rightly to sustain the privations of this heavenly consolation; yea even to endure that painful sense of desertion which may be a part of the purifying process of redeeming grace—those fervent operations of the Holy Spirit which are comparable to fire; and which are necessary to our preparation for the enduring retention of this heavenly treasure; though such preparation be not fully communicated until our final baptism unto death.

Of this heavenly treasure, this "depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God," it may truly be inquired: "It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?” But we have seen that the Almighty has opened the way for communicating, and that both outwardly and inwardly, so much of this knowledge of Himself, as is essential to the spiritual and eternal wellbeing of mankind.

First, By His works of creation and providence.

Secondly, By the Holy Scriptures or his Divinely authorised declarations of Himself.

Thirdly, By the Spirit of his Son in the character of his Essential Word of Light and Life, as inwardly and immediately manifested and revealed.

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The first of these ways thus mercifully prepared in order to the reception of this knowledge, is universal. The second is partial and special. The third is also universal in an incipient and initial degree, but especial and increasing in the experience of those who sincerely embrace and desire it; and is designed to be extended until this saving knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea." In order to accomplish this blessed purpose, He hath seen meet in different ages of the world, to prepare and separate particular instruments or a peculiar people, with whom to entrust those distinguished revelations and lively oracles, which have been vouchsafed to mankind as recorded in the Holy Scriptures.

But it is only as identified with experience, that this Divine knowledge becomes saving and consolatory then it is that the well-instructed and confiding soul can say with David: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He

causeth me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters; He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his Name's sake." Happy are they who know the Lord to be their Shepherd, by a grateful impression on their minds of the benefits and blessings He daily bestows upon them; and who are thus encouraged to trust that they shall not want whatsoever He sees to be needful and convenient for them, while they continue of the number of His sheep, His true disciples such as are willing to be led about, taught, and instructed by Him in the ways of his choosing. To these will He show the path of life—make them to lie down in green pastures, beside the still waters" of comfort and peace. They will be led into the paths of righteousness for the Name's sake of Him who laid down his life for His sheep. And when, through the frailty of their fallen nature, they may have been made painfully sensible of its propensity to sin, their souls will be restored to the joys of His salvation who alone giveth repentance unto life.

Lecture EV.

ON TRUTH DIVINE, SPIRITUAL, AND MORAL.

"If ye continue in my Word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free." "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

In this language of the blessed Jesus, we may observe Truth is not only personified, but even identified with Himself. Thus it also is in another declaration, by which He styles Himself, "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Many persons are accustomed to consider Truth only as an abstract idea or intellectual acquisition, having relation to such subjects only as are apprehended by the understanding, and are of a speculative, theoretical, or doctrinal description; and they do not view it as having an equally intimate relation to the practical, moral, and spiritual character of But the Light of Truth is not merely the light of knowledge; it is the Light of Life. It is evidently a scriptural position that the heart is

man.

as much its seat as the head-the affections as the intellect; and that its sphere of operation in each of these, is in proportion only to the degree in which they become rectified and purified by the admission of that Divine Light, which at once irradiates and sanctifies; being an immediate emanation from Him, who is justly styled the "Sun of Righteousness."

Truth is to be considered not only in its original and eternal nature, but also in its communicable and derivative characters, as having relation both to intelligent and unintelligent subjects, to persons and to things. To intelligent subjects or persons, Divine Truth is communicable in an immediate manner, in a degree and extent to which we can assign no boundary, and also through its appropriate channels and modifications, according to the Divine good pleasure.

A measure of this Divine Truth being communicated to man, whether immediately or through its Divinely prepared mediums, if received and embraced in the love of its own pure nature, and thus transforming the soul into its own likeness, may be said to be imparted and derived so as to become a quality or property of the human