tion were not stronger than our corruption, none could ever be convinced of sin, and brought home to Christ; if equal in power, neither would be victorious, but, as in the conflict between David and Saul, the former waxed stronger and stronger, and the other weaker and weaker, so it will be found in every one's history, that without Christ, we can do nothing, but with him, all things.

PART IV.

THE PATERNAL STATE OF PHILEMON.

SECTION XXXIV.

POWER OF UNBELIEF.

THOMAS.-Slow of heart to believe. Luke xx. 29.-TIMOTHEUS.

Thomas.-I long to open my heart to a father in Israel, but, in the best sense, I fear such persons are seldom to be met with.

Timotheus.-Many, I grant you, who affect the name of father in Israel, were never the means of introducing spiritual children into the kingdom of God; some who aspire to the character have nothing but a sectarian spirit, and the heading of a religious party to show for it; others, in Popish countries, call themselves fathers, who make no other use of the term, than to stretch their authority beyond all due bounds, to entrap the unwary, to delude the unsuspecting, and to proselyte and draw disciples after them.

Thomas. Surely if our Lord tells us to call no man father, on the earth, least of all are such men deserving of the name.

Timotheus. And yet there are some fathers in the household of faith who can confirm the weak and strengthen the wavering, and who may be justly styled, the pillars of the church, and great supports to their respective pastors.

Their parental character is recognized in Scripture, and St. John informs us, they are distinguished chiefly for their great knowledge and experience, (“I write unto you fathers because ye have known him from the beginning,") and you know religion is nothing without experience, can a man live under a sunbeam for any length of time, and neither be sensible of its light or heat? and can a real Christian live half a century under heavenly sunshine, and be much in fellowship with his God, and not possess much of the light and teaching of the Spirit, and more of the power and warmth of his grace within him?

Thomas.-It requires, I am certain, great acquaintance with Christ, and our spiritual senses must be well exercised by use, to form a correct judgment of many truths that are brought before us in Scripture; we cannot judge of men, however fair and promising outwardly, either for good or evil, by a step or two they may take in a good cause, (for it may wholly originate in a blind and sudden impulse,) neither can we speak positively of religious doctrines, or credit any truth which we have never satisfactorily tested, or made out by an inward experience and persuasion.

Timotheus.-It is a great matter to possess faith; true faith substantiates and realizes that which sight and sense could never discover, it produces a full persuasion and implicit reliance, which any believer entertains in his own mind, upon the credit of divine testimony.

Thomas.-If we build on man's testimony merely, that is credit, and if we entertain the notion of a thing only in our mind, that is an

opinion, but if we rest on God's sole authority, and make it the sole foundation of our believing, that must be true faith, because it proceeds on sure grounds, it argues a thorough acquaintance with certain fixed principles, and all besides, in my mind, is but mere conjecture.

Timotheus.-When we hear anything from the undoubted testimony of the Lord himself, we may well believe it; and has not the Lord given you in his written word all the testimony you want? can omnipotence in performing, and unchangeableness in promising, ever disappoint you?

Thomas.-A christian father I confess, (though I know none are possessed of infallibility,) I much wish to converse with, because such an one will speak, not from theory, but from the effects of things; for example, if he knows that his conscience is purified from dead works, or his heart freed from immorality, or his corruptions mortified, or his lusts grown abominable, or his temper cleaned of wrath, impatience, or fretfulness, that knowledge is all from his experience, and in like manner, and by the same rule, he will speak and write, and judge of all other religious duties.

Timotheus. Still, I would have you never lose sight of faith, it is to the soul, what an anchor is to a ship, and though the cable may be moved to and fro, up and down, yet it holds it fast.

But may I know the subject matter of your anxieties?

Thomas.-I honestly confess, I stand in doubt of many things, it is all well enough what you have said, but every thing in religion, turns upon evidence that does not satisfy sin, and all outward

appearances at present make against some things that are held as sacred verities, think you it is right to risk our immortality on bare probability? Shall worldly men, when they make sure of an estate, have it conveyed in writing, and signed and sealed on parchment, and shall they put these writings in a place of safe keeping, and in the hands of those whose sole office it is to see to those records and rolls; and shall we be content, without the best testimony in our power, when our eternal all is at stake in this world and to \eternity?

In all transactions with my soul, I desire to make a safe trust, and then there is safe-keeping. I am one of those who have great remains of infidelity, I am perfectly bewildered with doubts; scepticism and infidelity alternately take possession of me. I sometimes think, I must be lineally descended from him who disbelieved the Lord's good promise, and who staggered at the truth of his resurrection, and would not listen to the chosen witnesses thereof. (John xx. 25.)

Timotheus. It is great injustice to ourselves, and a great dishonour done to God, to disbelieve his word and the testimony of his servants; we are privileged to build on the same promise; we have also the written word and the oath of God, which are the two unchangeable witnesses; (Heb. vi. 18.) we have likewise the two sacraments, which are the authentic seals of the covenant of grace; (1 Cor. xi. 26.) we have, moreover, the covenant and pledge of the Spirit; (Rom. viii. 16.) we have the testimony, that heaven and earth shall pass away, rather than that one jot or one tittle of

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