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tions of the Conscience*, must certainly be an heinous Offence; obstinately perpetrated, assuredly under the Inspection, and it is much to be feared, directly against the Inclination of the Supreme Being himself; Who, on momentous occasions, may be more intimately concerned in those surprising emotions, and more regardful of their effects, than we are usually aware of: although He cannot be supposed absolutely to overrule either the actions or the resolutions of Free Agents;-If, however, He ever doth, it must be for the very best purposes, and then the Event belongs not properly to them, but rather to Him, on Whom all events must ultimately depend,

tion of such Providential Interpositions will be, therefore, readily conceived. But, as Dr. Jortin has very judiciously observed, the Divine Assistance still "leaves us free Agents; "it compels not, but only inclines and aids, and that it may be "6 resisted." -Jortin's Sermons.

* When the Good in refraining, and the Evil in perpetrating, are distinctly present in the Mind. The perverse choice of doing Evil, in such a case (in spite of the solicitous struggles within), is, perhaps, the most arbitrary and affecting Proof of the Freedom of Man in this respect. But the Conscience will still re-exert its Powers, sometimes even in the most Abandoned, with severe retalia

Restraints and encouragements are equally necessary, we find, in the wisest human institutions; and they appear to be made use of in a certain degree, in the moral Government of the World, by the Supreme Governor himself, often on occasions where human power cannot possibly reach. This opinion is countenanced by the general voice of Revelation; and it seems reasonable to hope from the boundless Goodness of God, and from His Infinite Perception, that He will not wholly expose so frail a being as man, to the miserable consequences of his Imperfection; but will mercifully administer all the proper checks and encouragements, which his nature and situation may require. And it is to Him alone, the Universal Parent, that in gratitude we should ascribe every salutary warning, and every Spiritual consola

tion.

We shall pass on to our chief design, which is to shew, that, by the Holy Spirit, the sacred writers intended the Supreme Being himself, or, His Wisdom and Power, which, being sufficiently communicated to His several Messengers, enabled them to prophecy, to inculcate Truth, and to perform Miracles. The simplicity of these Principles, will, indeed, but ill accord with the subtile speculations and ideal

distinctions, which have engrossed the minds of men for more than 1,400 years, but we shall find them amply supported by the Gospel, whence they take their rise; recommending themselves by their very simplicity at once to the heart and understanding.

BLASPHEMY AGAINST GOD'S SUPERNATURAL
MANIFESTATIONS NOT TO BE FORGIVEN.

OUR Saviour tells the Scribes (Matt. xii, 31, 32), that Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Now those men, filled with malice, were denying and blaspheming the holy Ghost, at the very time he said these words (which indeed occasioned them), for they, with great dissimulation, affirmed that our Lord had a Devil, that he was confederate with Beelzebub, when he was casting out Demons by the immediate cooperation of the holy Spirit, or Power of God* (Matt. xii, 28). But if I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God is come unto you. This

*Allusively finger of God.-Luke xi, 20. Aaron is said to work a Miracle by the same means (by the finger of God). -Exodus viii, 17, 19.

verse has reference to the severe denunciation above, and plainly declares, that the Holy Spirit is no other than the Spirit of our God; that it is precisely so meant in the Scriptures *;

* 1 Cor. vi, 11; see Matt. x, 20; which compare with Luke xii, 12; Acts ii, 4, 16, 17, 18; Rom. viii, 11, 14; 1 Cor. ii, 10—14; Ibid. iii, 16; compare with Ibid. vi, 19 (and with 2 Cor. vi, 16); Ibid. vii, 40; Ibid. xii, 3; Eph. iv, 30; Heb. x, 15, 16. These texts alone, when compared and attentively considered, seem to fix this point beyond any rational doubt.-It may be observed, that the Holy Ghost is, in a few places of Scripture, termed he; when, it appears, the Father himself is meant; and sometimes, it, or itself; when the Spirit or Influence of the Father is understood; this may be generally discovered by the Context. When, therefore, we pray to God, in conformity to the Scriptures, for the Grace of the Holy Spirit, the assistance of the Holy Spirit, &c. we then, undoubtedly, pray for the assistance of God himself. Were the Holy Ghost (or holy Spirit) really a distinct Person, it is wonderful that we should in no place of sacred writ be instructed to offer any supplications to this different Divine Person, whose peculiar gifts we mean to implore: on the contrary, we are uniformly directed in Scripture, to address our prayers and thanksgivings to God (the Father) only, from whom we are expressly told every blessing spiritual and temporal cometh.

We learn from Ecclesiastical History that the worship of the holy Ghost, as a Person different from God, the Father, was not introduced into the Church until its Doctrines began to be grossly corrupted; and even then not without much Opposition. This circumstance is well worth atten

and the context shews also, that those people, the Scribes and Pharisees, were sinning against the strongest reprehensions of their own Consciences; for they could not, as our Saviour observes, possibly believe," that Satan was casting out Satan and thereby destroying his own Kingdom. They contumaciously resisted and gave the lie, therefore, on a great and affecting occasion, to their own inward feelings and conviction; and moreover uttered a most impious Insinuation*, which, in the Gospel language, was Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, -the all-quickening Spirit or Energy of the Supreme Being! which, while it manifested by a gracious Miracle, that the Divine Power was eminently present with our Saviour, did not fail to enable him to detect their inmost thoughts, and to expose immediately their malicious hypocrisy and falshood. Hence, and

tion. Gregory Nazianzen, who lived towards the end of the fourth century, says, that the Heretics (as he called them) of his day, asked, "Who ever worshipped the Spirit, either of "the ancients or moderns?" And Basil, who flourished in the same period, makes heavy complaints of the great uneasiness and violence of the people, occasioned by some new doxologies and phrases, which he seems to have introduced upon the same subject.-See Dr. Priestley's Learned and Valuable History of early opinions concerning Jesus Christ, vol. ii, p. 326-329.

*Mark iii, 30.

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