good Christian people, diligently to keep the presence of his Holy Spirit. Let us renounce all uncleanness, for he is the Spirit of Purity. Let us avoid all hypocrisy, for his Holy Spirit will flee from that which is feigned. Cast we off all malice and all evil will, for this Spirit will never enter into an evil-willing soul. Let us cast away all the whole lump of sin that standeth about us, for he will never dwell in that body that is subdued to sin. We cannot be seen thankful to Almighty God, and work such despite to the Spirit of Grace, by whom we be sanctified. If we do our endeavour, we shall not need to fear. We shall be able to overcome all our enemies, that fight against us. Only let us apply ourselves to accept that grace that is offered unto us (d)."

But while the Church of England, in every part of its Public Formularies, asserts the doctrines of preventing and co-operating grace, it gives no countenance to enthusiasm, properly and justly so called. The real orthodox Divine maintains, in the sense just now explained, "that every true Christian is inspired, enlightened, sanctified, and comforted by the Spirit of God;" but he rejects all claim to private revelation, all pretensions to instantaneous and forcible conversion, and to the sensible operation of the Spirit: in short, he disclaims

(d) P. 417. Oxford 8vo. Ed.

claims what, in the language of modern Calvinists, are called Experiences; that is, suggestions or perceptions, known and felt to be communicated by the immediate inspiration of God. This is by no means to confound a Christian inwardly with a Christian only outwardly; it is not to exclude the heart and affections from the business of religion; it is not to deny the indispensable necessity of supernatural aid, or the actual assistance of the Holy Spirit; it is not to extol our natural powers beyond their just limit; or to rely upon them solely in working out our Salvation : but it is to guard against the delusions of spiritual pride, and against unscriptural notions of the manner in which the Holy Ghost operates upon the minds of men; it is to prevent the rapturous flights of a heated imagination, and to call the attention to the plain and practical duties of rational devotion; it is to invite men to confide in the promised support of divine grace, without fostering an unwarranted conceit of familiar intercourse with God; it is to promote the exertion of those faculties which we have received from our Maker, and to direct them, under infallible guidance, to the purposes for which they were given us, the glory of God and the salvation of our own souls. It is to encourage true zeal, vital piety, and Christian humility, without in

curring

curring the dangers of wild fanaticism, listless indolence, dangerous security, or agonizing despondence; it is to inculcate the genuine doctrines of the Gospel, and of our Church, “in the words of truth and soberness (e)." I do not merely acknowledge, but I earnestly contend for, the doctrine of the operation of the Holy Ghost. I only maintain, that the operations of the Spirit cannot be discerned from the operations of our own minds; that we cannot know whether we be under the guidance of the Spirit, except by comparing our lives and principles with the Word of God. Let those who think differently, point out the authority in Scripture, or in our Public Formularies, for saying, that a man may feel the influence of the Holy Ghost, so as to distinguish what sentiment, what intention, what inclination, or what resolution, is owing to that influence. Let it be remembered that I am speaking of the ordinary course and circumstances of man's life. I do not mean to assert, that the comfort and assistance of the Holy Spirit are never felt by truly good and pious persons, on extraordinary occasions. This would be to contradict both Scripture and experience. It would be to deprive the Christian of his best support and consolation under

(e) Acts, c. 26. v. 25.

under the severe trials, temptations, and afflictions, to which it pleases God to subject his faithful scrvants in this probationary world; and to check the confidence of approaching bliss, which sometimes beams upon his dying hours, and gives an animating lesson to the witnesses of his death. I conceive, however, that the few persons who may be distinguished by this mark of special favour, will be found among those whose works correspond with their professions of faith, whose affections are really set on things above, while they neglect no duty within their sphere of action, whose hearts are prepared by habitual devotion for the gifts of the Spirit, and who evince an humble sense of their own unworthiness, and a sincere belief in the superintending providence and controlling power of God, by a cheerful resignation to his will, and a constant trust in his protection, without falling into the presumptuous excesses to which these doctrines are carried by the arrogant enthusiasts of the present day.

The difficulties with which the parochial clergy have now to contend, arise from the perversion and abuse of true doctrines, by misguided or illdesigning men. It is no easy matter to define with precision where truth ends, and error begins. That human nature is corrupt, is a true doctrine; but it is not true, that it is so corrupt that all

endeavour

endeavour on our part to amend it must be totally ineffectual. The depravity of human nature is the ground upon which the necessity of redemption rests; but to represent this depravity as utterly incorrigible, is destructive of every human. effort, of all moral virtue, and of every earthly comfort. If men be persuaded that they cannot arrive at any degree of goodness, they will be apt either to yield to every temptation, because they fancy resistance useless, and thus become profligate in the extreme; or, anticipating the pains of future punishment, they will suffer all the miseries of religious despair. The clergy, therefore, cannot caution their parishioners too strongly against listening to those preachers, who are continually describing man as irrecoverably sunk in sin and wickedness; they should impress upon their minds the duty and necessity of exertion; and teach them, that the frailty and corruption derived from our first parent will not be admitted as an excuse for criminal indulgences, since we are assured that we shall always be assisted by divine grace in our struggles to withstand the evil propensities of our nature: "God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it (ƒ).' We

(f) 1 Cor. c. 10. v. 13.