Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

SECTION VI.

Opinions of Bishop Taylor respecting the Evidence of the Holy Spirit; " fhewing" (as he expreffes it) "how the Scholars of the University fball become 66 moft LEARNED and moft USEFUL.'

PROCEED to cite the authority of the celebrated

I Jeremy Taylor, a man who ftands among the

divines of England like Shakefpeare among the poets, in proud pre-eminence. The haughtiness of learning may take offence at the following paffage; but let it be in juftice to the author confidered, that he could not decry learning from a consciousness of wanting it, for who, among the cavillers of the day, will be allowed to claim an equality in learning with Jeremy Taylor? Let no man think it a difgrace to be cenfured by the rational Chriftians in company with the writer of the "Ductor "dubitantium," and many other works abounding in deep learning, ftrict reafoning, as well as in the most affectionate piety.

"We have examined," fays he," all ways, in "our inquiries after religious truth, but one; all "but GOD'S WAY *. Let us, having missed in all "the other, try this. Let us go to God for "truth; for truth comes from God only. If we "mifs the truth, it is because we will not find it; "for certain it is, that all the truth which God "hath made NECESSARY, he hath also made legi"ble and plain; and if we will open our eyes we "fhall fee the fun, and if we will walk in the light,

See Bishop Taylor's VIA Intelligentiæ, in his folio volume of Sermons, 1668.

[merged small][ocr errors]

we fhall rejoice in the light. Only let us with"draw the curtains, let us remove the impedi"ments, and the fin that doth fo eafily befet us. "That is GOD'S WAY. Every man muft, in his "station, do that portion of duty which God re"quires of him; and then he fhall BE TAUGHT OF "GOD all that is fit for him to learn; there is no "other way for him but this. The fear of the Lord "is the beginning of wisdom; and a good under

ftanding have all they that do thereafter. And "fo faid David of himfelf: I have more under

Standing than my teachers; because I keep thy com"mandments. And this is the only way which "Chrift has taught us. If you afk, what is truth? "you must not do as Pilate did, ask the question,

and then go away from him that only can give "" you an answer; for as God is the Author of "truth, fo he is the TEACHER of it, and the way "to learn is this; for fo faith our bleffed Lord; "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the "doctrine whether it be of God or no.

"This text is fimple as truth itself, but greatly "comprehenfive, and contains a truth that alone "will enable you to understand all mysteries, and "to expound all prophecies, and to interpret all "fcriptures, and to fearch into all fecrets, all, I

mean, which concern our happiness and our "duty. It is plainly to be refolved into this pro"pofition:

"THE WAY TO JUDGE OF RELIGION IS BY DOING "OUR DUTY; AND THEOLOGY IS RATHER A DI86 VINE LIFE THAN A DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.

"In heaven indeed we shall first see and then "love; but here on earth we must first love, and "love will open our eyes as well as our hearts, "and we shall then fee and perceive and under« ftand.

[blocks in formation]

"Every man understands more of religion by "his affections than by his reason. It is not the "wit of the man, but the spirit of the man; not fo "much his head as his heart that learns the DIVINE "PHILOSOPHY.

"There is in every righteous man a NEW VI"TAL PRINCIPLE. The spirit of grace is the fpi

rit of wifdom, and teaches us by fecret infpira❝tions, by proper arguments, by actual perfua"fions, by perfonal applications, by effects and "energies; and as the foul of man is the cause of "all his vital operations, fo is the Spirit of God "the life of that life, and the cause of all actions "and productions spiritual; and the consequence "of this is what St. John tells us of; re have re"ceived the UNCTION from above, and that anointing "teacheth you all things-all things of fome one "kind; that is, certainly all things that pertain "to life and godlinefs; all that by which a man "is wife and happy. Unless the foul have a new "life put into it, unless there be a vital principle "within, unless the Spirit of life be the informer "of the fpirit of the man, the word of God will "be as DEAD in the operation as the body in its powers and poffibilities.

[ocr errors]

"God's Spirit does not deftroy reafon, but "heightens it. God opens the heart and creates 66 a new one; and without this creation, this new "principle of life, we may hear the word of God, "but we can never understand it; we hear the "found, but are never the better. Unless there "be in our hearts a fecret conviction by the Spi"rit of God, the GOSPEL ITSELF IS A DEAD LET

TER.

"Do we not fee this by daily experience? Even "thofe things which a good man and an evil man KNOW, they do not know both alike. An evil

"man

« man knows that God is lovely, and that fin is of 66 an evil and destructive nature, and when he is "reproved he is convinced; and when he is ob"ferved, he is afhamed; and when he has done, "he is unfatisfied; and when he purfues his fin, ❝he does it in the dark. Tell him he fhall die, "and he fighs deeply, but he knows it as well as 66 you. Proceed, and fay that after death comes "judgment, and the poor man believes and trem"bles; and yet, after all this, he runs to commit "his fin with as certain an event and refolution "as if he knew no argument against it.

"Now fince, at the fame time, we fee other "perfons, not fo LEARNED, it may be, not fo "much verfed in the fcriptures, yet they fay a "thing is good and lay hold of it. They believe "glorious things of heaven, and they live accord

[ocr errors]

ingly, as men that believe them felves. What . "is the reafon of this difference? They both read "the fcriptures; they read and hear the fame

fermons; they have capable understandings; "they both believe what they hear and what they "read; and yet the event is vastly different. The "reafon is that which I am now fpeaking of: the "one understands by one principle, the other by "another; the one understands by NATURE, the "other by GRACE; the one by human learning, "the other by DIVINE; the one reads the fcrip"tures without, and the other within; the one "understands as a fon of man, the other as a fon "of God; the one perceives by the proportions "of the world, the other by the measures of the "Spirit; the one understands by REASON, the "other by LOVE; and therefore he does not only "understand the fermons of the Spirit and per"ceive their MEANING, but he pierces deeper, "and knows the meaning of that meaning; that

"is, the SECRET OF THE SPIRIT, that which is "fpiritually difcerned, that which gives life to "the propofition and activity to the foul. And "the reafon is, that he hath a divine principle " within him and a new understanding; that is "plainly, he hath LOVE, and that is more than "KNOWLEDGE, as was rarely well obferved by "St. Paul. Knowledge puffeth up; but charity" "edifieth; that is, charity maketh the beft fcho"lars. No fermons can build you up a holy "building to God, unless the love of God be in your hearts, and purify your fouls from all filthi"nefs of the flesh and spirit.

[ocr errors]

"A good life is the best way to understand "wifdom and religion, because, by the experiences "and relishes of religion, there is conveyed to "them a sweetness to which all wicked men are "ftrangers. There is in the things of God, to "those who practise them, a deliciousness that "makes us love them, and that love admits us "into God's cabinet, and strangely clarifies the un"derstanding by the purification of the heart. For "when our reafon is raised up by the Spirit of "Chrift, it is turned quickly into EXPERIENCE; "when our faith relies upon the principles of "Chrift, it is changed into vifion; and fo long as ¢ we know God only in the ways of men, by con"tentious learning, by ARGUING and difpute, we "fee nothing but the fhadow of him, and in that "fhadow we meet with many dark appearances, "little certainty, and much conjecture; but when « we know him λόγω αποφαντικώ, γαληνη νοερά, "with the eyes of holiness and the instruction of "gracious experiences, with a quiet fpirit and the ་ peace of enjoyment, then we fhall hear what we

Ayan Love of God,

❝ never

« AnteriorContinuar »