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4

into my hand : yet to avoid unnecessary reflections from
such as might seek occasion, I have neither ( designedly )
added nor diminshed, not altered a single sentence.
As the presbytery honestly confessed, that from the
connection in which they stood, when the Observa-
tions were written, "they were off the foundation of
" the apostles and prophets of which Christ himself is
" the chief corner stone," It need not therefore seem
strange if some things in their writings should appear
dark and inconsistent. For instance, whether the divine
Spirit has its abode in the human heart, or in the let-
ter of the Scriptures, is left rather uncertain in some
part of the Obsrvations : and this will no doubt ever
remain a doubtful question with those who are discon-
nected from the true foundation. But considering the
presbytery as standing in such a situation, their Obser-
vations are no doubt astonishingly bright in the main,
and may be of great service to the honest soul that is sin-
cerely enquiring the way to Zion. And to such it is par-
ticularly dedicated, as the last legacy of a dying friend.

The Obsrvations were not intended as any law, rule,
or form of discipline for the government of any church,
but merely to describe that church which is governed by
an internal law, without any written form of words, and
thereby direct the enquiring mind to the true founda-
tion of God when it should appear. In every dispen-
sation of divine grace, God has still given the shadow
before the substance ; the pattern of things in the hea-
vens, before the heavenly things themselves : There-
fore consider the following, as the example and shadow
of those heavenly things, which thousands expected to
be substantiated by means of the late revival.
Spiritual light is of an increasing nature, measured
to us as we are able to receive it. We could not bear
to see every thing at once, which respects the kingdom
of God. The work of God is gradual : his kingdom
is not erected all at once. Who hath heard such a thing?
Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to
bring forth in one day? Shall a nation be born at once ?

(ISA.lxvi,8.)

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