of propositions, which I barely indicate in so many words.

1st Proposition. God possesses a sovereign empire over all the perceptions of our souls; he is able to excite in them such as he pleases, either with the concurrence of external objects, or without that concurrence.

2d Proposition. In the order of nature, God has united the compendious road of sensation to the more circuitous one of reasoning, for the preservation of our body. What is noxious to the body, makes itself known to us, not only by a process of reasoning, but by certain disagreeable sensations, which warn us to keep at a distance from it. Whatever contributes to its preservation, makes itself known by pleasurable sensations, and thereby engages us to make use of it.

3d Proposition. It by no means involves a contradiction, to say, that if it was the will of God, in the order of nature, that the compendious road of sensation should supply the more circuitous one of reasoning, he may sometimes be pleased to conform to the same economy, in the order of grace.

4th Proposition. We are assured not only by reason, that God may adopt this mode of proceeding, but scripture and experience assure us, that he actually does so, in the case of certain Christians of a superior order.

I compare those sentiments of grace, to the movements by which the prophets were animated, and which permitted them not the power of doubting whether or not it was the effect of the presence of God in their soul; movements, which produced conviction that God intended to make use of their ministry, and constrained them, in many cases, to act in contradiction to their own inclinations. Never was mission more glorious than that of Jeremiah. Never was mission more difficult and more burthensome. He was called to open his mouth in maledictions, levelled against his fellow citizens, and to be himself exposed as a butt to the execrations of that people. Overwhelmed under the pressure of a ministry so distressful, he exclaims: Wo is me, my mother, that thou hast born me a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth, chap. xv. 10. He does more. He forms the resolution of renouncing a ministry which has become the bitterness of his life: The word of the Lord is made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily ; then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, chap. xx. 8, 9. But God lays hold of him, by invisible bonds, and which he finds it impossible to shake off: the word of the Lord is made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily; then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name: but his word was in mine heart, as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay, ver. 9. O Lord, thou hast deceived (enticed) me, and I was deceived: (enticed) thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed, ver. 7.

I am persuaded that many among you have experienced, in your vocation, something similar to what the prophet experienced in his. I am persuaded that many of you have been attracted by those irresistible bands, and have felt that sacred flame kindled in your soul which the Holy Spirit communicates to the regenerated, and which put these words in the mouths of the disciples, who were travelling to Emmaus: Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? Luke xxiv. 32.

Now, if you call upon me to go into a more particular detail on this subject, I will say to you, that however mysterious this operation of the grace of God may be; whatever difficul y may appear in exactly ascertaining the time of its communication, it is imparted to believers in five situations chiefly. 1. When shutting the door of his closet, and excluding the world from his heart, the Christian enjoys communion with deity. 2. When Providence calls him to undergo some severe trial. 3. When he has been enabled to make some noble and generous sacrifice. 4. When celebrating the sacred mysteries of redeeming love. 5. Finally, in the hour of conflict with the king of terrors.

1. When shutting the door of his closet, and excluding the world from his heart, he is admitted to communion and fellowship with deity, in retirement and silence. There it is that a commerce is instituted, the charms of which I should to no purpose undertake to display, unless they were known to you by experience. There it is that the believer compensates to himself the time of which he has been constrained to defraud his God; and there it is, that God compensates to the believer, the delights of which the commerce of the world has deprived him. There it is that the believer pours out into the bosom of his Father and his God, the sorrow excited by the recollection of his offences, and that he sheds the tears of a repentance which love has enkindled, and expresses in terms such as

these:

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My God, I know that love is thy predominant character, and that it cannot be thy will I should perish; but I am ashamed of my own weaknesses; I am ashamed of the little progress I have made in religion, since the time thou hast been pleased to grant me a revelation of it. I am ashamed to reflect that such an accumulation of benefits as thou hast conferred upon me, should have still produced so slight an impression upon my heart."

And there it is that God wipes the tear from the believer's eye, and heals up the wounds of the penitent, saying unto him, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins, Isa xliii, 25. There it is that the believer avails himself of the tender access which God condescends to grant at those precious moments, and that conversing with him, as a man speaking unto his friend, Ex. xxxiii. 11. he asks him to bestow communications more endearing, more intimate: "Lord, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory, ver. 18. Lord, scatter that darkness which still veils thy perfections from my view: Lord, dispel those clouds which still intervene between me and the light of thy countenance." There it is that God takes pleasure to gratify desire so nobly directed: "Poor mortals, how unrefined, how debased is your taste! How much are you to be pitied, with that relish for the meagre delights of this world!" Is there any one that can stand a comparison with that which the believer enjoys in such blessed intercourse as this?

2. When Providence calls him to encounter some severe trial. I speak not here of trials to which appetite prompts a man to expose himself, under the specious pretext of promising himself the glory of a triumph; but, in reality, from the fatal charm which betrays him into defeat. We have no encouragement to expect divine support to resist and overcome temptation, when we rashly throw ourselves in the way of it: He that loveth danger, saith the wise man, shall perish therein. I speak of those trials which the believer is called to encounter, either from some supernatural inter position, or simply from the duty imposed by his Christian vocation. How often do they appear to him so rude, as to awaken despair of overcoming? How often, when abandoned for a moment to his frailty, he says within himself: "No, I shall never have the fortitude to bear up under that painful conflict: no, it will be impossible for me to survive the loss of that child, far dearer to me than life itself: no, I shall never be able to fulfil the duties of the station to which Providence is calling me : How can I give my heart to what I hate, and tear it away from what I love?" Christian, be of good courage. See that thy resolution be upright and sincere, to him that believeth all things are possible, Mark ix. 23.

There are resources of grace with which thou art yet unacquainted; but which thou shalt know by experience, if thou prayest for them, and makest it thy unremitting and sincere endeavor to walk worthy of such exalted expectations. God himself will descend into thy soul with rays of light, with fresh supplies of strength, with impressions so lively of the promised recompense of reward, that thou shalt not feel the pains of conflict, and be sensible only to the pleasure of victory, whilst thou art yet in the hottest of the battle.

3. I said that those transporting foretastes aré communicated to the believer, after he has been enabled to offer up some noble and generous sacrifice. I can conceive no transports once to be compared with those which Abraham felt, on his descent from Mount Moriah. What conflicts must he have undergone from the awful moment that God demanded his Isaac! What a dreadful portion of time, I was going to say, what an eternity, was the three days which passed between his de