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God." And further on in the same work he says, "The Spirit of God alone is the certain interpreter of his Word written by his Spirit; for no man knoweth the things pertaining to God but the Spirit of God." Our great Milton also gives us a similar opinion in the following words, which are taken from his Paradise Lost:

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Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves,
Who all the sacred mysteries of Heaven ́
To their own vile advantages shall turn
Of lucre and ambition, and the truth
With superstitions and traditions taint,
Left only in those written records pure,
Though not but by the Spirit understood.”

Of the same mind was the learned bishop Taylor, as we collect from his sermon De Viâ Intelligentiæ. "For although the Scriptures," says he, " are written by the Spirit of God, yet they are written within and without. And besides the Light, that shines upon the face of them, unless there be a Light shining within our hearts, unfolding the leaves, and interpreting the mysterious sense of the Spirit, convincing our consciences, and preaching to our hearts; to look

for

for Christ in the leaves of the Gospel is to look for the living among the dead. There is a life in them; but that life is," according to St. Paul's expression, "hid with Christ in God; and unless the Spirit of God first draw it, we shall never draw it forth."

Again. "Human learning brings excellent ministeries towards this. It is admirably useful for the reproof of heresies, for the detection of fallacies, for the letter of the Scripture, for collateral testimonies, for exterior advantages: but there is something beyond this, that human learning, without the addition of divine, can never reach. Moses was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, and the holy men of God contemplated the glories of God in the admirable order, motion, and influences of the heaven; but, besides all this, they were taught something far beyond these prettinesses. Pythagoras read Moses's books, and so did Plato; and yet they became not proselytes of the religion, though they were the learned scholars of such a master."

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The Spirit of God, which has been thus given to man in different degrees, was given to him as a spiritual teacher or guide in his spiritual concerns It performs this office, the Quakers say, by internal monitions-Sentiments of Taylorand of Monro-and, if encouraged, it teaches even by the external objects of the CreationWilliam Wordsworth.

THE members of this Society believe that the Spirit of God, which has been thus given to man in different degrees or measures, and without which it is impossible to know spiritual things, or even to understand the Divine Writings spiritually, or to be assured of their divine origin, was given to him, among other purposes, as a teacher of good and evil, or to serve him as a guide in his spiritual concerns. By this they mean, that if any man will give himself up to the directions of the spiritual principle that resides within him, he will attain a knowledge

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ledge sufficient to enable him to discover the path of his duty both to God and his fellow-man.

That the Spirit of God was given to man as a spiritual instructor, the Quakers conceive to be plain from a number of passages, which are to be found in the Sacred Writings.

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They say, in the first place, that this was the language of the holy men of old*. 66 I said," says Elihu, "days should speak, and multitudes of years should teach wisdom. But there is a Spirit (or the Spirit itself is) in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding." The Levites are found also making an acknowledgment to Godt, that "he gave also their forefathers his good Spirit to instruct them." The Psalms of David are also full of the same language, such as of "Show me thy ways, O Lord; lead me in the truth."

know," says Jeremiah §,

man is not in himself.

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"that the way of

It is not in man,

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martyr Stephen acknowledges the teachings of the Spirit, both in his own time and in that of his ancestors. "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers, did, so do ye." The Quakers also conceive it to be a doctrine of the Gospel. Jesus himself said †, "No man can come to me except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him-It is written in the prophets, They shall all be taught of God." St. John‡ says, "That was the true Light (namely, the Word or Spirit) which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” St. Paul also, in his first letter to the Corinthians, asserts that "the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal;" and in his letter to Titus he asserts the same thing||, though in different words: "for the Grace of God," says he, "which bringeth Salvation, hath appeared unto all men.

The Spirit of God, which has been thus given to man as a spiritual guide, is con

*Acts vii. 51. ↑ John i. 9.

John vi. 44, 45.

§ 1 Cor. xii. 7.

Titus ii. 11.

sidered

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