CHAPTER FIRST. On the Dispensation of the Holy Ghost. Ir is a scriptural, and I suppose, a generally acknowledged fact, that the world is now, in a special manner, under the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. The Father, in conceiving and adopting the plan of man's redemption, may be said, in relation to our apprehension of things in TIME, to have reconciled justice and mercy prospectively. The Son, by coming into the world in accordance with the plan of redemption, and by fulfilling in his death on the cross the indispensable conditions of the plan, rendered this reconciliation not only prospectively, but presently and actually possible. The office of the Holy Ghost, among other things, is to teach men; and by teaching, and other spiritual operations, to induce and enable them to accept and to realize in their own renovated persons and natures all the benefits, which the wisdom of the Father has provided, and which the voluntary humiliation of the Son has rendered possible. The work of man's salvation, therefore, in its practical and personal application, and so far as it remains 1 uncompleted, may be said to be under the direction of the Holy Ghost. Accordingly when our Savior left the world, he held the following language to his disciples. "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." And again, he says, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me; for He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." John, 16: 7, 8, 12, 13, 14. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is to be regarded as the appointed and effective renovator, guide, comforter, and teacher of the children of men. In the moral and religious world all good is from Him; and beyond the reach of his influence, and irrespective of his presence and operations, there is not and cannot be any thing, which is valuable or desirable. There are some reasons for saying, that the dispensation of the Holy Spirit is precisely opposite and antagonistical, in its principles and results, to what may be called the natural dispensation, viz. the law of the natural heart, or the reign of SELF in the soul. Man, before his fall, had a did not live by his own vi true life in God. He tality, and flourish upon his own stock. The pow |