manifestation, kneeled down, and called upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, and lay not this sin to their charge.' Hence we learn, first, that nothing appears so absurd and wicked to Pharisees and Formalists, as the doctrine I maintain. They lose all patience, when they hear that Christ really manifests himself to his servants. No blasphemy is like this in the account of those, who are wise, learned, and prudent in their own eyes. Secondly, that the most exalted saints need a fresh manifestation of the glory, love, and presence of Christ, that they may depart this life in the triumph of faith.

If you object, that Stephen was thus favoured, because he was about to suffer for Christ, and that it would be great presumption to expect the like support, I reply in five following observations. (1.) We are called to suffer for Christ, as well as Stephen, though perhaps not in the same manner and degree.—(2.) We often need as much support from Christ, to stand against the children of men that are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongues a sharp sword ;' and to ' quench the fiery darts of the devil,' as the martyr did to stand a shower of stones.- (3.) It is perhaps as hard to be racked with the gout, or to burn several days, in a fever on a sick bed, as you or I may be forced to do, as to be for a few minutes with Shadrach and his companions in a burning furnace, or to feel for a fleeting moment the anguish of bruised flesh, and a fractured skull, with our triumphant martyr. No one knows, what pangs of body and agonies of soul may accompany him through the valley of the shadow of death. If our Lord himself was not above being strengthened by an angel that appeared to him from heaven, surely it is no enthusiasm to say that such feeble creatures as we are, stand in need of a divine manifestation, to enable us to fight our last battle manfully, and to come off more than conquerors.

(4.) We betray unbelief, if we suppose, that Christ cannot do for us what he did for Stephen; and we betray our presumption if we say, we want not the assistance,

language of our church is far different :-" Grant," says she, in her collect for that Saint's day, "O Lord, that in all our sufferings here on earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and, by faith, behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors, by the example of the first martyr, St. Stephen, who prayed for his murderers, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those who suffer for thee."

You see, Sir, that I have the suffrage of the Church of England; and yours too, if you do not renounce our excellent liturgy; so that, if I am an enthusiast for expecting to be filled with the Holy Ghost,' and by faith to behold the glory that shall be revealed, as well as St. Stephen, I am countenanced by a multitude of the best and greatest men in the world.

But suppose you reject the testimony of St. Stephen, and of all our clergy (when in the desk) touching the reality, and the necessity too, of our Lord's manifesting himself on earth, after his ascension into heaven, receive at least that of St. Luke and St. Paul. They both inform us, that as Saul of Tarsus went to Damascus, the Lord, even Jesus, appeared to him in the way. Suddenly there shone a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun,' so that he fell upon the earth, and heard a voice, saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?' And he said, Who art thou Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.' So powerful was the effect of this manifestation of Christ, that the sinner was turned into a saint, and the fierce, blaspheming persecutor into a weeping praying apostle.

Methinks I hear you say, True, into an apostle; but are we called to be apostles? No, Sir, but we are called to be Christians-to be converted from sin to holiness, and from the kingdom of darkness, to the kingdom of 'God's dear Son.' St. Paul's call to the apostleship is nothing to his being made a child of God. Judas was a Christian by profession, an apostle by call, and a devil by nature. And what is Judas in his own place

to the meanest of God's children to poor Lazarus in Abraham's bosom? All who go to heaven, are first turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.' This turning sometimes begins by a manifestation of Christ; witness the authentic account of Colonel Gardner's conversion, published by his judicious friend, Dr. Doddridge; and the more authentic one of our apostle's conversion, recorded three times by St. Luke. And I dare advance, upon the authority of one greater than St. Luke, that no one's conversion ever was completed without the revelation of the Son of God to his heart. I am the way and the door,' says Jesus, no man cometh to the Father but by me. 'Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.'-Our looking to him for salvation would be to as little purpose, were he not to manifest himself to us, as our looking towards the East for light, if the sun were not to rise upon us.

6

The revelation of Christ, productive of St. Paul's conversion, was not the only one with which the apostle was favoured. At Corinth the Lord encouraged and spake to him in the night by a vision. 'Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no man shall hurt thee.' On another occasion, to wean him more from earth, Christ favoured him with the nearest views of heaven. I knew a man in Christ,' says he, whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, who was caught up into the third heaven, into paradise, and heard words which it is not possible for man to utter.' -And he informs us farther, that lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, a messenger of Satan was suffered to buffet him.' When he had been brought before the Sanhedrim for preaching the gospel, St. Luke informs us that the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.' The ship in which he sailed being

of God, whose he was, and whom he served, saying, Fear not, Paul,' &c.

St. Paul was not the only one to whom Christ manifested himself in this familiar manner. Ananias of Damascus was neither an apostle nor a deacon; never. theless, to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord; and the Lord said, Arise, and go into the street, which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas, for one called Saul, of Tarsus; for behold he prayeth.' In like manner, Philip was directed to go near and join himself to the Eunuch's chariot. And St. Peter being informed that three men sought him, the Lord said to him, Arise and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.'

Whether we place these manifestations in the class of the extraordinary, or of the mixt ones, we equally learn from them-(1.) That the Lord Jesus revealed himself as much after his ascension as he did before.-(2.) That if he does it to send his servants with a gospel message to particular persons, he will do it much more to make that message effectual, and to bring salvation to those who wait for him.

As for the revelations of Christ to St. John, they were so many, that the last book of the New Testament is called the Revelation, as containing chiefly an account of them. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,' says the apostle; and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am the first and the last. I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and I saw one like unto the Son of man, &c. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead; and he laid his hands upon me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last.' Write the things which are and shall be. One of the things which our Lord commanded John to write, is a most glorious promise, that he stands at the door' of the human heart, ready to manifest himself even to poor lukewarm Laodiceans; and that, if any man hear his voice and open the door'-if they are made conscious of their need of

him, so as to open their hearts by the prayer of faith, 'he will come in,' and feast them with his gracious presence, and the delicious fruits of his blessed Spirit. Therefore the most extraordinary of all the revelations, that of St. John in Fatmos, not only shews that the manifestations of Christ run parallel to the Canon of Scripture, but also gives a peculiar sanction to the ordinary revelations of him, for which I contend.

Having thus led you from Genesis to Revelation, I conclude by two inferences, which appear to me undeniable. The first, that it is evident our Lord, before his incarnation, during his stay on earth, and after his ascension into heaven, hath been pleased, in a variety of manners, to manifest himself to the children of men, both for the benefit of the Church in general, and for the conversion of sinners, and for the establishment of saints in particular: Secondly, That the doctrine I maintain, is as old as Adam, as modern as St. John, the last of the inspired writers, and as scriptural as the Old and New Testament, which is what I wanted to demonstrate.

I am, Sir, &c.

J. FLETCHER.