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the other, which are, in respect of outward Apr* ixtarance, only one degree better than sensual supers tition,*-whilo, to ret;>ect of faith, they are worse than Popery^ which doth not deiiyi bub, only veil, the truth. And from running headlong into thi» reason- worship, which ia [nhdclity, and which, if time pernnilled, I could iihew to be Atheism— that is. the denial of a personal God— we of the Protestant churches can only be pre- served by the continual preaching of tlie personal and Divine Word, the perHonal and Divine Spirit* to work in us the true faith and underatand- ing of that litcrnl wnrd and natural Spirit which (he natural man ap|)ndieiuleth in the Holy Scrip- tures. And forasmuch as I percciw very few ■ amongst \m who are able to handle the various otfices of the Persons in the Trinity, and that the adminttioQ and instruction of our prcnchera is 4 I tStO IRELAND** tVth COKDITfOK-. [< graerally given to the written word, and the ii tcllcctual propositions thereof, I h&ii-e a Uroi pre&entimetit that wc arc deslincd to prove tl bleak and barren repouM of infidelity, and to delu^^ with the sore tnd bloody plague4 of' which dwell there. Also 1 am willing to aIlo< that in the Protestant churches the minister, b^ being the organ of communicatioa between Gt and the people, is apt to become to the ear atid tl eye and the understuiuling of the people a bin intercepting the light of the Divine Spirit, ii of being a mirror to reflect it; and that at day, and especially in this city, there is a traj ID the word of a minister, and a fondness for hi person, and an acquiescence in his opinkii which fiavouretli of iiectariaiit-iiii TBther tiian coin* iiiiinity,-^is as unpropitious to xtrung and itedl faith, and a» obnoxious lo direct error, as priest-influence and pr»est-craft so much com- plained of atnoagst the I'apists, Which arcnue acnsual worship is not to be shut otherwise by Helf-((<^niftl nn the part of the preacher, the ex' tioctiori uf all party spirit, by instructing the pie that no one can teach Aavingly or profitabi but the Holy Spirit, and that the preacher merely a voice or personiftcation of the writl word, which cannot of itself save a soul, otln than by the application of the Spirit, shewing il personified in the Son of God, who was thu Wurd^j that became flesh, and dwelt among us. In lila manner, the visible sacraments and out^rard ordi-] tia&GCs of religion which address the ^nsc, ha^ all the like tendency to he .nuhi^titiitod for tl religion of the S|)irit, of which they do but pi the outwa