own labour and industry have collected and got together For did it affist us not only with strength and resolution of mind to adhere to what we know but with the knowledge of things themselves without any inquiries of our own all labour and diligence would be discouraged and he that lived the most idle life might be improved to as due apprehensions of things as the most studious and solitary person whatsoever which if any man can give me an evidence of I will let go this first assertion but if I hold it till I meet with such an instance I believe I shall die of the same opinion I am now of And therefore those men that pretend to new lights to more glorious discoveries to more large manifestations of the mind and will of God than former Ages have been acquainted with why these men run up and down the World with a pretence whereby they may indeed make the silly world mad but I am sure they will never make if wiser or better for there is no such thing as new Lights and when the New Testament was sealed up God cursed any man that added to the words of that Book and he had certainly been wanting to his Church if they had wanted any necessary to salvation which he hath since revealed No no I say again the Spirit of God now brings no new things but its business is to set the old ones upon our hearts and souls to strengthen our good purposes for an holy life to enlighten our dark faculties whereby we may see the beauty and excellency of those Divine objects that are proposed to our understandings and to excite our affections to a love agreeable to the worth and value of those things in which our souls are more immediately concerned and if any man appear let him by looks and winks pretend to never so much Heavenly-mindedness yet I say if the man appear amongst you with promises of further discoveries of the way and Kingdom of the Lord Jesus than the Christian world hath yet been acquainted with look upon him as an Impostor as the Devils Agent who comes on purpose to disturb men in the good old way through which the blessed Apostles the noble Army of Martyrs the excellent Saints in Primitive times travelled to the New Jerusalem and this head I cannot leave till I have given you an account what one of the greatest Scholars this latter Age hath produced says concerning this Hales's Golden Remains The effects of the Spirit says he as far as they concern instruction and knowledge are not particular informations for resolution in any doubtful cases for this were plainly Revelation but as the Angel who was sent to Cornelius informs him not but sends him to Peter to School so the Spirit teaches not but stirs up in us a desire to learn desire to learn makes us thirsty after the means and pious sedulity and carefulness makes us watchful in the choice and diligent use of our means The promise to the Apostles of the Spirit of God which should lead them into all truth was made good unto them by private and secret informing their understandings with the knowledge of high and heavenly mysteries which as yet had never entered into the conceit of any man the same promise is made good to us but fulfilled after another manner for what was written in their hearts by revelation for our instruction have they writ in Books to us for information otherwise than out of these Books the Spirit speaks not When the Spirit regenerates a man it infuses no knowledge of any point of faith but sends him to the Church and to the Scriptures when it stirs him up to newness of life it exhibits not to him an inventory of his sins as hitherto unknown but either supposes them known in the law of nature of which no man can be ignorant or sends him to learn them from the mouths of his Teachers more than this in the ordinary proceeding of the holy Spirit in matters of instruction I could never descry so that to speak of the Spirit helping in private either in dijudicating or interpreting of Scripture is to speak they know not what And truly till the World especially that part of it whose understandings are of a more ordinary size come to such convictions as these it is impossible but we should be over-run with Doctrins of Devils and it is very probable that some worse Sect than that of the Quakers if a worse can come in their room will e're long be at the door in order to disturb the minds of Credulous People and to insinuate such Doctrins and Principles as tend to make them dishonest and immoral And therefore if any fancies spring up in your heads and you find your selves as it were smitten with it and ready to adopt it into one of the most necessary truths to be believed and known pray bring it to the touch-stone to Scripture and right Reason and there consider what weight it hath in it and what plea it can make in a sober and rational way for its acceptance amongst the great things of God And if men did but take this course the world would soon be reduced to order and every man would keep his place and live in those limitted dependencies upon the judgments of other men that are necessary for them considering the difference of mens education and improvements 2. Another thing I lay down concerning this Divine Spirit under the Gospel and the assistances that it affords men of pains and diligence is this that it works upon the intellectual part of man and not upon the animal spirits of the body the not understanding of which hath done a great deal of mischief to the world for the more ignorant part of mankind finding sometimes according to their fond affections they have for any person or thing a great warmth upon their spirits and a kind of eager fire burning in their bowels all which arises from the present motion of their bodily spirits increased by the strength of their fancy and imagination Why alas let the thing be never so dangerous and destructive yet away they run with it as if the whole interest of Jesus Christ lay at stake and they care not what perils they expose themselves to what losses they sustain what hazards they encounter nay nor what Authority they affront so they may but see Sion happy in the settlement of the present opinion they have conceived so great a kindness for and their ignorance and their zeal together hurls them out of all considerations and makes them deaf to all advice and suspicious of any man as an Enemy to the Kingdom of Christ who attempts their reduction to more calm and temperate thoughts But now certainly the Spirit of God which comes with a design to refine the mind and reform the manners of the Sons of Men hath a better and more worthy subject to work upon than a company of confused spirits hot
AN ACCOUNT OF THE SPIRITS Working upon the minds of Men in the several Ages of the CHRISTIAN CHVRCH IN A Visitation Sermon BEFORE The Right Reverend Father in God HENRY Lord Bishop of London at Burntwood in Essex Septemb. 14. 1680. BY RICHARD HOLLINGWORTH M. A. Vicar of West-Ham near London London Printed for Hen. Brome at the Gun at the West-end of S. Pauls 1680. A Visitation Sermon UPON Acts 2.17 18. And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall Prophesie and your young men shall see Visions and your old men shall dream dreams And on my Servants and on my Hand maidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit and they shall Prophesie IT is a very great kindness as well as justice that we owe to our judgments and understandings to lodge nothing in them but what is agreeable to Truth and Reason but what can be accounted for when we are called before others to vindicate our selves but what is in its consequences and effects really advantageous to the needs and necessities as well as to the pleasures and delights of the Soul And those men that are easily imposed upon and suffer themselves to be disposed of either by the Rhetorick or Flattery of others they are very false and treacherous to that excellent Being which God hath given them And amongst many other truths in which the soul of man ought carefully to concern it self I think and that I am sure not without proper grounds the Notion of the Spirit of God is one the not understanding whereof aright hath had as pernicious an influence upon the Church of God as any thing History informs us of and to reckon up the several evils that have sprung from hence would be an endless piece of work From hence have arisen debates and strifes which have not had their period without loss of life as well as reputation from hence have men grown proud and sawcy and adopted all the silly and groundless conceits of their own brains into the fundamental and absolute necessaries of Religion and have been hugely troublesome to all the Neighbourhood if with an equal zeal they would not as well propagate and spread abroad as suck in their fancies and sickly imaginations From hence have arisen those separations of men from one another and that with the vilest reflections upon each other that could be calling nay dooming each other as limbs of Antichrist and spawn of Hell as persons that stand in a direct opposition to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus and with all might endeavouring the utter ruin and extirpation of one another Yea in a word the quarrels about the Spirit have run so high and men have conceited themselves so acted by it that they have altered as far as they could the very nature of things and have made those things lawful by necessity and providence Witness the Murther of the late King which Scripture and right Reason have determined before hand as utterly unlawful And therefore certainly it stands us all in stead to set this Notion right in our heads that so we may not fall into those inconveniencies which a wrong apprehension of it is naturally attended with In order to which piece of service I have made choice of these words and my business from them is to shew what Spirit it is that hath been enjoyed in the Gospel and by vertue of its appearance in the world where we will consider the necessity of different administrations of the same Spirit and the great mistakes those men labour under who expect or vapour of the same powerful and immediate helps and assistances now that the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord were so plentifully furnished withal at their first setting out in order to the settlement of Christianity in the world and for the better carrying on this great design we will consider these several things 1. What Spirit it was that the Apostles had after the descent of the Holy Ghost Now it is plain that the Spirit of the Apostles was suitable to the great Errand they were sent about to the great work they were to finish for as the case was extraordinary so was the Spirit that assisted them and therefore we find they were able to work Miracles the great attestation to any truth whatsoever and which God hath all along used upon great occasions they were able to speak with tongues such as they were as much unacquainted withal before as a new-born Babe is with the language of his Countrey They had the gist of discerning Spirits with many other things which were mighty necessary considering what they went about for their Errand was to pull down the Model of the Jewish worship a great part whereof had been set up by God himself to take down the pale whereby the Jews had for many hundred years been peculiarly separated from the rest of the world and upon which account they valued themselves above the rest of the world They were to convince them that their Sacrifices did cease and consequently the Temple of Jerusalem must be frequented under other Notions and upon other accounts than it was when their ceremonial service was in being and you that know the force of education must needs acknowledge this was hard work and needed great courage and as great an evidence of the truth of their Commission For when new things are to be setled in the room of something that was fixed before by a Divine Warrant it had need of some peculiar excellency in its nature or some more than ordinary evidence before it ought to have any admittance amongst the Sons of men for things well founded ought not upon easie terms to be overturned And therefore upon this account the Gospel being sent on purpose to make void the Law of Moses so far as it was Judicial or Ceremonial and the Law having been setled by God himself there was great reason that such as were the immediate instruments of so great an undertaking should have a proportionable commission and strength to do it with And as the Apostles stood in need of this extraordinary Spirit upon the Jews account so also upon the Gentiles who though they were Servants to a false Religion yet they believed not so and consequently it must needs be a very hard task to unfix them and bring them to an impartial consideration of those convincing proofs the Apostles gave of their being sent by God They were trained up in the worshiping of such Gods as did no ways oblige them to any engagement against their Lusts nay the worshipping of whom was in part a fulfilling of their lusts and as we find over all those parts of the present world that are mistaken in the objects of their worship so no doubt it was then they had a mighty fond esteem for their Idols and were ready to judge and that with the greatest
suggestions are made to you by others to consider thus much that God cannot be deceived neither can he deceive and what he hath plainly given out as his will and pleasure that you may readily entertain assent unto and live in the practice of without any danger whatsoever and still let holy Writ with the help of the interpretation of wise and good men be your Standard to prove Doctrins and Rules by and then I am sure you are safe 4. The Spirit of God which now influences and act the minds of men is a Spirit of Wisdom and understanding as well as of warmth and zeal and when any man is acted truly by this Spirit though it may beget in him such affections for things as may infuse a convenient courage and cloath him with a necessary boldness yet for all that he is kept within his proper bounds he runs not out to any excess does nothing by vertue of a pretence to this Spirit but what is very accountable to any person of true understanding And whosoever he is that gives his passions leave to run before his judgment that is acted by so preposterous a zeal that he no sooner is impressed but presently without consulting his considering faculties he makes himself ready for the undertaking though the man may mean well yet he must not he ought not to bring in the Spirit of God to patronize his follies for wheresoever it rests it as I said before teaches no new things though it helps us in reflecting upon the old and prompts to nothing but what is warranted to him by the evidence that is brought before his reason and understanding And if it was not so what strange and horrid things might be done by a pretence to the Spirit of God what Murthers and what Rapins what invasion of other mens rights and encroachments upon their liberties and the like And therefore 't is very necessary as well as expedient for all Christians who would be a credit to their profession not to pursue any thing under a notion they are spurred to it by the Spirit of God unless they can give a sober rational and wise account both to themselves and others of the usefulness of the thing of its conduciveness to some good purposes and designs for still the Spirit of the Lord that is sent into the world on purpose to reform the minds of men suggests no new things to them but sets on the old which are already delivered from Holy Writ and whether the Scriptures do not make us wise to salvation whether we are not by them directed to every thing that is lovely and praise-worthy I leave the most nice Critick to judge Away then with those men who are all fire without any allay at all whose heels are upon the go without any commission from the Head for these men are generally the shame and reproach of Christianity and expose it to a thousand reflections from men who judge of it only by what they observe in others Away I say with these and give us the man who sits down and retires into himself and doth nothing under a pretence of the Spirit of God but what he can give a reason for this man indeed travels in a safe road stands upon a bottom that shall never fail and builds upon a rock which the winds and waves cannot dash in pieces for Reason is the same now that it was from all eternity and we cannot fall into any danger so long as we do the best we can to do things wisely and with our understandings and I am sure we shall not wrong the Divine Spirit to give him his due share in any action that is begun upon this principle and finished by the influence of such considerations for he is called the Spirit of wisdom and understanding of counsel and might Isa 11.2 That is he is not a Spirit that puts men upon headlong actions that countenances any thing that is ridiculous and foolish that is not well thought of and debated beforehand This Spirit leaves men to the full exercise of all their faculties and after a just satisfaction and an intention to pursue those things we are so satisfied in it gives us proportionable assistance that is it doth not do all for us and we sit still but when we do what we can it lends us helps suitable to our infirmities and weaknesses and what is wanting in us to do the work to Gods acceptation this Spirit makes up and so long as men are wise and prudent and improve the powers of their souls by study and contemplation so long they may expect the Spirit of God entring into their souls with all helps and aids agreeable to their necessities And on the other hand so long as men drive on foolish designs and suffer themselves to be acted by every plausible Argument why let their zeal be never so high and touring never so hot and violent yet I assure them their heat proceeds from the present temperature of the Body and not from the concurrence of Gods Spirit for still I say it is a Spirit of wisdom and understanding and gives encouragement to no mans folly or indiscretion 5. Though the Spirit of God be a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding where it comes and is truly harkned unto yet it does not exclude the use of means in order to obtain that Wisdom and though I would wish my tongue might sooner cleave to the roof of my mouth than I would do or say any thing to the disparagement of this Spirit yet have I no warrant to tell lies in its behalf or to speak more for it than it hath warranted me to do and therefore I say this Spirit considered under the notion of the ordinary Spirit for the extraordinary is ceased does not exclude the use of means in order to obtain Wisdom for still God having given us faculties of mind capable of inquiring and knowing and having obliged us to the use thereof and promised a blessing upon the use thereof certainly he would not prevent our labour and industry by an extraordinary influence when it might be done to all necessary purposes by the ordinary no no we find this all along that God never went out of the ordinary course of Nature if it would do what he purposed without an extraro-ordinary interposal and when ever he wrought Miracles it was in order to such convictions as dull Man could not receive without them And therefore for any sort of Men to think themselves wiser than all the world beside purely because they are of a party to whom they fancy the Spirit of God is alone married is to argue themselves the greatest fools for though it prompt men to nothing but what is Wise yet it leaves men to the improvement of themselves in Wisdom by exerting the powers of their own minds and that man who does not take pains to increase his knowledge who is not studious thoughtful I will warrant him shall
severity every person that did not bow down to them And Oh how hard a thing it was then for the Apostles to contest with prejudices founded in education in principles sucked from those they loved most to wit their Parents and therefore upon this account there was great need of an extraordinary Spirit whereby men might be convinced of the truth of their persons as well as their doctrins Alas had it not been for this the Gospel would have been nipped in its first budding forth and it would have been a downright impossibility for so great a part of the world to have been imposed upon by such a company of illiterate persons as the Apostles before the descent of the Holy Ghost were Can you imagine that such Learned men as Dionysius the Areopagite and other persons brought up in the Schools at Athens who well understood the principles and connexion of things would have submitted to the pretences of such bold and rude persons who could shew no reason at all beyond their own confident assertions for what they said No it was impossible And by the way this one thing shews the great necessity of human Learning and is a sufficient confutation of all those Enthusiasts who do revile it to wit that what the Apostles wanted of it upon the score of education God supplied by Miracle Well but 2. Let us consider how long this extraordinary Spirit continued in the Church for that it is ceased and that no man can now pretend to it is a plain case because we daily experience it for he that pretends to the same spirit the Apostles had must do the same things or else he is mighty vain and argues his understanding to be much impaired Now in answer to this it is certain that God who is never wanting to what he promises nor to those needs and necessities which his wisdom and goodness conspire to answer was not wanting to his Church in the first Ages thereof so long as they had any work to do like to what first they set upon that is so long as they had new Countreys or People to spread this Gospel abroad amongst And therefore we find in History that this extraordinary Spirit continued more or lefs for about 400 years in the Church of God and men wrought Miracles and thereby convinced Gainsayers though about that time as St. Augustin tells us they were not so numerous and plentiful as they were before and the reason was because there was no such need of them and a little after they ceased And this we may assert notwithstanding the boasts of the Church of Rome who indeed instead of confirming men in the Christian Religion by their pretended miracles do if men be considerate rather expose it to their scorn and censure so ridiculous are the stories they tell and upon such slight and pitiful grounds do they pretend their Miracles are wrought And therefore I say when the occasion and reason of working Miracles ceased then God in Wisdom suspended that great and mighty power wherewith he had accompanied good men before and Kings proving Nursing-fathers and Queens Nursing-mothers to the Church the Gospel being a National Religion in most Countreys and that which youth was brought up in at first and there being so full an evidence on its side taken from the purity of its doctrine the innocence of its design the multitude of Miracles that awaited its first appearance and other concurring testimonies of equal force therefore men are now to look for no other Spirit but what is necessary for their needs and necessities as they are Christians which brings me to the third thing to be considered of and that is 3ly Notwithstanding the ceasing of this extraordinary Spirit yet there is a spirit continued to the Church of God sufficiently helpful to men suitable to their necessities and to what God requires of them in order to be partakers of his blessings God is never behind-hand with his Creatures but his Providence stands ready to assist them with such Auxiliary forces as they really stand in need of and no man shall ever complain that he perishes for lack of any thing that God hath promised the death of men must be laid at their own doors and had they not been wanting to themselves Heaven had been their portion and the lot of their Inheritance and as God said to Israel so he may say to all Christians whatsoever O you Sons of men you have destroyed your selves And now we enter into a large field of discourse and I wish my thoughts and meditations may do justice and right to the matter under hand and withal answer your expectation in a thing so really momentous and concerning I say then that though God hath thought good to withdraw the extraordinary Spirit yet he is with his Church and People to the end of the World by affording them such assistances as are requisite for their serving of him And this is a Doctrine that hath so universally obtained in the Church of God that the Pelagian Heresie that asserts Man by the strength of his faculties improved by Scripture and Reason by the objective evidence that is in things might attain to such a state of mind as to render him fit for Gods favour while here and his eternal glory hereafter But though this was a Doctrin generally acknowledged yet for all that the mistakes about the Spirit of God the confounding the extraordinary and ordinary spirit the misinterpreting several places of Scripture which speak of the effusion of the Spirit in the last days particularly that of my Text the setting up of the Spirit in opposition to human Learning and the exercise of our Reason the patronizing of our own folly and wickedness by pretences to a more immediate guidance and direction of the Spirit of God I say these things have done a world of mischief to Religion and civil Society together they have forced men out of their proper places and been the original of so much pride and vanity of spirit that Children as it were have risen up against the Ancients and every Novice hath taken upon him to pitty his betters and to be a director of the People and therefore certainly it is a thing of great concernment to every man to set this Notion right in his mind that so he may not like every little Child be tossed too and fro with every wind of doctrin and that his judgment may not be enslaved to every bold pretender that covers a Woolfish nature with Sheeps cloathing Now that Spirit which awaits good men in this world give me leave to give you this account of which if but well considered will I am certain strengthen you against all those addresses that sin or errour at any time make to you 1. The Spirit which now affists good men in this life works upon them according to what they know it brings no new Notices of things to them but operates upon those they by their
be a Son of darkness notwithstanding that great light within he so highly boasts of for it is not now as it was in the Apostles days we have not things by Inspiration but by diligence and labour the not right understanding whereof hath done a great deal of mischief to the world For no sooner have some persons of little minds and slender thoughts been brought over to a party of proud Men who have monopolized all Religion to themselves but presently they have set up for Censurers General of the rest of mankind as Reprobates and Cast-aways as men who have no share in the eternal Decrees of Heaven as Scum and Refuse and therefore fit for nothing but to give these conceited ones joy in the ruin and destruction of their Estates and Lives together for if men did but believe the Spirit of God only assists them in every thing they know and helps them to no rules of Wisdom by private Inspiration but only encourages them in living up to those they have learned already there would be a great deal more modesty in the world and men would love more and censure less Lastly Though the Spirit of God be a Spirit of Wisdom yet for all that amongst men that have this Spirit some are wiser than other and the reason is plain because it does not by vertue of its operations destroy mens natural parts or those acquirements they have made by different educations and you may find two men that have an equal assistance from Gods Spirit that is have their affections equally raised to things Divine and yet one of them is of a far deeper understanding than the other because he hath had the advantage of an education before the other And the Spirit of God though wherever it comes it makes all men good strengthens all good purposes and resolutions yet it leaves them to their own thoughts to find out Arguments for goodness and to improve in principles of Wisdom And now for a conclusion If any man ask me why I pitched upon such a subject at this time I answer because I thought nothing could more conduce to the peace of the Church and to the preserving the several subordinations of men than the true and right stating of the Notion of the Spirit For certainly did the People understand what has here been said Schism and Separation could not possibly have enlarged their borders as they have done nor could Treasons and Rebellions have found such shelters and refuges as they have done It was a false Notion of the Spirit that brought in the Desolations and Confusions the Murthers and Rapins of the late War and by vertue of the same mistakes the common People stand ready to run away from all those obligations that lie upon them to be dutiful to the Laws of the Church in which they live and the subtle Designers the cunning Crafts-men never yet did their business with the common People by strength of Argument and force of Reason but by gilded pretences of a more than ordinary commission from the Spirit of God and in pursuance thereof by using uncouth phrases such as are out of the common road of speaking and thereby insinuating into the Peoples minds an opinion that they forsooth are acted by a more extraordinary Spirit than the rest of the carnal World are acquainted withal Whereas let but these things be digested that I have named and particularly that nothing is now done by this ordinary Spirit which contradicts what was done by the extraordinary or that the Spirit now brings no new things to us and we shall presently return to sober minds and quiet and peaceable principles then will God have his due and Caesar his then instead of reviling Gods Ministers we shall give them honour suitable to the merits of their Functions and with modesty so far as it is allowed by Protestant principles submit to their judgments without any pragmatical censuring of their more rational sentiments we shall then find that we have no warrant from the Spirit to speak evil of Dignities to despise Authority much less to rebel against them because they will not gratifie us in our more unreasonable desires nor yet to leave the communion of a Church for some fancied corruptions No no let us but be guided by these considerations and I make no question but we shall endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and follow after those things which make for peace and whereby we may edifie one another Which God of his mercy grant c. FINIS