in the mystical body of Christ-that their peculiar principles are of an edifying tendency, and are calculated to promote the spiritual welfare, not only of Friends themselves, but of the church in general-is the deliberate conviction of my own mind; and it is probable that the persons for whose use this work is principally intended, will generally unite with me in entertaining that conviction.

If such be the case, I would remind them that no religious views or practices can be salutary in the long run, or truly promote the spiritual progress of the militant church, which are the mere creatures of human reason and imagination, and which do not arise directly or indirectly out of the essential principles of the law of God. I may with humility acknowledge my own persuasion, that the distinguishing views and practices of the Society of Friends are indeed derived from those principles; and to the proof of this point my future observations respecting them will be chiefly, if not exclusively, directed. In the first place, however,

I must invite the reader's attention to an important doctrine of religion, which, although by no means peculiar to Friends, is certainly promulgated among them with remarkable earnestness, and which lies at the root of all their particular views and practicesthe doctrine of the perceptible influence and guidance of the Spirit of Truth.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE PERCEPTIBLE INFLUENCE AND GUIDANCE OF

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH.

Ir is generally allowed, among the professors of Christianity, that in us, that is in our "flesh" or natural man," dwelleth no good thing;" that we are unable of ourselves to fulfil the law of righteousness, or to serve the Lord with acceptance; and that the fountain of all true moral excellence, in mankind, is the Spirit of God. The serious and enlightened Christian, of every name, will readily confess that it is only through the influence of this Holy Spirit that he is enabled rightly to apprehend God, to know himself, and to accept Jesus Christ as his all-sufficient Saviour that it is only through such an influence that he is converted in the first place, and afterwards sanctified and prepared for his heavenly inheritance.

The differences of sentiment which exist in the church, on this great subject, have respect, not to the question whether the Holy Spirit does or does not operate on the heart of man, (for on this question all true Christians are agreed), but principally, if not entirely, to the mode in which that Spirit operates.

On this point there appears to exist, among the professors of Christianity, and even among serious Christians, a considerable diversity of opinion. Some persons conceive that the Spirit of God does not influence the heart of man directly, but only through the means of certain appointed instruments; such as the Holy Scriptures and the word preached. Many others, who allow the direct and independent influences of the Spirit, and deem them absolutely essential to the formation of the Christian character, refuse to admit that they are perceptible to the mind; but consider them to be hidden in their actions, and revealed only in their fruits. Now, with Friends (and probably with many persons under other names) it is a leading principle in religion, that the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul is not only immediate and direct, but perceptible. We believe that we are all furnished with an inward Guide or Monitor, who makes his voice known to us, and who, if faithfully obeyed and closely followed, will infallibly conduct us into true virtue and happiness, because he leads us into a real conformity with the will of God.

That our sentiments, on this important subject, are well founded that the principle in question forms a part of the unchangeable truth of God,-is satisfactorily evinced, according to our apprehension, by various declarations contained in the Holy Scriptures.

In a former chapter I have called the attention of the reader to the doctrine, that a measure of the Spirit of the Son of God is bestowed upon all mankind; and I have endeavoured to show it to be in reference to his spiritual appearance in the hearts of

his creatures, that Christ is stiled "the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Now, it is certain that nothing can justly be called light which does not make manifest. "All things that are reproved," says the apostle Paul, "are made manifest by the light; for whatsoever doth make manifest, is light: Since, then, the Spirit of Christ, appearing in the soul of man, is light, it is plain that this Spirit makes manifest-communicates an actual moral sense-teaches what is right and what is wrong, in a perceptible or intelligible manner. Thus the Psalmist prayed as follows: "O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles ;"2 The light and the truth, for which he thus offered up his petitions, could not be the written law, of which he was already in possession: the expressions are rather to be understood of the light of God's countenance, and the truth revealed by his Spirit: and these, according to the views of the Psalmist, were at once perceptible and powerful; for they were to lead him in the way of righteousness, and to bring him to the holy hill and tabernacles of God.

Under the Christian dispensation, the Holy Spirit is poured forth in preeminent abundance, as has been already observed, and as the Scriptures testify, on the souls of true believers in Jesus Christ. Of the operations of divine grace, under this new covenant, none of the inspired writers appear to have enjoyed a clearer view than the apostle Paul. Often was he led to expatiate on the Spirit who "dwells" in the children of 1 Eph. v, 13. 2 Ps. xliii, 3.