CHAP.  VII.

SECT.  I.

This spirit, as it has been given universally, so it has been given sufficiently—­Hence God is exonerated Of injustice, and men are left without excuse—­Those who resist this spirit, are said to quench it, and may become so hardened in time, as to be insensible of its impressions—­Those who attend to it, may be said to be in the way of redemption—­Similar sentiments of Monro—­This visitation, treatment, and influence of the spirit, usually explained by the Quakers by the Parable of the sower.

As the spirit of God has been thus afforded to every man, since the foundation of the world, to profit withal, so the Quakers say, that it has been given to him in a sufficient measure for this purpose.  By the word “sufficient” we are not to understand that this divine monitor calls upon men every day or hour, but that it is within every man, and that it awakens him seasonably, and so often during the term of his natural life, as to exonerate God from the charge of condemning him unjustly, if he fails in his duty, and as to leave himself without excuse.  And in proportion as a greater or less measure of this spirit has been afforded him, so he is more or less guilty in the sight of his Maker.

If any should resist these salutary operations of the Holy Spirit, they resist it to their own condemnation.

Of such it may he observed, that they are said to quench or grieve the spirit, and, not unfrequently, to resist God, and to crucify Christ afresh; for God and Christ and the Spirit are considered to be inseparably united in the scriptures.

Of such also it may be again observed, that if they continue to resist God’s holy Spirit, their feelings may become so callous or hardened in time, that they may never be able to perceive its notices again, and thus the day of their visitation may be over:  for [42] “my people, saith God, would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me; so I gave them up to their own hearts’ lusts, and they walked in their own counsels.”  To the same import was the saying of Jesus Christ, when he wept over Jerusalem. [43] “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.”  As if he had said, there was a day, in which ye, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, might have known those things which belonged to your peace.  I was then willing to gather you, as a hen gathereth her chickens, but as ye would not suffer me, the things belonging to your peace are now hid from your eyes.  Ye would not attend to the impressions by God’s Holy Spirit, when your feelings were tender and penetrable, and therefore now, the day having passed over, ye have lost the power of discerning them.

[Footnote 42:  Psalm 81. 11,12]

[Footnote 43:  Luke 19, 42.]

Those, on the other hand, who, during this visitation of the Holy Spirit, attend to its suggestions or warnings, are said to be in the way of their redemption or salvation.