A great noise hath been made of late, about the word _enthusiast_, and it has been cast upon the preachers of the gospel, as a term of reproach; but every christian, in the proper sense of the word, must be an enthusiast; that is, must be inspired of GOD, or have GOD, by his Spirit, in him. St. _Peter_ tells us, “we have many great and precious promises, that we may be made partakers of the divine nature;” our LORD prays, “that we may be one, as the Father and he are one;” and our own church, in conformity to these texts of Scripture, in her excellent communion-office, tells us, that those who receive the sacrament worthily, “dwell in CHRIST, and CHRIST in them; that they are one with CHRIST, and CHRIST with them.” And yet, christians must have their names cast out as evil, and ministers in particular, must be looked upon as deceivers of the people, for affirming, that we must be really united to GOD, by receiving the Holy Ghost. Be astonished, O heavens, at this!
Indeed, I will not say, all our letter-learned preachers deny this doctrine in express words; but however, they do in effect; for they talk professedly against inward feelings, and say, we may have GOD’s Spirit without feeling it, which is in reality to deny the thing itself. And had I a mind to hinder the progress of the gospel, and to establish the kingdom of darkness, 1 would go about, telling people, they might have the Spirit of GOD, and yet not feel it.
But to return: When our LORD was about to ascend to his Father and our Father, to his GOD and our GOD, he gave his apostles this commission, “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” And accordingly, by authority of this commission, we do teach and baptize in this, and every age of the church. And though we translate the words, “baptizing them in the _name_;” yet, as the name of GOD, in the LORD’s prayer, and several other places, signifies his nature, they might as well be translated thus, “baptizing them into the _nature_ of the Father, into the _nature_ of the Son, and into the _nature_ of the Holy Ghost.” Consequently, if we are all to be baptized into the nature of the Holy Ghost, before our baptism be effectual to salvation, it is evident, that we all must actually receive the Holy Ghost, and ere we can say, we truly believe in JESUS CHRIST. For no one can say, that JESUS is my LORD, but he that has thus received the Holy Ghost.
Numbers of other texts might be quoted to make this doctrine, if possible, still more plain; but I am astonished, that any who call themselves members; much more, that many, who are preachers in the church of _England_, should dare so much as to open their lips against it. And yet, with grief I speak it, GOD is my Judge, persons of the established church seem more generally to be ignorant of it, than any dissenters whatsoever.
But, my dear brethren, what have you been doing? how often have your hearts given your lips the lye? how often have you offered to GOD the sacrifice of fools, and had your prayers turned into sin, if you approve of, and use our church-liturgy, and yet deny the Holy Spirit to be the portion of all believers? In the daily absolution, the minister exhorts the people to pray, that “GOD would grant them repentance, and his Holy Spirit;” in the Collect for _Christmas-day_, we beseech GOD, “that he would daily renew us by his Holy Spirit;” in the last week’s Collect, we prayed that “we may evermore rejoice in the comforts of the Holy Ghost;” and in the concluding prayer, which we put up every day, we pray, not only that the grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the love of GOD, but that “the fellowship of the Holy Ghost” may be with us all evermore.
But farther, a solemn season, to some, is now approaching; I mean the _Ember-days_, at the end of which, all that are to be ordained to the office of a deacon, are in the sight of GOD, and in the presence of the congregation, to declare, that “they trust they are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon them that administration;” and to those, who are to be ordained priests, the bishop is to repeat these solemn words, “Receive thou the Holy Ghost, now committed unto thee, by the imposition of our hands.” And yet, O that I had no reason to speak it, many that use our forms, and many who have witnessed this good confession, yet dare to both talk and preach against the necessity of receiving the Holy Ghost now; and not only so, but cry out against those, who do insist upon it, as madmen, enthusiasts, schismatics, and underminers of the established constitution.