all the fundamental truths of God's Word, while we may reasonably expect to find a variety of opinions, arising from different degrees of light, even amongst such as are in the main and substantially at one. And this consideration ought to be improved as a lesson of universal charity and of mutual forbearance among the disciples of Christ.* It is a precious Bible truth, that the enlightening grace of the Holy Spirit, although it be specially promised to the Gospel ministry as that by which alone their peculiar functions can be successfully exercised, is not confined to them, nor to any one class or order of men, but is common to all believers. Every private person-every humble man, who takes his Bible in his hand, and retires to his closet to read and meditate on it there, is privileged to ask and to expect the teaching of the Spirit of God. "If ANY man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." The direct communication of every soul with God as "the Father of lights," with Christ as "the light of the world,” and with the Holy Ghost as Spirit of truth," shows what standing the Christian people have in the Christian Church; and that, although God has graciously provided for them ministerial helps and spiritual guides, he has not left them absolutely dependent on any order of men,-still less has he subjected them to mere human authority in matters of faith: "their faith must stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." * Love's Letters, p. 318. "the CHAPTER V. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN CONVINCING THE CONSCIENCE. Ir is part of the Spirit's work to convince the soul of its sinfulness. I. There is, indeed, a conscience in man, which fulfils alike the functions of a law, by prescribing the path of duty, and the functions of a judge, in pronouncing sentence against transgression,—a conscience which impresses every man with a sense of right and wrong, and which often visits the sinner with the inward pangs of conviction and remorse. But conscience, while it exists, and while it serves many useful purposes, is not sufficient in its present state to awaken the soul to a full sense of its real condition, although it be amply sufficient to render it responsible to God as a Judge, and to make it a fit subject for the convincing operations of his Spirit. That in its present state it is not sufficient of itself, nor even when it is surrounded with the outward light of the Gospel, to awaken the soul to a due sense of its own sinfulness, appears from various considera tions:-It is manifest that conscience has shared, like every other faculty of our nature, in the ruinous effects of the fall; and the natural darkness of the soul prevents it from seeing its own corruption. It must be so, indeed, if by the fall we have lost the perception of God's glory, or can no longer discern the excellency of his holiness; for our views of sin stand connected with, and must be affected by our views of God; one vivid view of his glorious character being sufficient to make the sinner tremble at the sight of his own vileness, and to exclaim with Job, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." In as far, then, as the fall has “alienated us from the life of God through the ignorance that was in us, because of the blindness of our hearts," in the same proportion must it have weakened that power of moral perception, or that principle of conscience which should convince the soul of its own sinfulness; and never, till it is restored to a spiritual acquaintance with God, will it come to see its guilt in all its loathsomeness and aggravations. 2. That natural conscience, unaided by the Spirit of God, is not sufficient of itself to bring a man to a right sense of his own sinfulness, appears farther from the tendency of habitual sin to sear and deaden the conscience, whereby it comes to pass, according to the sovereign appointment of God, that conscience becomes weaker, in proportion as sin grows stronger in the soul, till the sinner may arrive at a point of degeneracy at which he is wholly given over to a This reprobate mind, and so far from being condemned by his conscience, he may dare to justify his wickedness by "calling good evil and evil good," and instead of being ashamed of his guilt, may even "glory in his shame." We read of some whose "mind and conscience is defiled;" and of others "having their conscience seared with a hot iron,"—the habitual practice of sin having a deadening influence over that principle by which alone sin is checked or condemned. natural provision is in accordance with the great law of moral retribution which is laid down in Scripture a law which insures the progressive improvement of those who make a right use of the imperfect light they have, and the rapid degeneracy of those who corrupt or abuse it; "for whosoever hath to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have" (or thinketh that he hath). Now, if this be the natural law of conscience, that its moral perceptions become dead, and its condemning power weak in proportion as the power of sin becomes habitual and inveterate; it follows, that the more need there is for a thorough work of conviction, the less is it to be expected from the mere operation of natural conscience; and that, if the Spirit of God do not interpose, the case of such a soul is hopeless. But lest it should be thought that this second proof applies only to the case of gross and hardened transgressions of the divine law; let me observe farther, 3. That the experience of the more decent members of society, and even of many formal members of the Church, affords ample evidence that natural con science, unenlightened by the Spirit of God, is not sufficient to convince the soul of its sinfulness; for of many such may it be said with truth, that they have no just idea of sin as in its own nature, and in all its manifestations, an odious and hateful thing. Natural conscience in such men takes cognizance chiefly of gross outward transgressions, and of these, too, mainly as they stand connected with the peace and order of society, or with the decencies and proprieties of social life;—it is a mere prudential reason ; but of sin, as it appears in the sight of God, it thinks little, and still less of those heart-sins, and that radical depravity from which all actual transgressions proceed. It condemns murder, but does it equally condemn pride? It condemns filial ingratitude and disobedience to an earthly parent, but does it equally condemn ungodliness, which is the natural element of every unrenewed mind, and which implies filial ingratitude and disobedience to our Father in heaven? How can it discern the inherent turpitude of sin, unless it be taught the inherent loveliness of what is spiritual and divine? and whence can this be learned, but from the teaching of the Spirit? In fact, the work of conviction implies a work of illumination, and is based upon it. It is by enlightening the mind to discern the truth, that the Spirit quickens the conscience; and so long as the mind remains in darkness, the conscience is prone to sleep. It is when the light of God shines into the heart that his vicegerent there starts from his slumbers, and lifts a responsive voice to the call of his Master. And hence |