OR, A DISCOVERY OF TRUE RELIGION, AS IT IMPORTS A LIVING PRINCIPLE IN THE MINDS OF MEN. AND ON COMMUNION WITH GOD. BY SAMUEL SHAW, LATE MINISTER OF LONG-WHATTON, LEICESTERSHIRE. WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY ROBERT GORDON, D. D. MINISTER OF THE NEW NORTH CHURCH, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW: PRINTED FOR WILLIAM COLLINS; WILLIAM WHYTE & CO. AND WILLIAM OLIPHANT, EDINBURGH ; INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. WHEN, on a certain occasion, the Pharisees demanded of our Lord, when the kingdom of God should come? he answered them and said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, lo, here! or lo, there! for behold the kingdom of God is within you;" and the same truth is stated by the Apostle Paul, when he says, "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." These statements were both originally made to particular persons, and with a reference to special circumstances; the former, to correct the mistaken views of the Pharisees, who expected that the kingdom of God was to commence with some striking interposition of divine power on behalf of the Jews, and to consist in their being put in possession of great temporal prosperity;-the latter, to put an end to the dissension which had arisen between the Jewish and Gentile Christians at Rome, respecting certain external observances, which were adhered to by the one class, and disregarded by the other. But, though thus directed, in the first instance, against special |