“ stones are built up a spiritual house: thus noting "unto us the transformation and uniformity of the " saints with Christ, both in their spiritual nature, and " in the firmness and stability of the same." When converted to God "westand not, like Adam, " upon our own bottom, but are branches of such a “ vine as never withers, members of such a head as "never dies; sharers in such a spirit as cleanseth, "healeth, and purifieth the heart; partakers of such " promises as are sealed with the oath of God. Since, " then, we live not by our own life, but by the life of "Christ; are not led or sealed by our own spirit, but " by the spirit of Christ; do not obtain mercy by our " own prayers, but by the intercession of Christ; stand " not reconciled in virtue of our endeavours, but by "the propitiation wrought by Christ, who loved us "when we were enemies;' who is both willing and " able to save us to the uttermost, and to preserve " his own mercies in us; to whose office it belongs to " take order that none who are given unto him be lost; " undoubtedly that life of Christ in us which is thus " underpropped, though it be not privileged from " temptations, nor from backslidings, yet is an abiding " life." " Infinitely, therefore, doth it concern the soul " of every man to be restless and unsatisfied with any "other good thing, till he find himself entitled unto "this happy communion with the Life of Christ, " which will never fail him." (ss) (ss) Reynolds's Three Treatises, p. 454. 163 LETTER XVII. On the Influences of the Spirit. AMONG the several momentous doctrines that are developed in the system of revelation, none seems to have experienced a reception less consistent with the natural order of things, than that of the influence of the Spirit of God upon the mind and conduct of man. This doctrine is so compatible with the dictates of unassisted reason, that several of the heathen philosophers firmly believed it, and unambiguously asserted it. Yet, notwithstanding this, it is doubted by some philosophers residing in Christian countries; and although it is plainly declared in various portions of Scripture, still the only persons, as far as I know, by whom it is positively and unhesitatingly denied and despised, are professing Christians. (sss) This singular anomaly in the progress of opinion is often ascribed to the gradual expansion of the mental faculties, occasioned by the constant accumulation of the store of scientific, literary, and Biblical knowledge ;-especially since the era of the reformation, when a new impulse was given to every species of human inquiry. The reason thus assigned, however, though plausible, is not satisfac (sss) Persons who thus despise and reject, one by one, the constituents of vital christianity, inay be addressed in the quaint language of an old theologian, " I beseech you, Sirs, as you regard the reputation of your " reason, tell us, why you will profess a religion which you abhor? Or, "why will you abhor a religion which you profess?” tory. Old sciences have, it is true, been much improved and extended; and new sciences have often grown with rapidity out of the old stock; so that truths which in one age have stood almost at the summit of knowledge, have in the next sunk into the mere elements; or propositions which in one age have been received as irrefragable, have in a succeeding age been exploded as untenable and fallacious. But nothing of this kind can be traced with regard to religious truth. The incessant and successful labours of Biblical critics have purged away impurities in existing copies, especially of the New Testament; and, by a careful collation of different manuscripts, have expunged errors and removed difficulties; but they have not added one proposition to the repository of revealed knowledge, as it was left by the apostles: nor have they taken one proposition away. The Bible gave the same view of human nature to the Primitive Christians in the early ages, and to the Reformers in the sixteenth century, as it exhibits to us: it pointed out the same method of salvation, and promised like aids of " the "same Spirit," to pious persons in all times, and in all places. (t) This, indeed, is essential to its perfection, (t) "Whatever then (says Vincentius Lirinensis) was faithfully "sown by the Fathers in the church which is 'the husbandry of God,' " ought to be diligently observed and cultivated by the sons: this must flourish and fructify, this must increase and multiply, and be con"tinually growing on (retaining its original proportions) to its proper per"fection. Succeeding ages may set off, file, and polish, the ancient "Doctrines of this Divine Philosophy; but they must never change, " never retrench, or mutilate any thing: the doctrines may admit of " more evidence, clearness, and distinction, but they must be inviolably and fits it for universality: while the unceasing modifications in human sciences, notwithstanding their gradual augmentation, at once prove their imperfection, and suggest the strong probability that such imperfection will never be completely removed in the present state of existence. But, without pursuing farther this train of reflection, permit me now to lay before you the opinions of philosophic heathens relative to the subject of Divine influences. That they thought the Deity the Inspirer of pure thoughts and holy conduct, as well as the Author of animal life, will, I conceive, be sufficiently obvious from the few quotations I shall here select. XENOPHON represents Cyrus, with his dying breath, 66 as humbly ascribing it to a Divine influence on his " mind, that he had been taught to acknowledge the " care of Providence, and to bear his prosperity with a "becoming moderation." (v) PLATO describes Socrates as declaring that "wheresoever virtue comes, " it is apparently the fruit of a Divine dispensa"tion." (w) And PLATO, XENOPHON, ANTISTHENES, and PLUTARCH testify, that Socrates publicly declared before his judges, that he was accompanied by an invisible conductor, or attendant spirit, whose frequent interposition stopped him in the commission of evil. Plato also himself observes that “virtue is not to be "taught but by Divine assistance." (x) And in his " preserved in their full, entire, primitive perfection.” Commonitory, сар. 29. (v) Xen. Cyropæd. lib. viii. cap. 7. § i. (w) Plat. Men. ad. fin. p. 428. (x) Epinom. p. 1014. sixth book, De Republica, he affirms that, " if any " man escape the temptations of life, and behave him" self as becomes a worthy member of society, he has " reason to own that it is God who saves him." (y) SIMPLICIUS has a prayer "to God, as the Father and " Guide of reason, so to co-operate with us, as to purge " us from all carnal and brutish affections, that we 66 may be enabled to act according to the dictates of " reason, and to attain to the true knowledge of him" self." (2) MAXIMUS TYRIUS argues "that if skill in "the professions and sciences is insinuated into men's "minds by a Divine influence, we can much less " imagine that a thing so much more excellent as " virtue is, can be the work of any mortal art; for the " notion must be very strange to think that God is " liberal and free in matters of less moment, and " sparing in the greatest." And in the same discourse he remarks that "even the best disposed minds, as " they are seated in the midst between the highest " virtue and extreme wickedness, need the assistance "of God to incline and lead them to the better "side." (a) TULLY, in a passage quoted in the third letter of this series, declares that "No man was ever " truly great without some divine influence." (b) And SENECA, when he is speaking of a resemblance to the Deity in character, ascribes it to his influence upon the mind: "Are you surprised (says he) that man should (y) De Repub. lib. vi. p. 677. Ed. Francof. 1602. (a) Max. Tyr. Dissert. xxii. |