AN ACCOUNT OF THE SPIRITS Working upon the minds of Men, in the several Ages of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH.  
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. Paul's, 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 Prophesy, 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 Prophesy.  
IT is a very great kindness as well as justice that we own to our judgements 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 ourselves; 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 Rhetoric 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 itself, 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 saucy, 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 Murder 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 show what Spirit it is that hath been enjoyed in the Gospel, and by virtue 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 newborn Babe is with the language of his Country. 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 settled 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 easy 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 settled 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 worshipping 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 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 doctrines: 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 show no reason at all beyond their own confident assertions for what they said? No, it was impossible. And by the way, this one thing shows 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 Countries 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, than God in Wisdom suspended that great and mighty power wherewith he had accompanied good men before; and Kings proving Nursing-fathers', and Queen's Nursing-mothers' to the Church, the Gospel being a National Religion in most countries', 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 behindhand 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 yourselves.  
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 Heresy 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 God's favour while here, and his eternal glory hereafter.  
But though this was a Doctrine 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 patronising 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 pity 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 doctrine, and that his judgement may not be enslaved to every bold pretender that covers a Woolfish nature with Sheep's clothing.  
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 error 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 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 Devil's 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, traveled 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' 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 overrun with Doctrines 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'er long be at the door, in order to disturb the minds of Credulous People, and to insinuate such Doctrines and Principles as tend to make them dishonest and immoral.  
And therefore if any fancies spring up in your heads, and you find yourselves 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 touchstone, 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 limited dependencies, upon the judgements of other men that are necessary for them, considering the difference of men's 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 Zion 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 and violent particles; which had they no superior powers to give Laws to their motion, would like Phaeton, set this world of Man on fire.  
No, no, the great design of this Spirit, is to mend that Soul which Christ died to purchase the life of: and certainly, when ever any man experiences its genuine operations, he finds a vast alteration in the state of his mind, his apprehensions of things are far different from their former selves, when he was under the command of lust and prejudice; he then better sees the nature of things, and those several excellencies that are in them; he pitches upon objects which are every way more agreeable to the delights, as well as necessities of his soul, than the husks he formerly fed upon: And that love he has for God is not founded in the temperature of his body, in some present glowings which arise from Rhetorical descriptions, but in a deep consideration of the Divine Attributes and perfections of those displays and communications that he bountifully makes of himself to the world; and his affections to the Lord Jesus are not fixed upon him barely upon the score of his Priesthood, because he fond and fancifully expects to be saved by him; but he honours and loves him as his Lord and King, and testifies the truth of his love by submitting to his Authority, and resigning up himself to his will and pleasure: and the Man's delight in God, is bottomed in those rational satisfactions he hath had in a true performance of those duties, through which God communicates himself to the intellectual and rational part of Man.  
Alas, those touches upon the animal spirits, are but flashes, and vanish in a moment, upon which score we read of several persons in the late confusions, who for a time made a great noise, and pretended to give as great a light to the world; in a moment after, the spirits flagged, and the course of their bodies altered, sunk into the dregs of Atheism and Profaneness, and drolled upon Religion as the product of a few melancholy vapours from the head, and not of a rational consideration from the mind.  
Whereas had these men been brought to Religion by the exercise of their minds and reason, about the Doctrines and Truths of the Christian Religion, and by the help of God's good Spirit, which never fails to raise and heighten the faculties, and to enlighten the object to such laborious men, they had continued constant to their profession, notwithstanding all discouragements; for rational satisfaction, conviction of mind and judgement, cannot be laid aside, but by great degeneracy and apostasy of mind, or else by something that outweighs it in point of satisfaction to the contrary.  
And this was the way the Bereans took; for though there was the greatest spirit in the World there, yet it is said, they searched the Scriptures, whether those things were so or no; 
Act. 17.11.  that is, they made use of their Reason, to compare Prophecies with events, and thereby got the name of being more noble, and no doubt furnished themselves with a more full satisfaction: 
Act. 17.2.  And St. Paul, (as his manner was) he went unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures; that is, he appealed to their judgements and understandings, and not to their, or his own private spirit: whereby he intimates, that that is the great method of conviction, and that the work of the Spirit of God, when such things are offered to our reason, is to incline us to consider and pause upon the evidence that is in those arguments, and to six our thoughts in such a manner, as not to ramble from what is proposed, but to look into the strength and force such and such Arguments are attended withal.  
I say this, this is the great work of the Spirit; and to judge of the truth of the Spirits morions, by the warmth of our affections, and not by the true light of our understanding, is to get into a Labyrinth, out of which we cannot extricate ourselves, but by being guided by the clue of our Reason; and there is nothing under such delusions as these, but a return to a man's self, to an exercise of his intellectual powers, can save him, and prevent his being plunged over head and ears in sin and Heresy.  
And therefore let warm Enthusiasts cry down the use of Reason in Religion as long as they will, and call us carnal Preachers, for advising men to understand the reason of their Religion. Yet for all that, I dare desire all those who read these Papers, to think themselves Christians upon no other account, than that they are convinced their Religion is the best in the World, both as to its grounds, and as to its design; and I dare assure them, that if they improve their minds by pains and diligence, they shall find constant strength infused into their souls by this good Spirit of God.  
3. Another thing I lay down concerning this Spirit, is this, that there is now nothing done by this ordinary Spirit of God, which works upon the minds of diligent men, which contradicts and gain-says whatsoever was said or done by the extraordinary Spirit in the Prophets and Apostles; for the Holy Ghost is God, and so is Truth itself, and cannot lie; and for any man to pretend he comes by virtue of a commission received from him, and at the same time to spread abroad propositions of faith, or rules of life, which are not agreeable to what hath been already delivered down to the world, he ought to be rejected as a monstrous Blasphemer, a most vile Imposttor, one that would thrust the notion of a God out of the world, by rendering him contradictory to himself, changing his mind upon all emergencies, and making that matter of duty to day, which not long ago he declared against with the greatest severity. And though one would think such a thing should never be done by any person that wears a man's head, yet God knows those lose and scandalous times, in which our Fathers and we have lived, give us too sad experience of it.  
What do you think of those who pretend to be governed by nothing else but a light within them, and yet vent such Doctrines of Devils as these are? to wit, That Jesus Christ is not God: That he died to be our example, and not a Sacrifice: That they themselves attain to such a perfection of degrees as to live without sin: And that which wants not its aggravation; namely, That the Magistrates have nothing to do to hinder them in spreading these lose and desperate Principles.  
And though I could name other Parties of men, who come not much behind in some bad Principles; yet I am resolved, seeing I am vindicating the true Notion of the Spirit that descended in the likeness of a Dove, to do it without any gall whatsoever.  
Let me therefore entreat you, if at any time such thoughts arise in your souls, as are flatly contrary to Scripture, or the like 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 Doctrines 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  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 virtue 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 judgement, 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 patronise 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 Murders, and what rapines, what invasion of other men's rights, and encroachments upon their liberties, and the like? And therefore 'tis 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 praiseworthy, I leave the most nice Critic 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 God's 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 entering 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 God's Spirit; for still I say it is a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, and gives encouragement to no man's folly or indiscretion.  
5. Though the Spirit of God be a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, where it comes and is truly hearkened 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 enquiring 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 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 monopolised all Religion to themselves, but presently they have set up for Censurers General of the rest of mankind, as Reprobates and Castaways, 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 virtue of its operations, destroy men's natural parts, or those acquirements they have made by different educations; and you may find two men that have an equal assistance from God's 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 Murders and rapines of the late War; and by virtue 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 Craftsmen, 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 People's 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 judgements 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 gratify 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 edify one another. Which God of his mercy grant, etc.  
FINIS.