days of our Saviour, when the officers said, never man spake like this man; and they answered, have any of the rulers, or the Pharisees believed in HIM? Just so is the world now; have any of the Bishops believed? have any of the rulers and the great men believed? If they have not, those must be fools who believe the visitation of the LORD to a simple woman, as the Jews thought they were fools to think the LORD would let himself down so low, that He who was born of a mean virgin and laid in a manger, should be called the Son of God, and should humbly bear all the insults and ridicule of mankind, to be called the babbler, possessed with a Devil, and who hid himself when they went to stone him! This, by their worldly wisdom, could not appear to be the wisdom and power of a God; but how can man believe he would condescend to go through all the shameful treatment that he went through in this world, if he would not condescend to visit again in the SPIRIT, according as he PROMISED in the GosPEL? For when HE speaketh of coming as the TRUE SHEPHERD, to be the Shepherd of all men, as St. John x. appeareth to me-HE putteth forth his own sheep, HE goeth before them, and his sheep know his voice. Now these sheep, it appeareth to me, are the true Believers, that believe in HIS Coming in the SPIRIT to fulfil the GOSPEL. He goeth before in SPIRIT, and they hear his voice; for that is the manner HE hath spoken of the SPIRIT, to be BORN of the SPIRIT, and hear the SPIRIT, as ye hear the wind. And he saith, I know my sheep and am known of mine; other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also must I bring in, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one Fold and one Shepherd? I laid down my life to take it again. Now when can men say, there hath been one Fold and one Shepherd? Do not men mock the voice of CHRIST coming to teach in the SPIRIT? Then you cannot say there is one ShepREFLECTIONS ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL AND ACTS. 221 herd and one Fold to know his voice. You may say there are ten thousand shepherds and ten thousand folds, who preach different doctrines, one from another: and thousands of Arians, that preach against the Gospel. Then where is the ONE SHEPHERD and the ONE FOLD, which our Saviour affirmed should be? And to fulfil the BIBLE it must be, that all might be taught of the LORD, from the greatest to the least, and the fulfilment of the GOSPEL affirmeth it. But need I marvel of men's saying I have a Devil, when they said our SAVIOUR had a Devil and was mad? Why hear ye him? Others say, can a Devil open the eyes of the blind? these are not the words of him that hath a Devil. And perfectly so is the world at this day. Now let me appeal to the Christian world, whether they think every one should abuse our SAVIOUR, because the malice and unbelief of some were great? Should those that did believe desert him, because of his persecution? If they did their sins must have been of the deepest dye; or should Paul have given up the visitation of the LORD to him, because he was mocked and despised by the Jews, and suffered such persecution? or, because Festus told him he was beside himself and was mad? But did Paul give up to his words? Did he not answer, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness? Now what would men think of Paul, if he had disregarded the visitation of the Lord, to please the mad unbelieving world? What profit is the world to him now? It is not all the praise and applause of man could have saved him in the hour of Death, or in the day of Judgment, from a fatal end, if he had drawn back. Then may I not say with Peter, who ought we to obey, God or man; judge ye? See the fatal end of JUDAS, who began to be a man pleaser; but what comfort did he feel from man, when he complained of his conscious guilt, and said he had sinned, in that he had betrayed innocent BLOOD? What was their unfeeling answer? What is that to us! see thou to it! Now, here is the world in its true colours; if they can tempt men to sin against light and knowledge, and afterwards find they have caused their ruin, by so doing, they only mock them for fools. This is the pondering of my heart from Judas; and this would be my case was I to deny the visitation of the LORD, to please the unbelieving world, and conscious guilt begun to awaken me, that I could not bear the reflection of myself. Then the answer of the world would be just the same, and I should have no more comfort from the world now than Judas had; therefore I look upon every one as a Judas to me, that wishes to persuade me to give up the visitation of the LORD, because they do not believe it. PAUL might as well have given up his visitation, because the Jews did not believe him; the PROPHETS might have given up their visitation, because the world did not believe them: and I might as well give up the GOSPEL, because I heard it mocked by the Jews, and they did not believe it. For being formerly in company with six Jews, they brought forward their Bibles to prove our SAVIOUR was not the MESSIAH; as they pointed out the manner of his coming to be according to the SECOND COMING, to be the PRINCE OF PEACE, and have the GOVERNMENT ON HIS SHOULDERS. It is fruitless here to pen the Scriptures they brought forward, to prove that the coming of Christ must be in HONOUR and GLORY to GOD, and to the REDEMPTION OF MAN, which I granted to be TRUE; but they would never allow, that he must first come to die for man; and the Prophecies that prophesied of his death they would not allow that they alluded to CHRIST; and on being asked what they meant, they answered, they were chapters they never understood; and what they never understood they were not to look into. And now I see the Gentiles are just the same. II JEWS AND GENTILES EQUALLY UNBELIEVING. 223 ask them what is meant by the cOMFORTER being sent, which is the HOLY GHOST, whom the FATHER will send in HIS Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remenbrance. Their answer would be like the JEWS; if it did not allude to the Holy Ghost being sent to the Disciples, at that time, they did not know what it meant; and as they did not know what it meant, they would not allow that any other should know. So here stand Jews and Gentiles together; and I would as soon rely on the one as on the other; for he that will believe one prophecy and not another, is no believer at all. Now the meaning of the HOLY GHOST, the Comforter, being sent in HIS NAME, cannot appear to me to allude to the Disciples; because our SAVIOUR was then present, and taught them in his FATHER'S NAME, that he was the SON of GOD, which they believed, and received the POWER OF the HOLY GHOST, as he promised them; then what new doctrine was then sent in HIS NAME, to teach them all things that concerned HIM? Do not these things allude to the End? Did HE mean his Gospel was only to his Disciples ? or, did HE allude it equally the same to the generations that should arise after them, that were true believers in the merits of HIS death and sufferings, till HE had brought in all his Sheep as ONE FOLD? Then if it alludes unto all, HE saith I AM the VINE, ye are the branches; he that abideth in ME, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without ME, ye can do nothing; but He saith, I will pray the FATHER, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever, even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth HIM not. Here our SAVIOUR plainly affirms, that His visitation shall be in the SPIRIT, which no man knoweth, nor no man seeth; but HE says, it shall be with you, and shall dwell in you. Now whom can the SPIRIT OF TRUTH visit to be with, and to be in, but those that believe GOD is TRUE, the GOSPEL is TRUE, and that CHRIST will visit in the SPIRIT, according as he spoke in his Gospel? Now this have I believed, and this have I received; for in this manner hath all my visitation been, perfectly as our SAVIOUR Spoke in the Gospel; but this the world cannot receive, because they do not believe what they cannot see; for being visited within by the SPIRIT of God, and the PowER of the HOLY GHOST, though our SAVIOUR affirmed it should be; yet it appeareth as erroneous to thousands, that profess they believe the GOSPEL, as it appeareth to the Jews erroneous to believe the GOSPEL at all. But I have not so learnt CHRIST, but believe his WORDS to be TRUE, that He is with his followers to the end, that believe in HIM. But how can a man profess he believes in the GOSPEL, and not believe one quarter what he said? Did not our SAVIOUR say, I come a LIGHT into the world, that whosoever believeth in ME should not abide in darkness? But if the judgment of the world be true, we must abide in darkness without the knowledge of God, without the KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST; or what he meant by his GOSPEL, or what HE meant by his SECOND COMING, or what He meant by so often speaking of sending the COMFORTER, sending the HOLY GHOST, sending the SPIRIT OF TRUTH. For all these appear dark sayings to the world; so that through unbelief they abide in darkness; and will not come to the light, because from the GosPEL they must be reproved: but shall we follow a multitude to do evil? Shall I blind my eyes and stop my ears, because the unbelieving world are determined to blind their eyes, that in seeing they will not see, nor in hearing they will not understand? Now in pondering through the Bible, I see the resolute spirits of men, that where they give Satan power to work in them, they are determined to be resolute against the TRUTH; for how did the |