raging and excellent accounts had they to leave upon record for us, concerning the mighty powerful overshadowing of the canopy of heavenly love and life in their religious affemblies, and of the glory of God fhining forth amongft them! This, through the mercy of God, is not departed; though there have been fome removes thereof. 14, Dearly beloved youth: Lay to heart the great flackness of zeal which appears in too many; the dimness, flatness, and the painful gloominefs, which fpreads itfelf over our affemblies in this our day, hard to break through, many times depriving us of the heavenly places in Chrift Jefus our Lord! It is not of Him we are in this condition, but it certainly is our own fault, because wrong things are fuffered to prevail. Oh! that our youth may be stirred up in a godly zeal to cry out fervently with the prophet Elifba," Where is the Lord 2 Kings ii, "God of Elijah?" And to be as vigilant as he in ardent endeavours to be endued with the fame Spirit, to fucceed those honourable worthies who are removed from works to receive a bleffed reward. Confider the business of your day is to come up in a faithful fucceffion, maintaining the caufe and teftimony of God, left with you by your ancestors, or those who are removed as above. Stand faft therefore in the liberty purchased for you by great fufferings, and fhedding of innocent blood; be afraid to trample thereon; which all certainly do, who turn away from the truth, as it was received, held forth, and maintained by them. May it be very precious in your eyes from generation D 2 ration to generation, until time fhall be no more! Those who otherwise esteem it, turning their backs thereupon, violating the bleffed teftimony thereof in its feveral branches, will (unless they repent) be wholly rejected and caft off, as being unworthy of fo great an honour, as that of holding forth a standard of truth and righteousness to the nations ; and others will be called and chofen for that great and glorious work: yea, the Lord is able to raise up of those who may be compared to the ftones, and to make them Abraham's children, by doing his works; while thofe, who might have been the children of the kingdom, may by disobedience provoke him to exclude them. I fhall conclude this affectionate addrefs to our youth with the words of Chrift, by his faithful ferRev. i. 11. vant John, to the church in Philadelphia," Be"hold I come quickly; hold that faft which thou "haft, that no man take thy crown. Him that "overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple "of my God, and he shall go no more out; and "I will write upon him the name of my God, "and the name of the city of my God, which is "New Jerufalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name." CHAPTER On the Nature and Nocessity, &c, CHAPTER II. Containing fome brief Obfervations concerning the TH 21 IO, II, 12. HE ftanding doctrine preached by our Lord Jefus Chrift to Nicodemus, of the neceffity of being born again, John iii. 3—8. and what is delivered by John the Baptift concerning the bap- Matth. iii, tism of Christ with the Holy Ghoft and fire, being the fame in fubftance, which is also set forth by the prophet Malachi, under the lively metaphors of a refiner's fire, a purifier of filver, and fuller's Mal. iii. 1, foap, with many other paffages of like import in 2 3 4 holy writ, although of the utmost confequence to be rightly understood, weightily confidered, and deeply pondered by all, is by the generality much overlooked, and amazingly neglected. That which alone can lay a fure foundation for happiness, both in time and eternity, is hardly thought of by many with defire, or even with any degree of ferioufnefs; unless it be to fhun and evade the force of that power, which thereby would separate them from their beloved lufts, and fleshly gratifications. In order to effect this, many and exceedingly abfurd have been the conjectures and dreams of a great part of mankind; but all to fhun the cross; that corrupt felf, with all its feeming rich treasure and adorning, might be faved. This self, in many, has been more fond of a religious kind of ornament and treasure, than thofe of any other fort; towards whom the fubtile transformer hath not been been wanting plentifully to furnish all those minds who have a religious turn. Antichrift, as an eminent * author obferves, can bring forth in his church a likeness or imitation of every thing that is to be found in Sion. O then! how greatly it behoves mankind to prefs after a certainty; fince nothing can poffibly center the foul in a more deplorable state, than a mistake of this kind. But fome are apt to doubt whether such a thing as an infallible evidence of our adoption is attainable here; though fo fully afferted in the holy scriptures. This is not to be wondered at, with respect to those who are in the natural, unrenewed state; feeing the natural man, according to Paul's doc1 Cor. ii.14, trine, understandeth not the things of the Spirit "of God, neither indeed can he know them, "because they are fpiritually discerned." But I am perfuded none, who have really experienced the new birth, remain doubtful or fcrupulous concerning this important truth. It seems to me altogether unreasonable to fuppofe Infinite Goodnefs, who knows the fallibility and great weaknefs of his creature man, fhould leave any, whofe hearts are fully devoted to yield obedience to his will, in a ftate liable to mistake the fame, or in any wife ignorant of his divine approbation, upon a careful difcharge of their duty to him. This holy evidence in faithful fouls is indeed the white ftone, and in it a new name written, which none know fave those who receive it; being an affurance that their names are written in heaven: from * I. Penington, whence whence arises a joy, which is unspeakable and full of glory. A sense of the wrath of God against evil, doth often make deep impreffions upon the minds of many; fo that they in painful remorse are ready to cry out for mercy and forgiveness of their fins. And seeing this fenfibility upon the mind of man, that he hath displeased his Creator, neither doth nor can proceed from any thing in man, but the pure witness of God placed there; fo it is quite reafonable to conclude, that this divine Witness, upon our faithfully discharging the duty we owe to God, according to its discoveries, will impress our minds with a sweet sense of divine approbation, agreeable to Rom. viii. 16. " The Spirit itself beareth wit"ness with our spirit, that we are the children of "God." With many other paffages in holy writ of like import. When any are really difpofed to be religious, great care should be taken in their first setting out. Many have been marred upon the wheel, for want of patience to endure proper tempering; endeavouring to be formed into veffels, before they have paffed through the neceffary operation. This has been for want of thoroughly knowing themfelves. For every thing that appertains to the creaturely will, and forwardness of defire to chufe and act for itself, muft die upon the cross; therefore there must be a remaining as a chaos without form and void, to endure all forts of ftorms and tempefts, until the effective Word faith, Let there be light! making by his own power a perfect separation between |