In accordance with this promise, St. Paul says, "The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God;" and St. John, "He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself."

Now, that this great gift, whatever it be, is of a nature to impart illumination, sanctity, and peace, to the soul to which it comes, far from disputing, I would earnestly maintain. And, in this indirect way, doubtless, it is in a certain sense apprehended and perceived; perceived in its effects, with a consciousness that those effects cannot come of themselves, but imply a gift from which they come, and a presence of which they are, as it were, the shadow, a voice of which they are the echo. But there are persons who desire the inward manifestation of Christ to be much more sensible than this. They will not be contented without some sensible sign and direct evidence that God loves them; some assurance, in which faith has no part, that God has chosen them; and which may answer to their anticipations of what Scripture calls "the secret of the Lord," and "that hidden manna" which Christ invites us to partake. Some men, for instance, hold that their conscience would have no peace, unless they recollected the time when they were converted from darkness to light, from a state of wrath to the kingdom of God. Others consider, that in order to have the seal of election in them, they must be able to discern in themselves certain feelings or frames of mind, a

renunciation of their own merit, and an apprehension of gospel salvation; as if it were not enough to renounce ourselves and follow Christ, without the lively consciousness that we are doing so; and that in this lies "the secret of the Lord." Others go further; and think that without a distinct inward assurance of his salvation, a man is not in a saving state. This is what men often conceive; not considering that whatever be the manifestation promised to Christians by our Lord, it is not likely to be more sensible and more intelligible than the great sign of His own Resurrection. Yet even that, like the miracle wrought upon Jonah, was in secret, and they who believed without seeing it were more blessed than those who saw.

All this accords with what is told us about particular divine manifestations in other parts of Scripture. The saints reflected on them afterwards, and mastered them, but can hardly be considered as sensible of them at the very time. Thus Jacob, after the vision, says; "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." Manoah said to his wife, after the Angel had departed, "We shall surely die because we have seen God." Gideon in like circumstances said, "Alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen an Angel of the Lord face to face." And St. Peter, while the Angel was delivering him out of prison, though he obeyed him, yet "wist not that it was true which was done by the Angel, but thought he saw a vision ;" but "when he was come to himself, he said, Now I

know of a surety that the Lord hath sent His Angel!"

Let no one think it strange to say, that God may be holding communion with us without our knowing it. Do not all good thoughts come from Him? Yet are we sensible that they so come? Can we tell how they come? We commonly speak of being influenced by God's grace, and resisting His grace; this implies a certain intercourse between the soul and God; yet who will say that he himself can tell in particular instances when God moves him, and when he is responding this way or that? It is one thing, then, to receive impressions, another to reflect upon them and be conscious of them. God may manifest Himself to us, and that to the increase of our comfort, yet we not realize that He does so.

But now to proceed; for there is more information given us on the subject. There was another occasion on which the Jews asked for a sign, and on which our Lord answered by promising one, not to His Apostles only, but in continuance, like the manifestation He speaks of, to all His faithful followers. And it was a sign not more sensible or palpable, not less the object of faith as regards the many, than that sign of His resurrection which He gave once for all. He had just before been feeding five thousand men with five barley loaves and two small fishes; when, not contented with this, the Jews said, "What sign

1

Gen. xxviii. 16. Judg. xiii. 22; vi. 22. Acts xii. 9-11.

showest Thou that we may see and believe Thee? What dost Thou work?" and they proceeded to refer to the "sign from heaven," which Moses had given them. "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat." It was a little thing, they seemed to say, to multiply bread, but it was a great thing to send down bread from heaven,-a great thing, when the nature of the creature was changed, and men were made to live by the word of the Lord. Was the Son of man able to give them bread such as this? Yes, surely, He had a Sign,—a Sign from heaven, more wonderful, a fearful Sign, surpassing thought and surpassing sight too, addressed to faith only, but not the less true because it was hidden. Moses gave their fathers bread from heaven; they saw it, ate it, and were dead; His Sign was greater. He was Himself the Bread from heaven under the Gospel, and the Bread of life. He took not of the creature to satisfy their need, but He gave Himself for the life of the world. “Moses gave you not that Bread from heaven; but My Father giveth you the True Bread from heaven, for the Bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. I am the Bread of Life. This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die." Now I am not led to speak here of that special ordinance in which His divine announcement is fulfilled; this would be foreign to my purpose. I do but wish to consider the gift in itself, and the

sign in itself, as these words describe it. It is a sign greater than manna, yet beyond dispute, as the passage itself shows, a sign not addressed to sight, but to faith. For our Lord speaks of our "coming to Him," and "believing on Him;" and He says that "it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing;" and He warns us, "No one can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." His coming up from the heart of the earth was a sign for faith, not for sight; and such is His coming down from heaven as Bread.

I have been speaking of the signs which He Himself promised; but others were announced concerning Him by His servants, and these, let it be observed, are secret also, and addressed to faith. The Prophet Isaiah was commissioned to promise Ahaz a sign; "Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God," he says, "ask it either in the depth or in the height above." When Ahaz would not speak, the Prophet proceeded: "The Lord Himself shall give you a Sign; behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel 1." Yet could there be a Sign more secret, less exposed to the senses, less addressed to the reason, than the Conception ? It was a miracle, yet not an evidence.

And so again, when our Lord was born, the Angel gave the shepherds a Sign; but which was the greater evidence, the Angel himself, and the multi

1 Isaiah vii. 11. 14.