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

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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 phrafeology 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 *;" or that "the Spirit itself beareth witness with our

a

fpirit that we are the children of God." However arduous may be the talk 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 greater Searcher of hearts alone may be deemed capable of performing,) ftill the belief

z Wefley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 164. • 2 Cor. i. 22.

Rom. viii. 16,

that we are bleffed with this " inward witness. 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 anfwer; 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 under stood to maintain it for the doctrine of Scripture: but we feel it no otherwife than we do our thoughts and meditations; we cannot diftinguish them, by their manner of affecting us, from our natural reasonings 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 truft, "that you are inwardly moved by the Holy

1 John v. 10.

d Art..17. ? See Stebbing on the Holy Spirit, chap. vii. fect. 6.

Ghoft, to take take upon you this office and mi"niftration, to ferve God for the promoting of his glory, and the edifying of his peo འ་་ ple?" For, as Calvin well and temperately remarks, an inward call is the honeft tefti

"mony of our heart, that we undertake the

office of the miniftry, not from ambition, or "covetoufnefs, 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 alfo 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

↑ Ordering of Deacons.

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

"

Homilies, p. 389. Oxf. Ed.

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 Ghost within thee, or the spirit of the flesh, &c.” p. sga.

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the point, is the express teftimony of a work, which speaks the fentiments of our Reformers, and affords an admirable comment on the lan guage of the Article; "We feel Chrift dwell"ing within ourselves in fuch fort, as we do our own proper fouls." Thus much we believe on the authority of Scripture, and guided in our interpretation by our own evangelical Church. But if more than this be intended by one of the original Methodists when, in a difcourfe from this place, he accufed thofe, who diffented from his opinions, of setting up "a devilish diftinction, of which "our Church knows nothing; of renouncing "the Church of England, as well as the whole "Chriftian revelation, of denying the whole "Scriptures, the whole truth, and promife, and

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teftimony of God":"-if by that "experi"mental knowledge," which he described as being "alone true Chriftianity," by that "fpi"ritual fenfation, that divine confcioufnefs, that witnefs of God, which is more and

greater than ten thousand human witneffes"," he meant, what his brother defined himfelf to mean, by the teftimony of the Spirit; namely,

p. 30.

King Edward's Catechifm. Enchir. Theolog. vol. i.

1 The Rev. Charles Wesley.

See J. Welley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 43, 44.

■ Ibid. p. 36.

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an inward impreffion on the foul, whereby "the Spirit of God immediately and directly "witneffes to my fpirit, that I am a child of "God, that Jefus Chrift hath loved me, and

46

given himself for me: that all my fins are "blotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled to "God":"-we must be allowed to demand for the doctrine much ftronger proofs both from Scripture and from our Church, than any which have hitherto been offered; and meanwhile to protest against the accufation as unfounded, uncharitable, and unjust.

At the fame time I have no fcruple in afferting, that thofe ftrong and vivid impulses, which are fometimes defcribed as the effect of the Spirit; the communications which he is faid to make to the eyes and ears of the infpired; the "inexpreffible light with which

he fuddenly furrounds them ;" and the rapturous and ecftatic vifions, with which he is faid to illuminate their minds; "giving," fays Wesley, "now, as aforetime, remiffion of fins "and the gift of the Holy Ghoft, even to us "and to our children; yea, and that always "fuddenly, as far as I have known, and often "in dreams or in the vifions of God;" refem

"

See J. Wefley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 152, 165.

P See Welley's Journals, N°. V. p. 28. VII. p. 100. III. p. 60, 61.