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would have us to draw into it, and be instructed by it.

You discover this great assembly is made up of a variety of different persons, who may all have different views in some things, but this doctrine must come home to every mind, no matter what former impressions may have been, or by what creeds they may have been bound; for every creed limits the holy one, if it is made by man.

The true christian can have none but that which is in himself, which is eternally sufficient for all the sons and daughters of men. You see, then, that this doctrine is not applied to any particular sect or profession of men and women on earth. It only says to them, that God is endeavouring by the witness placed within them, to gather them back to the foundation which he at first laid, when he placed our first parents in the Garden of Eden. This witness was placed in their breasts, when they were put into that Paradisiacal state, in which stood the tree of life; and was there ever a tree of life, which could be seen by the external eye? No. Nothing can be a tree of life but God Almighty himself; and he is invisible to every external sense.

I feel myself led by the grace of God to address this assembly as one individual. For as sure as the outward law was suited to every individual

Israelite alike, so now, is this divine law, which is written by the finger of God upon the tablets of our hearts, the same to every individual. It is to this divine law that I am endeavouring.to call your attention as the one thing needful.

It was the testimony of one of old "by their fruits ye shall know them."

Now my friends, let us see the difference between Mary and Martha. We see that Martha loved the Lord, and that the Lord loved her, although she was greatly in a state of ignorance and darkness, when compared with her sister Mary. She was putting all her mind upon outward objects, and dwelling upon external things. She was no doubt endeavouring to gain his approbation, by serving him in external things, believing in the outward manifestation. She was altogether wrong, although she did it in love.

No doubt, among the varied professing Christians in the different nations on earth, some having one kind of images, and some another, some composed of outward things, and some created in the imagination; there may be, among all these kinds, some who, like Martha, love their master and are willing to serve him, according to their own understanding. These may be as active as any others, although their

mistake is as evident, as it was in that day; for Martha was engaged very industriously in preparing outward things, and though altogether mistaken, still she was trying to do a great deal for her Master. But we see Mary sitting at her Master's feet, conscious of her destitute condition.

O my dear friends, if we did but come inward to the spirit of truth, how we could read the scriptures. How beautifully are portrayed these shadows and figures, to point to the blessed principle, which is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." "Behold, my sister hath left me to serve alone, bid her therefore that she help me."

We see the same thing among the professors of Christianity; they are zealously engaged in the bodily exercises and faculties of the natural man to do something for the service of God Almighty, and when they have done it, it will answer no other purpose than the service of Martha did, and although it may be accepted as hers was, still they must be reproved as she was. "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." We must all come into the condition of Mary; and I have no doubt.

that when we get aright we shall come into the same condition. "Seest thou not, how she has left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me." Jesus knew her heart; and he saw also the excellent state and condition of Mary, who was in that passive and resigned state, comprehended in the parable of the meal and the leven; and no doubt it was a great comfort to him, to meet with such followers.

O see, my friends, how we have all departed from the "one thing needful." We have been engaged about "many things" and endeavouring to serve God in our own way, not considering that there is but "one thing needful." Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

Now can we want any more instruction on this point? No. If we turn inward as Mary did, we shall be brought into a state of humiliation as she was; for she had not learned any thing from without, but she was brought into humiliation by the evidence in her own soul. It was the spirit which revealed to her Jesus, the Messiah, who was prophesied of by the former prophets.

Mary was instructed and brought into this

passive state, by an entire sense of her inability to do the least thing, or think one thought, or perform one good work; she centered down into a nothingness in which she might be taught the things of God. Therefore it shows the propriety of the expression that in emptiness there is fulness and in nothingness the enjoyment of all things."

We find that Jesus recommends all to this light. He had been engaged in fulfiling all the external righteousness of the law, by submitting to all its external evidence and testimony; and when he had thus gone through with it, he was raised higher and higher, by additional glory and light from his Heavenly Father; so as to begin and advance, the bringing in of the new covenant, which was to be comprehended in a law written in the heart, by the finger of God; according to the prophet Jeremiah, whose prophesy was largely expatiated on by the apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews. know indeed the truth, that all who have gone forth under the guidance of the letter have been persecutors. You know the inemical operation of traditional religion, which depends upon the letter and outward commandments of God Almighty. Paul himself had learned a great and deep lesson upon this subject, when he

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