SECTION VII. Paffages from the celebrated Mr. John Smith, Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, corroborative of the Opinion that the beft Evidence of the Chriftian Religion arifes from the Energy of the Holy Spirit *. MINU INUTE philofophers and minute critics, deriving all their ftock of learning from the fuperficial imitators of Voltaire and Rouffeau, entertain no adequate idea of the merit of our old divines, who drew their wifdom from the pure fountain of the Scriptures, and learned their philo fophy from the schools of Greece and Rome. Such perfons, from the deficiency of their knowledge, are inadequate judges of the merit of men like him from whom is taken the following quotation; and it is no wonder that they ftigmatize them with the appellation of vifionaries or fanatics. But with perfons of true learning and good minds, I have no doubt but that the opinions of this profoundly learned author and virtuous man will have great weight. His ftyle may be a little antiquated, like that of Bishop Taylor; yet it abounds with beauty, and muft pleafe all whofe reading is not confined to modern pamphlets and French literature. "Divine truth is not to be difcerned fo much "in a man's brain as in his heart. There is a "divine and fpiritual fenfe which alone is able to "converse internally with the life and foul of di"vine truth, as mixing and uniting itself with it; "while vulgar minds behold only the body and * See his Select Discourses, published in 1656. "outfide outfide of it. Though in itfelf it be most in"telligible, and fuch as the human mind may "most easily apprehend, yet there is an INCRUST66 ATION, as the Hebrew writers call it, upon "all corrupt minds, which hinders the lively taste " and relifh of it. "The beft acquaintance with religion is a "KNOWLEDGE TAUGHT OF GOD +: it is a light "which defcends from heaven, which alone is "able to guide and conduct the fouls of men to "that heaven whence it comes. The Chriftian "religion is an influx from God upon the minds "of good men; and the great design of the gospel "is to unite human nature to divinity. "The gofpel is a mighty efflux and emanation • of life and spirit, freely iffuing forth from an omnipotent source of grace and love; that god like, vital influence, by which the Divinity de"rives itself into the fouls of men, enlivening and "transforming them into its own likenefs, and "ftrongly imprinting upon them a copy of its own "beauty and goodness: like the spiritual virtue "of the heavens, which spreads itself freely upon "the lower world, and fubtilely infinuating itself "into this benumbed, feeble, earthly matter, be"gets life and motion in it: briefly, it is that whereby God comes to dwell in us, and we in " him. "The apoftle calls the law the miniftration of "the letter and of death, it being in itself but a "dead letter, as all that which is without a man's "foul must be; but on the other fide, he calls "the gospel, because of the intrinsical and vital "administration of it in living impreffions upon * Incruftamentum immunditici-An incruftation of filth. Η Θεοδίδακτος γνώσις. "the "the fouls of men, the miniftration of the spirit, "and the miniftration of righteousness; by which " he cannot mean the HISTORY of the gospel, or "those CREDENDA propounded to us to believe: "for this would make the gospel itself as much "an external thing as the law was; and fo we "fee that the preaching of Christ crucified was "to the Jews a ftumbling-block, and to the Greeks "foolishness. But indeed he means a VITAL EF"FLUX from God upon the fouls of men, whereby "they are made partakers of life and strength "from him. "Though the hiftory and outward communica"tion of the gospel to us in fcriptis is to be always " acknowledged as a special mercy and advantage, "and certainly no lefs privilege to the Chriftians "than it was to the Jews, to be the depofitaries "of the oracles of God, yet it is plain that the "apostle, where he compares the law and the "gofpel, means fomething which is more than a "piece of book-learning, or an hiftorical narration "of the free love of God, in the several contri"vances of it for the redemption of mankind. "The evangelical or new law is an efflux of "life and power from God himself, the original "of life and power, and produceth life wherever "it comes; and to this double dispensation of "law and gospel does St. Paul clearly refer 2 Cor. iii. 3. You are the epistle of Chrift "ministered by us, WRITTEN NOT WITH INK, "but with THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD."Not in tables of ftone; which last words are a "plain glofs upon that mundane kind of adminiftering the law, in a mere external way, to "which he oppofeth the GOSPEL. "The gospel is not so much a system and body "of faving divinity, as the spirit and vital in "fluence "fluence of it fpreading itself over all the powers "of men's fouls, and quickening them into a DI"VINE LIFE; it is not fo properly a doctrine that' "is wrapt up in ink and paper, as it is VITALIS "SCIENTIA, a living impreffion made upon the "foul and fpirit. The gofpel does not fo much "confift in verbis as in virtute;-in the written "word, as in an internal energy.' He who wishes to have an adequate idea of this profound fcholar and moft excellent man, will find a pleafing account of him. in Bifhop Patrick's fermon at his funeral, fubjoined to the SELECT DISCOURSES, which abound with beautiful paffages, illuftrative of the true Chriftian philofophy. That I am not fingular in thinking highly of Smith's Select Difcourfes,is clearly manifefted from the circumftance of Bishop WATSON's having inferted one of them in his Collection of Theological Tracts. The bishop indeed exprefsly fays, that all the difcourfes of Smith are very valuable, and particularly that which he has felected, and which indeed was tranflated into Latin by Le Clerc, an excellent judge, and prefixed to his Commentary on Ifaiah.' SECTION VIII. The Opinion of Bishop Sanderson on the Impoffibility of becoming a Chriftian without supernatural Affiftance. A$ s the weight of the authorities which I adduce must be proportioned to the opinion the reader entertains of the men who furnish them, I think it right to say something of their characters; but but most of them are fo well known, that I should almost as foon think of pointing out the luftre of the day-star in the heavens, as of displaying in detail their fplendid and acknowledged merits. But if any should be unacquainted with Bishop Sanderfon's high renown, I must refer him to the life of the bishop, most beautifully delineated by Ifaac Walton. Suffice it to fay, that it can never be fufpected of Bishop Sanderson that his religious fentiments originated in imbecility of intellect; for he has proved himself the first logician and acuteft reafoner of his time. Vigour of underftanding and clearnefs of conception were his characteristics. Let thofe who are inclined to defpife his religious opinions, prove themselves competent to affume a fuperiority over him, by equalling his book of Logic and his Cafes of Confcience. It was Simon Magus's error," fays Bishop Sanderfon," to think that the gift of God might "be purchased with money; and it hath a fpice "of his fin, and fo may go for a kind of fimony, "to think that fpiritual gifts may be purchased "with labour. You may rife up early and go to "bed late, and ftudy hard, and read much, and "devour the marrow of the best authors, and "when you have done all, unlefs God give a "bleffing unto your endeavours, be as thin and "meagre in regard of true and useful learning, as "Pharaoh's lean kine were after they had eaten "the fat ones. It is God that both miniftereth "feed to the fower, and multiplieth the feed fown; "the principal and the increase are both his." * "It is clear that all Christian virtues and graces, "though wrought immediately by us, and with "the free confent of our own wills, are yet the |