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They, therefore, who call us from waiting for, depending upon, and attending to, the continual sccret inspirations and breathings of the Holy Spirit within us, call us to RESIST God in the same manner as the apostle exhorts us to resist the devil. For God being only a spiritual good, and the devil a spiritual evil, neither the one nor the other can be resisted or not resisted by us, but so far as their spiritual operations within us are either turned from or obeyed by us. St. James having shewn us, that resisting the devil is the only way to make him flee from us, that is, to lose his power in us, immediately adds how we are to behave towards God, that he may not flee from us, or his holy work be stopped in us. "Draw near," saith he, "to God, and God will draw near to you." What is this drawing near? Surely not by any local motion either in God or us. But the same is meant as if he had said, "Resist not God," that is, let his holy will within you have its full work; keep wholly, obediently attentive to that which he is, and has, and does within you, and then "God will draw near to you," that is, will more and more manifest the power of his holy presence in you, and make you more and more partakers of the divine nature. Farther, what a blindness is it in the fore-mentioned writers, to charge private persons with the enthusiasm of holding the necessity and certainty of continual immediate inspiration, and

to attack them as enemies to the established church, when every body's eyes see, that collect after collect, in the established liturgy, teaches and requires them to believe and pray for the continual inspi ration of the Spirit, as that alone by which they can have the least good thought or desire? Thus: "O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee, mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts.” Is it possible for words more strongly to express the necessity of a continual divine inspiration? Or can inspiration be higher or more immediate in prophets and apostles than that which directs, that which rules our hearts, not now and then, but in all things? Or can the absolute necessity of this be more fully declared than by saying, that if it is not, in this degree, both of height and continuance in and over our hearts, nothing that is done by us can be pleasing to God, that is, can have any union with him?

Now the matter is not at all about the different effects or works proceeding from inspiration, as whether by it a man be made a saint in himself, or sent by God with a prophetic message to others; this affects not the nature and necessity of inspiration, which is just as great, just as necessary in itself to all true goodness, as to all true prophecy. All scripture is of divine inspiration. But why so? Because holy men of old, spake as they were moved

by the Holy Ghost. Now the above collect, as well as Christ and his apostles, oblige us in like manner to hold, that all holiness is by divine inspiration ; and that therefore, there could have been no holy men of old, or in any latter times, but solely for this reason, because they lived as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Again, the liturgy prays thus, O God, from whom all good things do come, grant that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same." Now, if in any of my writings I have ever said any thing higher, or farther of the nature and necessity of continual divine inspiration, than this churchprayer does, I refuse no censure that shall be passed upon me. But if I have, from all that we know of God, of nature, and creature, shewn the utter impossibility of any kind, or degree of goodness to be in us, but from the divine nature living and breathing in us, if I have shewn that all scripture, Christ and his apostles, over and over, say thing; that our church liturgy is daily praying according to it; what kinder thing can I say of those churchmen who accuse me of enthusiasm, than that which Christ said of his blind crucifiers, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do ?"

the same

It is to no purpose to object to all this, that these kingdoms are over-run with enthusiasts of all

kinds; and that Moravians with their several divisions, and Methodists of various kinds, are everywhere acting in the wildest manner, under the pretence of being called and led by the Spirit. Be it so, or not so, is a matter I meddle not with; nor is the doctrine I am upon in the least affected by it. For what an argument would this be; enthusiasts of the present and former ages have made a bad use of the doctrine of being led by the Spirit of God. Ergo, He is enthusiastic, or helps forward enthusiasm, who preaches up the doctrine of being led by the Spirit of God. Now, absurd as this is, was any of my accusers as high in genius, as bulky in learning, as Colossus was in stature, he would be at a loss to bring a stronger argument than this, to prove me an enthusiast, or an abettor of them.

But as I do not begin to doubt about the necessity, the truth, and perfection of gospel religion, when told that whole nations and churches have, under a pretence of regard to it, and for the sake of it, done all the bad things that can be charged upon this or that leading enthusiast, whether you call those bad things, schism, perjury, rebellion, worldly craft, and hypocrisy, &c. So I give not up the necessity, the truth, and perfection of looking wholly to the Spirit of God and Christ within me, as my promised inspirer, and only worker of all that can be good in me, I give not this up, be

cause in this or that age, both spiritual pride and fleshly lusts have prospered by it, or because Satan has often led people into all the heights of selfglory, and self-seeking, under a pretence of being inspired with gospel humility, and gospel selfdenial.

Another charge upon me, equally false, and I may say, more senseless, is that I am a declared enemy to the use of reason in religion. And why? Because in all my writings, I teach that reason is to be denied, &c. I own, I have not only taught this, but have again and again proved the absolute necessity of it. And this, because Christ has made it absolutely necessary, by saying, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself," &c. For how can a man deny himself, without denying his reason, unless reason be no part of himself? Or how can a rational creature, whose chief distinction from brutes is that of his reason, be called to deny himself any other way, than by denying that which is peculiar to himself? Let the matter be thus expressed; man is not to deny his reason. Well, how then? Why, (N. B.) he is only to deny himself. Can there be a greater folly of words? And yet it is their wisdom of words, who allow the denying of self to be good doctrine, but cry out against the denying of reason as quite bad. For how can a man deny himself, but by denying that which is the life, and spirit, and power of

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