terms used in creeds, "three persons in one God," the terms are not scriptural, and may not assist the understanding in its contemplations on this subject. I receive the doctrine just as the Scriptures represent it, without attempting to explain it in terms of my own. I bow to this, as to all other mysteries in the kingdoms of nature, providence, and grace. All creation is full of mystery, indeed the constitution of man, is perhaps as great a mystery as any other. The union of an intelligent principle, with a certain organic structure of bones, flesh, vessels, and nerves, is perhaps as really in. comprehensible by us, as the existence of God, or the divinity of Christ; for we cannot compare degrees of incomprehensibility. Explain to my understanding, how a man, by an act of the will can move a finger, and I think I may safely undertake to unfold any mystery in the gos. pel. Explain to me, the natur. al cause of attraction, in gravitation, cohesion, or magnetism; describe to me the process of vegctation on the earth, and of mine. ralization, beneath its surface; attend the chymist in his laboratory, and see two invisible colorless gases combined in a certain proportion, producing that vis. ible substance, water, and the same substance decomposed and converted into gases; in short, unfold to my comprehension, the cause of heat, the operations of light, and of congelation, before you complain of the mysterious ness of Christ's divinity. What is there, my dear friend, in heaven above or on the earth beneath, which we do comprehend? Surely beings of our limited capaci.

ties have no right to expect we shall be able to understand all the works and counsels of the infinite Jehovah. It is our duty to admire and adore, to love and obey. In short, it is the duty of man to be humble. Indeed it is a remarkable fact, that God rarely communicates to man the consolations of his grace, and evidences of his favor, till severe convictions have reduced him to a strong sense of the feebleness of his powers, as well as of the sinfulness of his heart. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.”

Men who depend on their own works for salvation, appear to question the special influences of the divine Spirit, in renewing the heart. It is difficult to reconcile this skepticism with a belief in the Scriptures, which repeatedly and unequivocally assert the fact. Real Christians have the witness within themselves; that is, they have evidence from their views of divine things and the affections of the heart, which leave little or no room to doubt the divine influence, which produced them. The operations of the Spirit are very various. In some persons, convictions produce anxiety and terror which drive them almost to despair. In others, convictions are less' violent, but produce a solicitude which leads the subjects of them to read the Scriptures; to inquire the way to Zion; to attend to the means of grace, and gradually to renounce all reliance on themselves, and to seek God through Christ with humility, prayer, and submission. In some cases, though less frequently, persons, without much previous distress have opened to their minds, most luminous views

of the excellence of the divine character, of God's love and mercy in Christ, and seem to pass at once from death to life; and from the most determined enmity of heart and opposition to the Christian scheme of salvation, to the most cordial delight in the doctrines of the gospel. These facts which are within the observation of every honest inquirer, correspond with the ac. count Christ himself has given of the operations of the Spirit, which are compared to the blowing of the wind, whose effects only are perceived. Many persons, whose views and affections are evidently changed, are not sensible of any particular operation on their hearts. They have new affections and views, but know not the time or the manner in which they received them. In others, the impressions are too sensible not to be recognized. I know there are men who denominate such impressions enthusiasm and spiritual delu. sion. But the instances of such sensible changes of the heart, in persons of sound judgment and cool, dispassionate minds, not prone to yield to fanciful suggestions and transient feelings, furnish evidence of the reality of such special agency of the divine Spirit on the heart, which I cannot think it right to reject.

That the operations of the Holy Spirit are sometimes accompanied with a light exhibited to the imagination, is not generally believed; but I am inclined to believe the fact on the author. ity of well authenticated cases. I see no more reason for disbelieving the fact, than for reject. ing the account of St. Paul's conversion; for the soul of man

is undoubtedly the medium through which the Supreme Being makes his communications. At the same time there is so much danger of deception, in the force of the imagination, that I think the evidence of such facts should be very clear to encourage confidence. The proof of a real change of heart should rest on the subsequent life; for "the tree is known by its fruit." But that God does make special communications of his favor to man, through the intellectual and spiritual principle, or soul, and that he often grants the requests of his children, by a direct agency, independent of visible means, are facts fully revealed in the Scriptures, and well known to Christians.

"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son," is the repeated promise of our Savior; a consolatory prom. ise that many pious souls have known to be fulfilled, to their unspeakable joy, and to the great confirmation of their faith.

These are points which I am sensible, are not generally believed. But why should they be questioned? For what purpose was the soul infused into man? Why was man distin guished from the brute? If man was made to perish like the beast of the field, of what use is his intellectual part? The animal appetites of the brute, afford perhaps, in the gratification, as much pleasure as those of man. Surely then man was endowed with superior powers and faculties for some important purpose. For what purpose? The soul bears some resemblance to divinity, and is evidently designed for

enjoyments of a superior rank. To direct the intellectual powers of man to their proper objects, it was doubtless necessary for him to have a revelation of God's will, and such revelation requires a direct communication from God. It may be said, that such communications were undoubt edly made, but having been made, and the substance of them recorded, further communications are unnecessary. This may, in a sense, be true; but I see no improbability in God's continuing to make special communications of his will to man, by illuminating the mind, in the present, as well as in former periods. The instances, in which such revelations are distinctly recognized, may be rare; but some well authenticated facts of this kind, may serve to confirm the truth of former revelations, and fortify the faith of Chris tians. Such instances now, as in former ages, may be intended to answer some important purposes in the economy of Providence and grace; and are probably, in most instances, given in answer to fervent prayer.

It is no objection to these opinions that such communications are not general or common; any more than it is to the special infliction of punishment, by divine wrath, on some heinous crimes, while other crimes apparently as offensive, are suffered to pass, for the present, unpunished. If a blasphemer, riding in company, should, with an oath and a lie upon his tongue, declare that the horse he is on never stumbles, and his horse should instantly fall and break the man's neck, no person could hesitate to believe it at least probable, that the Almighty had interposed, by his

agency, to execute sudden vengeance on the offender. Yet many other men, committing a like offence, may escape present punishment, without, in the least, impairing the evidence of God's special interference in the case stated. For it is the character of God, as represented in the Scripture, and manifested every day, to exercise mercy rather than vengeance, and by a few instances of his wrath, to give examples and evidences of his pow. er and government, to recal other offenders to their duty. It is equally probable that special communications of his will, and of his favor, may be made, to strengthen the faith, and animate the hopes of those who confide in him. Not to believe in such instances is to discredit all human testimony. If you will take the trouble to converse with experienced Christians, and read the written accounts of their lives, you must, I think, be satisfied, that God does, at times, as directly interpose, in behalf of those who ask him in faith, as he did in restoring health to the sick, and sight to the blind, under the ministration of our Savior on earth.

Such facts serve to establish the doctrine of a special providence, the truth of which I once questioned, but now fully believe. Indeed it is surprising I could ever entertain a doubt on the subject; for it is as unphilosophical as unscriptural, to admit a general providence without a special one; as a general providence implies particular providences. I was probably led into this error by the false philosophy which prevails in the world, by propagating which

men strive to exclude the agency of God from all direct concern with the affairs of this world, and of the universe. This philosophy substitutes for the mighty hand of Deity, the operations of second causes, and laws of nature. We are taught in our youth that nature or created things, are subject to certain laws, such as attraction, gravitation, and repulsion; and with the help of these, we pretend to account for all the phenomena of the universe, without the direct agency of a supreme, intelligent Cause.

But what are the laws of nature? Nature, in its most comprehensive sense, means all that is made or produced, and laws, when applied to such created things, signify the regular motions, operations, and changes of these things; or the causes by which they are produced. If the laws of nature are the motions and changes of bodies, then they are effects, and not causes, and we ascribe the phenomena of the universe to the effects of something else. If these laws are the producing or primary cause, they must be the supreme Author himself, whom all rational men must admit to be an intelligent Being. Is it possible that laws or principles, competent to carry on the stupendeus operations of the universe, can be attached to matter, and not immediately dependent on the almighty Author! Is matter susceptible of such active principles, independent of an intelligent mind? I would not dare to circumscribe, even in thought, the power of Jeho vah; but I have given up this philosophy, and am compelled to resolve all the laws of nature in

to the direct agency of the almighty first Cause. The operations of nature are evidently the effects of that power constantly exerted, which first called all things into existence. Hence their uniformity, for no. thing can be uniform, but God and his operations.

The Jews were an illiterate people, cultivating neither arts nor sciences, to any considerable degree; yet, surprising as it may appear, they were, for ages, the only people whose history has come down to us, who appear to have had just ideas of the only true philosophy, which, mounting to the true source of all created beings and their operations, ascribes all events to Jehovah. Upon this scheme of philosophy, the difference between miracles and natural events is, that natural events are the usual, constant, and regular operations of divine power, and supernatural events are the unusual and special operations of the same power, which astonish men, merely because they are not frequent. It cannot be the magnitude of the event which excites our wonder; for we have no ground to suppose the raising of the dead is a greater act of divine power, as it regards the Supreme Being, than the growth of a tree. If any person should incline to allege that the differ. ence between a miracle and a natural event, is, that a natural event takes place by means of some medium or instrument, and a miracle, without such medium, this would only compel us to mount one step higher to find the immediate agency of God. The waters of the Red Sea were removed to make a passage for

the Israelites, by a "strong east wind;" but it was "God who eaused that wind to blow," and the effect produced may have been as really supernatural as the revival of Lazarus from the dead. I see nothing therefore in reason to make me doubt, that God's moral government may admit, and even require, in every period of the world, special interpositions of power, divine and supernatural; nor can I see in such special interpositions, any thing more improbable, than in the first formation of man, by moulding matter into a particular organic frame, and infusing into it an intelligent principle. The God who created the universe, governs it and all the beings that inhabit it, by such exertions or operations of power, general or particular, as best suit his own purposes.

The doctrine of predestination and election is one which is much opposed by some denominations of Christians. But I see not how this doctrine can be separated from the being and attributes of an infinite God. If God is infinite, there can be no such thing as past, and future, or a succession of ideas, in the divine mind. The terms predestination and foreknowledge, are therefore inapplicable to the Supreme Being; and are used only in reference to finite beings, who have a succession of ideas. An infinite being must know with certainty every event, future as well as past; and if events are certainly known to him, they must be unalterably determined: for how can he know them, but in consequence of his own determination? If they are not certain he cannot know them; and

this supposition involves both a limitation of his knowledge, and an imperfection in his attributes. I conceive therefore the Scriptural doctrine of election stands on the very character and attri. butes of that Being, "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Yet we are conscious of free agency in our determinations. That man, is

not, in a strict sense perfectly free, that is, independent of God, in determining his actions, we must believe, for there can be but one such being in the universe, as a perfectly independent mind; but I see no contradiction nor absurdity in the doctrine of a predetermined order of events in the universe, and at the same time, the possession by man of such a freedom of will, as to render him accountable for his actions. The first is affirmed in the Scriptures, and in my ap prehension, is inseparable from the sovereignty and infinite perfections of the Deity; while the last is equally affirmed in the Scriptures, and authorized by our own experience. The terms unconditional election, I think, are inapplicable to the subject; for we have the Scriptures for our authority, supported by every principle of reason, that every man's future state will be determined by his voluntary obedience or disobedience. I think it better to submit and obey, than to perplex our minds with ab. struse reasonings on subjects beyond our comprehension.

To many men, the doctrine of free, unmerited grace, in the salvation of sinners, is very offensive.

Such persons seem to suppose they can merit salvation and claim it as a right. Butwas not our