for Christ in the leaves of the Gospel is to look for the living among the dead. There is a life in them; but that life is," according to St. Paul's expression, "hid with Christ in God; and unless the Spirit of God first draw it, we shall never draw it forth." Again: "Human learning brings excellent ministeries towards this. It is admirably useful for the reproof of heresies, for the detection of fallacies, for the letter of the Scripture, for collateral testimonies, for exterior advantages: but there is something beyond this, that human learning, without the addition of divine, can never reach. Moses was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, and the holy men of God contemplated the glories of God in the admirable order, motion, and influences of the heaven; but, besides all this, they were taught something far beyond these prettinesses. Pythagoras read Moses's books, and so did Plato; and yet they became not proselytes of the religion, though they were the learned scholars of such a master." CHAP CHAPTER IV. The Spirit of God, which has been thus given to man in different degrees, was given him as a spiritual teacher or guide in his spiritual concerns-It performs this office, the Quakers say, by internal monitions-Sentiments of Taylorand of Monro—and, if encouraged, it teaches even by the external objects of the CreationWilliam Wordsworth. THE HE Quakers believe that the Spirit of God, which has been thus given to man in different degrees or measures, and without which it is impossible to know spiritual things, or even to understand the Divine Writings spiritually, or to be assured of their divine origin, was given to him, among other purposes, as a teacher of good and evil, or to serve him as a guide in his spiritual concerns. By this the Quakers mean, that if any man will give himself up to the directions of the spiritual principle that resides within him, he will attain a knowledge ledge sufficient to enable him to discover the path of his duty both to God and his fellow-man. That the Spirit of God was given to man as a spiritual instructor, the Quakers copceive to be plain from a number of passages which are to be found in the Sacred Writings. They say, in the first place, that this was the language of the holy men of old *. “I said," says Elihu, " days should speak, and multitudes of years should teach wisdom. But there is a Spirit (or the Spirit itself is) in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding." The Levites are found also making an acknowledgment to Godt, that "he gave also their forefathers his good Spirit to instruct them." The Psalms of David are also full of the same language, such as of "Show me thy ways, O Lord; lead me in the truth." know," says Jeremiah §, man is not in himself. that walketh, to direct * Job xxxii. 7. that the way of It is not in man, his steps." The Psalm xxv. 4. martyr martyr Stephen acknowledges the teachings of the Spirit, both in his own time and in that of his ancestors. "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do ye." The Quakers also conceive it to be a doctrine of the Gospel. Jesus himself said t, "No man can come to me except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him-It is written in the prophets, They shall all be taught of God." St. John says, "That was the true Light (namely, the Word or Spirit) which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” St. Paul also, in his first letter to the Corinthians, asserts that "the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal;" and in his letter to Titus he asserts the same thing, though in different words: "for the Grace of God," says he, "which bringeth Salvation, hath appeared unto all men." The Spirit of God, which has been thus given to man as a spiritual guide, is con *Acts vii. 51. ↑ John i. 9. 3 ↑ John vi. 44, 45. Titus ii. 11. sidered sidered by the Quakers as teaching him in various ways. It inspires him with good thoughts. It prompts him to good offices. It checks him in his way to evil. It reproves him while in the act of committing it. The learned Jeremy Taylor was of the same opinion. "The Spirit of Grace," says he," is the Spirit of Wisdom, and teaches us by secret inspirations, by proper arguments, by actual persuasions, by personal applications, by effects and energies." This office of the Spirit is also beautifully described by Monro, a divine of the established church, in his Just Measures of the Pious Institutions of Youth. "The Holy Spirit," says he," speaks inwardly and immediately to the soul. For God is a Spirit. The soul is a spirit, and they converse with one another in the Spirit, not by words, but by spiritual notices, which, however, are more intelligible than the most eloquent strains in the world. God makes himself to be heard by the soul by inward motions, which it perceives and comprehends proportionably as it is voided and emptied of earthly ideas. And the more the faculties VOL. II. L of |