are aware, are stigmatized as narrow and low; as belittling the efficacy of the holy spirit in awakening, renovating, and sanctifying the sinner; as explaining away and rendering nugatory the doctrine. But do not the same objections lie with equal force against the whole providence of God? Is it more worthy of Him to work by means than without? How unworthy then are all the ordinary dispensations of His love to His creatures! Is it more honorable to Him to operate by a direct impulse upon the souls of men, than to render the whole universe instinct with His informing, guiding, sanctifying spirit? Which is the low and narrow doctrine, that which teaches us to recognise God's holy spirit in all things; or that which confines it, so far as man's religious advancement is concerned, to certain limited and specific, even though they be express and palpable, impulses? And as to belittling His agency, which does this the more, a doctrine which restricts this agency to some seemingly capricious and convulsive, even though they be obvious, manifestations of it, and those too which interfere with, and break in upon, the established course of His natural and moral providence, or one which leads us to perceive His spirit operating in all that exists, in every occurrence, in all beings, in all places,

"Path, motive, guide, original, and end,"

hallowing all by its presence, conferring upon all a diviner meaning, and thus consecrating all to that great purpose which pervades the whole creation, providence, and revealed will of God, the developement of the whole nature of man, his recovery and renovation from sin, and his sanctification to everlasting life?

There remains but one more important inquiry in regard to this subject. It is, what are the authentic evidences of the presence and operation of Divine Influence on the soul. With what proof ought we to be satisfied that God is, in reality, working within us to will and to do of his good pleasure?" In regard to this, there is, happily, little difference of opinion among judicious inquirers. It in the first place is a holy life. The language of President Edwards is very full and decisive on this point, and in this he is followed by all the more learned and sensible divines in modern times, who consider themselves as belonging to the same common denomination of Christians.

To enforce this truth is the object of all the con

cluding part of his "Treatise on the Religious Affections," and it is by far the most able and useful part of the work. We shall quote a few passages as specimens of the whole train of remark.

After adverting at great length, and with much acuteness and discrimination, to twelve distinct circumstances or phenomena in a religious experience, which are "no signs that affections are gracious," that is, are occasioned by the "saving" operations of the Spirit; and, in like manner, to twelve more, by which "those affections that are spiritual and gracious, do differ from those that are not so," he thus speaks of the last.

"But I am come now to the last distinguishing mark of holy affections" (that is, those caused by the "saving" operations of the spirit) "that I shall mention. Gracious and holy affections have their exercise and fruit in Christian practice. I mean, that they have that influence and power upon him who is the subject of them, that they cause that a practice, which is universally conformed to and directed by Christian rules, should be the practice and business of his life." p. 332.

"Holy practice is as much the end of all that God does about his saints, as fruit is of all the husbandman does about his vineyard."- p. 347.

"Christ nowhere says, Ye shall know the tree by its leaves or flowers, or ye shall know men by their talk, or ye shall know them by the good story they tell of their experiences, or ye shall know them by the manner and air of their speaking, and emphasis and pathos of expression, or by speaking feelingly, or by making a very great show by abundance of talk, or by many tears and affectionate expressions, or by the affections ye feel in your hearts towards them; but by their fruits shall ye know them."-p. 354.

"This (holy practice) is ten times more insisted on as a note of true piety, throughout the Scripture, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelations, than any thing else. But I can find no place, where either Christ or his Apostles do, in this manner, give signs of godliness (though the places are many), but where Christian practice is almost the only thing insisted on."- pp. 386, 387.

"Now from all that has been said, I think it to be abundantly manifest, that Christian practice is the most proper

evidence of the gracious sincerity of professors, to themselves and others; and the chief of all the marks of grace, the sign of signs, and evidence of evidences, that which seals and crowns all other signs." p. 394.

"There may be several good evidences that a tree is a fig-tree; but the highest and most proper evidence of it is, that it actually bears figs." - p. 395.

"Christian practice is the sign of signs, in this sense, that it is the great evidence, which confirms and crowns all other signs." p. 395.

We add a short quotation from a sermon of Paley* to the same effect, and particularly on account of its practical char

acter.

"The efficacy of the spirit is to be judged of by its fruits. Its immediate effects are upon the disposition. .. Whenever, therefore, we find religious carelessness succeeded within us by religious seriousness; conscience, which was silent or unheard, now powerfully speaking and obeyed; . . when we find the thoughts of the mind drawing or drawn more and more towards heavenly things; the value and interest of these expectations plainer to our view, a great deal more frequent than heretofore in our meditations, and more fully discerned; the care and safety of our souls rising gradually above concerns and anxieties about wordly affairs; when we find the force of temptation and of evil propensities, not extinct, but retreating before a sense of duty; self-government maintained; the interruptions of it immediately perceived, bitterly deplored, and soon recovered; sin rejected and repelled; . when we feel these things, then may we, without either enthusiasm or superstition, humbly believe that the spirit of God hath been at work in us."

In this result, as we have already observed, the most judicious writers of the present day concur. But our appeal lies to a more decisive authority than all these, even to the Lord Jesus and his Apostles, and nothing can be more explicit than their language on this point. Thus, "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." And certainly it is to the friends of Jesus, if to any, that the holy spirit is given. "Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit

* Sermon "On the Influence of the Spirit." Part III.

sin." "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.' "For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth."

These, then, are the authentic evidences that we are moved by the spirit of God. They are not strange, sudden, unaccountable, or miraculous. They do not require the sacrifice of our rational powers. They do not depend upon the fluctuation of the feelings, upon sympathy, heated appeals to the passions, or upon the excitements of crowds. They are seen in practice, quietly but effectually influencing the life, producing repentance, reformation, a growing conformity to God's will, a continually increasing purity, piety, and heavenly-mindedness. They are solid. They are durable. They have "the promise of the life that now is," and can alone prepare us for fuller manifestations of divine favor in the eternal world.

And, as another proof of the reality of God's presence to the human soul, we add, in conclusion, that of Experience. We speak here of no mystical influence, but of one which is clear, distinct, rational, and matter of habitual consciousness with the truly pious spirit. It is a religious peace; a holy joy in God, in his Son, and in the revelations of His will, that no words can adequately express. The soul thus visited from on high will perceive, that Christian truth is to all its capacities like light to the eye, each being made for the other; that the revelation of the Gospel is but the enlargement and confirmation of all other truth; that it interprets all the secrets of our mysterious nature; meets all its inner wants; answers to all its higher aspirations; solves all the dark problems of providence; presents a noble aim to life; gives an all-concerning significance to human conduct; relieves the mind from the anguish of uncertainty respecting the future, from the distress of conflicting passions, from the solicitations of bad desire, from the opposition between duty and feeling, from the stings of remorse, and all the sad requitals of an outraged and hostile conscience. The spirit, thus touched of God, experiences what is emphatically called in the Scriptures a "joy in believing." It opens, continually, to new displays of His exhaustless love; perceives more and more of His stupendous plan of grace in the salvation of man; attains a blessed consciousness of thinking worthily and acting well; and gains more and more of that temper of our Divine Master, which elevates, tranquillizes,

amends, and hallows the life. In every dark hour, its language will be, as it has been, "O what a power there is in the Infinite Mind of Deity, to communicate itself to the soul that looks singly to Him for comfort and support! The greater the exigence, the more perfect the adaptation; the more troubled the sea is around us, the more we feel the security and firmness of our hold upon the Rock of Ages!" In a word, the spirit, thus guided from above, will experience, more and more, that the Saviour's parting promise of " peace" to his immediate disciples is not confined to them, but is fulfilled to his faithful followers now; that it is, indeed, "his peace"; that it is given, in very truth, "not as the world giveth"; that it adds to every token of Divine Beneficence some relishes of heavenly blessedness; makes the whole creation one august temple for praise; renders life one continued offering of love. and homage; and clothes every event, even while it is seen and temporal," with the sublimer wisdom of "things unseen and eternal."

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We here take leave of this long protracted discussion. Why, are any ready to ask, has it been so long and earnestly pursued? Our answer has already virtually been given in the introduction to this Essay. It is because every thing relating to the Influence of God upon the human soul is of ineffable importance ; — because what we deem the truth in respect to it, is the most cheering, sustaining, animating of all truths; because, moreover, it is a subject that is peculiarly liable to misapprehension, perversion, and abuse; and, because, in point of fact, it has been, and is, as we conceive, lamentably and shockingly mistaken, perverted, and abused. Therefore it is, that we have labored to give a Scriptural and rational account of it; to assert and prove the doctrine as, we believe, our Lord and his disciples taught it; and, at the same time, to deny all license to dark bigotry, to wild enthusiasm, and to fanatical excess. We have hoped to do something, by which the sincere and earnest inquirer might be guided to true and useful results; to relieve the doctrine from errors and overstatements which have prevented its reception with some enlightened minds;-something to make the great truth felt as well as admitted, experienced as well as acknowledged, that God is near to the human soul as nothing else is near, and near with an all-controlling, all-penetrating, all-subduing power.