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 action, 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 styled "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 to thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles." 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

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is poured forth in pre-eminent 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 God, and who enables them, on the one hand, to mortify their carnal affections, and, on the other, to bear the peaceable fruits of righteousness. It is in or after this Spirit that the apostle commands us to walk: "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit; and again, to the Romans, he says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Now, to walk in or after the Spirit, who dwells in us, can be nothing less than to conform our life and conversation to his dictates; and this we could not do, unless those dictates were perceptible to the mind. On the same principles the apostle has, on two occasions, described Christians as persons who are led by the Spirit: "If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." 5 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Any one, who impartially examines the two chapters from which these quotations are derived, will easily perceive that the leading, of which Paul is here speaking, is not the instruction

3 Gal. v. 25.

4 Rom. viii. 1. 6 Rom. viii. 14.

5 Gal. v. 18.