ability, we are bound to do.- Every thing must be referred " to the Law and to the testimony ;" and agreeably to that must we move in all things. We are not to expect the Holy Spirit to direct us by any impulses unconnected with the word. To be looking for visions, or impressions of any kind independent of the word, is to delude our own souls. The way by which the Holy Spirit will guide us is this : He will sanctify the dispositions and desires of our souls, and thus enable us to " discern good from evil, and light from dark- ness." He will give us " a single eye : and then our whole body will be full of light0." Then we shall be prepared to understand the word; and be enabled and inclined to follow it : and in this way he will fulfil his promise, that we " shall hear a voice behind us, saying, This is the way ; walk ye in itp." This is exactly what he has taught us to expect : " The meek he will guide in judgment, the meek he will teach his wayq:" the judgment shall be rectified, in the first instance, by the in- fluence of the Holy Spirit; and then shall the way of duty be made clear before our face; the word becoming, not only "a light to our feet in general, but a lantern" to our every step1.]
2. What we should render to him —
[If we could but realize the state of mind which this mode of conducting Israel required, we should see at once what are those graces which we should cultivate in our journey towards the heavenly land.
We should exercise dependence without anxiety — submission without murmuring — obedience without reluctance.
. We should depend on him without anxiety. We should leave God altogether to " choose our inheritance for uss," and to " appoint the bounds of our habitation t." We should consider ourselves as entirely under his care and guidance, as a child is under the direction of his father: and, being assured of his fatherly regards towards us, we should " cast our care alto- gether upon himu."
We should submit to him without murmuring . We cannot see the reasons of all his dispensations : nor is it needful we should. We should feel convinced of this, that, however inex- plicable they may be to us, he is too wise to err, and too good to inflict pain without some adequate cause. We should " know in whom we have believed; " and satisfy ourselves with this composing thought, " What I know not now, I shall know hereafter x."
We should obey him without reluctance. We must not in- quire whether his commands be pleasing to flesh and bleed,
0 Matt. vi. 22. p Isai. xxx. 21. i Ps. xxv. 9. r Ps. cxix. 105. s Ps. xlvii. 4. t Acts xvii. 26. u 1 Pet. v. 7. x John xiii. 7.