expect particular Impulfes from the Holy Ghost upon every Occafion that prefented its felf, where they wanted either Light or Direction: And all this was indeed little enough for the Discharge of that great Work they had upon their Hands, viz. the bringing over the World from Judaism and Heathenifm to Chriftianity. But that being once done, and the Gospel of Chrift, and all Things pertaining to it, being plainly left in Writing by the Apostles or Apoftolical Men; as there would from henceforward be no need of thofe Affiftances of the Spirit; fo it would be a vain thing to expect them. We are not to defire thefe immediate Revelations, nor to expect that God fhould vouchfafe them to us if we prayed for them. God hath declared all his Will, that is neceffary for us to know, by our Saviour and his Apostles: And the Rules which they have given us, together with our own natural Light and Reafon, and the other outward Means and Helps of Inftruction which are every Day at hand among us, are fufficient, abundantly fufficient, to guide and direct us, both as to believe and practise, thro' all the Cafes and Emergencies that can ordinarily happen to us. And in extraordinary Cafes God will take Care, fome way or other, that we fhall not be at a Lofs. And therefore, to pretend to the Spirit now-a-days, either for preaching, or praying, or prophecying, phecying, or denouncing God's Judgments, or for any other thing, in fuch a way as implies immediate Inspiration; or to set up a Light within us, contrary to the Light of Reason, or different from the Light of Scripture without us; I fay, to do this is fuch a Piece of Folly and Freakishness, that if all of us fhould incline this way, it would presently render Mankind fitter for a Bethlehem, or an Hofpital of Lunaticks, than to live in free Society. But I fhall not purfue this Point, or any other, further. Let us heartily acquiefce in that Light and Affiftance which it hath pleased God to beftow upon us by Means of his Holy Spirit. And let us always most readily and chearfully yield Obedience to all his Motions, and pray constantly for his Directions and Affiftance; devoting our felves entirely to the Service of God, in those ways which his bleffed Son hath laid before us in the Gospel. DISCOURSE III Of grieving the Spirit. Of the feal- [Deliver❜d in Two Sermons.] EP H. IV. 30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby je are fealed to the Day of Redemption. F OR the right understanding of what is meant by grieving the Holy Spirit, it is fit that we carefully diftinguish between thefe four Expreffions, viz. refifting the Spirit; blafpheming the Spirit; quenching the Spirit; and grieving the Spirit. All these are fcripture Expreffions, and denote fome Affront put upon the Holy Ghoft, fome Sin committed against him. But yet they have every one of them dif ferent ล ferent Significations, and are used to quite different Purposes, tho' common Readers make no Distinction between them. I will give you a fhort Account of each of them, the rather, because hereby we may rectify fome popular Mistakes in these Matters. 1. And firft as to that Phrafe of refifting the Spirit, fo far as we can judge of the Senfe of it by the Context, it is fpoke with respect to those who wickedly oppose the Truth of God, when it is declared to them. They are faid to refift the Holy Ghost, who obftinately ftand out againft those Means that the Spirit of God makes Ufe of for the converting them to the true Religion. Thus St. Stephen, in the feventh of the Acts, tells v. 51. the unbelieving Jews, Ye fiff-necked, fays he, and uncircumcifed in Heart and Ears, ye do always refift the Holy Ghoft; as your Fathers did, fo do ye. How was it now that their Fathers refifted the Holy Ghoft? Why that we may learn from what follows: They perfecuted and flew the Prophets whom God fent to them from Time to Time to declare his Will to them. And how was it that they, the Children, viz. the prefent Generation, refifted the Holy Ghoft? Why in that, notwithstanding the powerful Miracles that Jefus Chrift and his Apoftles wrought among them by the Spirit, they still continued Infidels and Oppofers of the Gospel: This was their refifting the Spirit: From whence we may gather, that it is not every VOL. V. F Dif 22. Difobedience or Non-compliance with a good Motion that is made in our Souls, that may be called a refifting of the Spirit: But it must be a wilful, perverfe, obftinate oppofing of God's Truth that doth deserve that Name. 2. In the fecond Place, as for blafpheming or speaking against the Holy Ghoft, that is a Degree higher than this, for it implies not only the not being convinced by the Miracles that were wrought for the Proof of Ghrift's Religion; but further, by flandering or calumniating the Spirit by which they were wrought, faying, That he was Mark 3. not the Spirit of God, but Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils. This was the Sin of the Pharifees, and it appeared fo heinous in the Eyes of our Saviour, that he declares, that whofoever shall blafpheme against the 29, 30. Holy Ghoft hath never Forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal Damnation, because they faid he hath an unclean Spirit. So that without doubt that famous Sin, which we call the Sin against the Holy Ghost, and which is looked upon as unpardonable, is nothing else but our attributing the Miracles of Chrift to the Power of the Devil. From whence we may judge whether any of those People among us, who are apt to fancy they have committed that Sin, can poffibly be guilty of it. Mark 3. 3. As to the Phrase of quenching the Spirit, we meet with it among the Precepts and |