all locked up; he is in the same condition as if he had them not. Hence he has no knowledge of God, no intercourse with him; he is not at all acquainted with him. He has no true knowledge of the things of God, either of spiritual or eternal things. Therefore though he is a living man, he is a dead Christian. But as soon as he is born of God, there is a total change in all these particulars. The eyes of his understanding are opened (such is the language of the great apostle:) and he who of old commanded light to shine out of darkness shining on his heart, he sees the light of the glory of God, his glorious love, in the face of Jesus Christ. His ears being opened, he is now capable of hearing the inward voice of God, saying, Be of good chear, thy sins are forgiven thee: Go and sin no more. This is the purport of what God speaks to his heart: Although perhaps not in these very words. He is now ready to hear whatsoever He that teacheth man knowledge is pleased from time to time to reveal to him. He "feels in his heart (to use the language of our church) the mighty working of the Spirit of God:" not in a gross, carnal sense, as the men of the world stupidly and wilfully misunderstand the expression: though they have been told again and again, we mean thereby neither more nor less than this: he feels, is inwardly sensible of the graces which the Spirit of God works in his heart. He feels, he is conscious of a peace which passeth all under-*
