of the church; that the Corinthians had no rea son to be lifted up, as all christians are honored with the operations of the same spirit. Some had one gift; others another; while all at the same time possessed the most important gifts of holy love and grace. However different the operations, all worked one and the same spirit: All centered in one great end, and as so many members in one body, all served though different ways, the same purpose. The fruits and effects also, of their religion were essentially the same, being all baptized into one body, by the same spirit, whether Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, and drinking into one spirit. The sentiment contained in the text is this, that all christians of whatever age or nation, have essentially the same religion and experience. There is, in various respects, a difference as to manner of exercise; yet the essential nature of exercise and enjoyment is the same.In the ensuing discourse, I shall show,

I. That there is a difference, as to manner of exercise and experience, among Christians: but II. Their exercise and enjoyment are essentially the same.

III. I shall proceed to prove the doctrine, that all christians, of whatever age or nation, have essentially the same religion and experience.

I. There is a difference as to manner of exercise and experience, among christians in various respects.

First, as to law-work, or what precedes a work of conversion: Some are probably converted in infancy, and can never tell of a law-work. Among those who do experience such a work, there is, in various respects, a difference. Some are struck at once, and very suddenly awakened. Some experience conviction but a short time previous to L

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their conversion.

Some are exercised with much more terror than others: And others have doubted of their state, because they did not experience that terror. Some have had their hearts laid open in a more striking view, and some have been brought to conviction by extraordinary means. But in all these cases, a law-work is experienced, which is essentially the same.

With respect to the manner of the change, some are transported at once and swallowed up. Some more sensibly exercise one grace at first; others another.-Some exercise various graces in quick succession.-Some are always more sensible of the exercise of some particular graces.

The exercises of some are more pure and unmixed. Those of others have a great deal of animal passion, and some kind of impulse. Some are greatly agitated in body.

Some have a more clear establishment or assur

ance than others. Some live the greater part of

their time in doubt about their state. Some from their natural make, are more inclined to doubt than others. Indeed, as to manner, there is great variety. But,

II. As to the essence of religion and experience, it is the same in every age, sect, or nation. -Different nations and people have exceedingly different tastes in other respects, as to food, society, &c. There is scarcely a likeness to be found. The people of many nations have no likeness of taste, so as to form social connexions: But as to the exercise, or experience of grace, it is the same, whether in Jew or Greek, bond or free. On this subject, they have the same kind of taste and enjoyment so that when they converse together, they understand each other, and have fellowship together.-In proportion as they possess religion, they love God supremely: They see in him

a supreme excellence and glory : They have nothing but what they can give up: They have strong desires and breathings after God, and his character appears to them the same.-Sin appears to them exceedingly hateful: They have the same kind of humility and repentance. They groan out under the burthen, and load of sin. They have the same view of God's word and law, which are. to them subjects of great delight. They feel the same kind of submission and patience: They can leave all with God and have no disposition to carve for themselves. They have the same kind of faith in God's government, view him at the head of all affairs, and repose in him a sweet confidence. Their trust and faith in Christ are alike: They see alike, as to the fulness of his atonement, and can venture all upon it.-They see alike and talk alike, as to the great doctrines of grace, such as depravity, the impossibility of acceptance on the footing of law, the doctrine of special grace, the sovereignty of mercy, and acceptance only through Christ. Christian writers of different nations may differ, as to modes and forms, but when they treat of the way of life, they manifest that they drink into one spirit.-Christians have the same kind of hope and joy: Their hope is a pleasing anticipation of glory: Their joy centers in God. They have also the same kind of darkness and hidings. When David and Job describe their distress under hiding, every christian knows that he has, in some degree, felt the same.-The same may be said with respect to the christian warfare, described by the Apostle and others. There is in every christian, the law of the mind, and the law of sin, and every christian does, of consequence, feel the struggle arising from their opposite natures.- -All drink into one spirit, as all enjoy the same communion with God, the same

earnest of the spirit, the same divine peace and pardon. This life and joy are common to all christians. Lastly, religion and christian experience are the same in all, as to external fruits and effects. Love to Christ will dispose all christians to obey him, and will induce them to perform acts worthy of his religion. In this, as well as in other respects, christians live and act much alike.

III. I proceed to prove the doctrine, that christians, of whatever age or nation, have essentially the same religion and experience.

work

1. This appears evident from this consideration, that it is all the fruit of the same spirit, and so, will be of the same common nature, ing," as the Apostle expresses it, "one and the same spirit." Their enjoyments must be the same, as they drink into one spirit. If christians of dif ferent nations, customs and climates, differed as. much in their religion and experience, as in their other tastes and habits, it would be an argument against religion; if they had a love, repentance, faith, and joy of a different nature, it would be argued that the same divine spirit did not produce the same fruit.

2. When we take a view of christians of differ ent ages and languages, when we attend to the experience of the godly in distant ages, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Job, David and others, we see that their religion was just such a religion, as the godly now experience. When the devout christian reads the psalms, and perceives the breathing of David's soul after God, his delight in the law, ordinances, and worship of God, and his mourning the hiding of God's face,, he is constrained to acknowledge, that he does, or has felt something of the same.-The Apostle gives a brief view of the godly of different ages, and signifies to us, that they all had the same faith,

were engaged in the same pursuit, loved God su premely, and had their desires center in him. So, when we read the lives of christians-of martyrs in Greece, Rome, Germany, France, Bohemia, or England, we see that they died in the profession of the same religion, to which we have devoted our lives. The christian can now, as it. were, have communication with those, who, in distant countries, are laboring for the more extensive spread of christianity: He can feel united to them, interested in their measures, and gratified with their success, realizing that they drink into the same spirit. And when we read the life and experience of Flavel, Edwards, Brainard, and others, we see that their religion is of the very same nature with that now experienced. On the whole, from what has been said we may fairly conclude, that though there may be unessential differences among christians, as to forms, modes,, &c. yet their religion and experience are essen-. tially the same..

Improvement.

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1. That the godly of all ages have the same kind of religion and experience; that they have the same peculiar affections, shows to me, that there is a reality in religion, and that it is of di vine original. If it was not from the same spirit, how can we account for the fact, that a set of men have existed, unconnected with each other, yet actuated by the same feelings, and at the same time, possessed of a spirit and taste distinct and different from the rest of the world?

2. We have no ground to doubt, the reality of our religious experience, because our exercises are, in their manner, different in some respects from those of others. But some have been in great doubt on this account. They have beep,