and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you ;"'-the fact again, that when he endowed those "eye-witnesses of his majesty " with power from on high, the presence of his Holy Spirit was in like manner visibly manifested by a "sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind," by "cloven tongues like as of fire, sitting upon each of them," and by their "speaking with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance, and subsequently by the confirmation of the word preached by them, "with signs following ;". all these facts prove indeed beyond the possibility of doubt, that in laying the foundations of his church upon earth, God condescended to the nature of man, as a being of sense, by connecting his spiritual operations, of which the heart and mind alone can be cognizant, with certain operatraitor Judas, that he who should be "ordained to be a witness with the eleven of his resurrection," should be one of those which had "companied with them all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among them, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from them;" (Acts i. 21, 22); from all which the inference is obvious, that not only as a matter of fact God was manifest in the flesh, but that his manifesting himself in the visible world, and bringing himself under the cognizance of the senses, was of the very essence of the purpose of God in Christ.

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tions falling under the observation of the senses. That some of those signs by which the presence of Godhead was formerly evidenced in the visible world, have for a length of time ceased to exist, except on record, is equally a matter of fact, not only acknowledged by a vast portion of those who still owe allegiance to the truths introduced under the powerful weight of that evidence, but set in the most striking light by the contrast of those signs and lying wonders" which a corrupt church has felt and still feels it incumbent upon her to put forth in support of her unwarrantable pretensions. But because one kind of demonstration to the eye is no longer repeated, are we therefore rashly to conclude that the connexion between the inward presence of God and some outward token of that presence hath ceased altogether? that the whole manner of God's dealing with us is so utterly changed, that no visible pledge of covenant and communion with him remains? that his church in the present stage of his dispensations no longer bears a character analagous to that which in all ages preceding she had borne as a visible church? that God has repented him of that condescension which he ever showed towards mankind, and which there never was greater reason to expect that he would show, than

W

2 Thess. ii. 9.

* See Appendix, No. iii.

since he sent his own Son into the world to take our nature upon him, to the very intent that we might have "an high-priest which can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities?" Considering on one hand, that God himself in the person of his Son took part with us of flesh and blood, and on the other hand, that the world to come, and our own resurrection-state in it, are clearly revealed to us as a world and a state of visible as well as spiritual reality and glory;-considering that we, "according to his promise, look for new heavens. and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, " for "the holy city, new Jerusalem," to be "the joy of the whole earth," for our own heavenly tabernacle, our body of glory, wherein "bearing the image of the heavenly Adam,"d we shall be "satisfied with his likeness," and not only "shall be like him," but "shall see him as he is," f the "brightness of his Father's glory, the express image of his person,' ," and "the light of the heavenly Jerusalem;""-considering that we look for such things as these, all of a visible character, and that all the church's foundations of old are of the same visible character, only less glorious, the neral analogy of God's past dealings with us, and

Heb. iv. 15.

b Ps. xlviii. 2.

C

22 Pet. iii. 13.

C

2 Cor. v. 1, 2.

1 John iii. 2.

'Rev. xxi. 23;

b

a Rev. xxi. 2.

ge

d 1 Cor. xv. 42-49. Rev. xxii. 4.

xxii. 5.

the purport of his yet unfulfilled promises, must equally disincline us to the supposition that God has for a time, during this present dispensation, ceased altogether to deal with us in a visible

manner.

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But thanks be to God, we are not, in a matter of such importance, left to draw inferences or indulge in conjectures; we have the clear evidence of the written Word, that "there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and that these three agree in one." On examining more closely into the nature and purport of the evidence afforded by the two concomitant visible witnesses, in agreement with the invisible witness of the Spirit, we cannot fail to be struck with the singular simplicity, the wonderful appropriateness of these two appointments. First of all we observe that they are standing evidences, not, like the signs and wonders of the apostolic age, of a novel as well as transient character, but answering in the manner of their testimony to the character of the dispensation to which they belong. The appointed work of the apostolic age was the laying the foundation of that church of which "the Apostles and prophets are the foundation-stones, and Christ himself the chief corner-stone;" the external

signs setting forth this work in a visible manner, corresponded with the nature of the work; they were signs of a striking kind, calculated to excite the attention of both Jews and Gentiles, to invite them to a nearer contemplation, and to awaken, even in the most carnal among them,* a desire for participation in the blessings of a work in which the finger of God was so manifestly discernible. But that foundation once laid, the progress of the work, until the second advent of our Lord, is one steady process of edification, one stone silently laid upon the other, all upon the old "foundation which is laid ;"' a work which would not have been promoted, but (as it now often is, when extraneous causes produce that effect,) sadly hindered by the continuance of the excitement of novelty. To the carrying on, then, of this work, such visible evidences as were put forth in the apostolic age, would have proved not an assistance but an obstruction; and accordingly we find, that the same hand of divine wisdom and power which had set them in motion in the infancy of the church, discontinued them as

* See particularly the case of Simon Magus, which powerfully illustrates the effect produced in a mind the most carnal by witnessing the exercise of the Apostolic gifts: "When Simon saw that through laying on of the Apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost." Acts viii. 18, 19.

11 Cor. iii. 11.