ture describes it as sacred from all invasion. Every
manifestation of the Divine will must, therefore, be made to each
individual mind as exclusively as if no other mind existed. The religion
of nature, though adopted in various countries, and amidst its different
aspects among different nations, embraced by myriads under every form,
is yet a bond between God and every individual man as complete as if
that man alone had been created. In like manner the Gospel is a covenant
between God and the human race only as it is a covenant between God and
every individual of that race who shall embrace it: and there can be two
parties only to the transaction,--he who offers the conditions, and he
who accepts or rejects them. To no one has the Author of this covenant
deputed the power of imposing the conditions, or of judging how far they
have been fulfilled, or of passing; sentence accordingly. To none could
he depute this power without making him, in fact, the only person with
whom the inferior party has to do, _i. e._ the God of the inferior
party. It may be objected that we argue upon a metaphor; but, let the
Gospel be regarded under every possible aspect, the same truth will
still be demonstrable,--that between the Creator and the created no
created power can, without the Divine concurrence, interfere; and that
in the spiritual creation, the powers requisite for interference being
above those of humanity, such concurrence never can have been, and never
can be granted.

If the nature of Christian obedience had been different,--if it had been
ritual instead of spiritual, it may be conceived possible that God
might have committed to man the power of judging and sentencing; but the
things of the heart, the desires, the struggles with temptation, the
silent conflicts, the unapparent defeats and victories of conscience,
are known and can be known by none but God. Through the medium of
confession alone can one man gain any insight into the spiritual state
of another; and no medium can be more deceptive. It is perhaps
impossible for the most conscientious mind to communicate to the most
congenial fellow-mind a faithful detail of the thoughts, wishes, hopes,
and fears of any single hour; and if it were possible, the fellow-mind
would still be incapable of forming an estimate of the spiritual state,
or of directing the necessary discipline; because the apparent results
of operations which he does not understand are all the materials that