that the grace of God lays no neceffity on the will of man, and concluding with an affertion which Voffius largely proves', and which Calvin admits'; thus," faid he, "have we Chriftians," thus, I add, have we Ministers "been taught by

of the Church of England,

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our ancestors, and thus we teach."

II. Secondly; (and let the observation be cherished for the encouragement of those, who although they truly honour and ferve God, yet are but little fenfible to themselves of the operation of the Holy Spirit ;) his influence is not of that fenfible kind, which the Enthusiast represents it: affirming, that "the "manifestation of God's Spirit may be perceiv"ed by the foul as really as is any sensible im

τοις παρανόμον βιον ασπαζομενοις εισεπραξεν, είπερ αρα κατ' αναγ κην ἡμαρτανον κ. τ. λ. Ταυτα περι της του ανθρώπου φύσεως φρονειν, και εδιδαχθημεν και διδασκομεν. Theodoret. Serm. v. de Nat. Hominis. Op. ed. Paris. 1642. tom. iv. p. 559.

r Sed tandem allegandi veteres finis efto; quando, non dico fi omnia omnium indicare velimus, (quod non poffemus quidem,) fed vel fola quæ poffumus, nullus fit futurus finis: et eo minus labore iftoc opus, quando maximus Calvinus hanc fuiffe antiquitatis fententiam non obfcure agnofcit, &c. Voff. Hift. Pelag. lib. vii. par. ii. p. 751.

• Ac voluntatem movet, non qualiter multis feculis traditum eft et creditum, ut noftræ poftea fit electionis, motioni aut obtemperare aut refragari; fed illam efficaciter afficiendo. Calv. Inft. lib. ii. cap. iii. fect. 10.

"preffion upon the body :"-that "he fills "the whole heart with a divine power, and "draws all the faculties of the foul after Christ, as a mighty rushing wind":"—that he" gives a believer such a teftimony of his "adoption, that, while it is present to the foul, he can no more doubt the reality of his

fonship, than he can doubt of the shining of "the fun, while he stands in the full blaze of "his beams :"-that he "feels the Spirit in "his foul in the fame way as he feels the "wind ftrike upon his bodily organs*:"-and that "it is a truth which remains not now to "be queftioned but by fceptics, that the Lord "comes nigh to his people in fenfible mani

feftations of his gracious presence in their "feasons of worship, in their daily employ

ments, and in short in all the various provi"dences by which they are exercised"." I cite the words of fome of the most celebrated Methodists, thinking it unneceffary to multiply quotations from others of inferior note. Suffice it to observe, that as, on the one hand, Wefley represented this doctrine of fenfible

t Whitefield's Works, vol. iv. p. 18.

Wesley's Works, vol. xxvii. p. 31, 32. Outram's Extracts, p. 63.

- Wesley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 155.

y Hawker's Paraclefis, p. 66. See Outram's Extracts,

impreffions, to be "one grand part of the tef

timony, which God had given the Methodists "to bear to all mankind; and that it was by

his peculiar bleffing upon them in searching "the Scriptures, confirmed by the experience "of his children, that this great evangelical "truth was recovered, which had been for

many years well nigh loft and forgotten":" fo, on the other hand, there is no point on which Methodists of every denomination have been more prone to infift, than on their inward impulfes and feelings; their experiences, in the phraseology of the fect; as the direct witness of the Holy Spirit in their hearts; as diftinctive marks, and infallible evidences, of the approbation of Heaven.

..

Far from me be the arrogance and the folly of denying, that God hath given us the ear"neft of the Spirit in our hearts a;" or that "the Spirit itself beareth witnefs with our

r

spirit that we are the children of God"." However arduous may be the task of defining the limits of his agency, and drawing a line of feparation between his motions and the natural fuggeftions of the human mind, (a task, which the great Searcher of hearts alone may be deemed capable of performing,) still the belief

z Wesley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 164. a 2 Cor. i. 22.

b Rom. viii. 16.

that we are bleffed with this "inward wit"ness," is a fource of confolation, peace, and encouragement to the humble believer: he embraces it with gladness, and he acknowledges it with gratitude.

Do I then deny the fenfible influence of the Spirit? I answer; we may "feel in ourselves "the working of the Spirit of Chrift":"—our Church employs the language; and I fcruple not to repeat it, nor when fcripturally understood to maintain it for the doctrine of Scripture: but we feel it no otherwise than we do our thoughts and meditations; we cannot distinguish them, by their manner of affecting us, from our natural reafonings and the operation of truth upon our fouls; fo that, if God had only defigned to give the Holy Spirit to us, without making any mention of it in his word, we could never have known, unless it had been communicated to us by fome private revelation, that our fouls are moved by a divine power, when we love God and keep his commandments. Agreeable to this interpretation is the language of our Church, when the demands of her candidates for holy orders, not Are you inwardly moved, but "Do you trust, "that you are inwardly moved by the Holy

e See Stebbing on the Holy Spirit, chap. vii. fect. 6.

"Ghost, to take upon you this office and mi"nistration, to ferve God for the promoting "of his glory, and the edifying of his peo

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ple?" For, as Calvin well and temperately remarks," an inward call is the honeft teftimony of our heart, that we undertake the "office of the ministry, not from ambition, or covetousness, or any other finful defire; but "from a true fear of God and wish to edify "the Church." Agreeable to this also is the language of the Homily, which speaks of the operation of God's Holy Spirit within us, as a mighty indeed, but also as a "fecret" working; and refers us to the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and conduct as the only proof "whereby we can know that he is "in us." And fuch, to come more closely to

f Ordering of Deacons.

Eft autem (arcana vocatio) bonum cordis noftri testimonium, quod neque ambitione, neque avaritia, neque ulla alia cupiditate, fed fincero Dei timore, et ædificandæ ecclefiæ ftudio, oblatum munus recipiamus. Calv. Inft. lib. iv. cap. iii. fect. 11.

h Homilies, p. 389. Oxf. Ed.

i "O but how fhall I know that the Holy Ghost is "within me? fome man perchance will fay. Forfooth

as the tree is known by his fruit, fo alfo is the Holy "Ghost. . . . .Here now is that glass, wherein thou must "behold thyfelf, and difcern whether thou have the "Holy Ghoft within thee, or the spirit of the flesh, &c." P. 390.