Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1837-04-26

traditions, ard the teaching for doctrines
! the commandments Of men. They were
not the open and avowed encm Is of all
religion. On the contrary, in certain
st ;.sc, iEcv w1rt very religious peoi,l".
They spared no palns, they were not scrupu
lous abOu; measures or m .aus, they had
grcai zeal, they compassed sea aid land 70
make one prose ytc, they made long
prayers, the! gave AIMS; but the difficulty
Was tcir their and aims were oS,ent;.tiouS,
their prayers "; re to be seen of men, they
run raligou all into forms, while they neg
lccted mercy and ind cement, and pcrver-
led tn: truth Of God. In consequence u
this general corruption un.!er the forms OF
religion, tnry were prepared to revle, and
Il, rsccutc, AMI rr'irdcr the Son o! God, the
Saviour of Slnncrs, because he adhered
strictly to The testimony of God, and was
decided in is support of the ancient m
sructions OF the law and prophets. For
this same reason they prosecuted his i;'It"'
ful followers, and had now arranged Ste
phen, man full Of the iioIv Ghost. bu,
whom .hcy esteemed an oppos"r, because
he did no, .oun,cnaacc their Hypocrisy
Evidently, thea, this was the method par
ticularlv in which the Jews of Slphcn's
time resisted the Holy Ghost, and being so,
it was. in al! probability, the very tang to
which Stephen alluded. They had reSis-
tel the Holy Ghost by subverting appoint
mcnts. and institutions, and Instructions o!
God, and substituting their own inventions
and commandments. And after cilecting
this substitution hey claimed divine anthori-
!. and honor for the spurious product; thus
in fact making the Holy Ghost the repu-
ted author Of what he never taught or au-
lhorizad.
The same lesson is taught by the history
of the Roman Catholic church.. ESQ caIled.)
No nominal church since the Christian era
he has been so maniiestly destitute OF all
spiritual influence, or has ever so cllectual-
" resisted and banished the Holy Ghos'
from is precincts. And how has this been
done! Has it been done by rejecting all
the forms and appearances OF rcllslon!-
Far otherwise is the fact. No people have
been more obscrvant Of forms, more in the
outward habits of piety. In fact, their re-
lioion, such as it is, swallows up every thing
else. But the mischief is, the ordinances
of God have been made void by human
traditions and measures, sort Of religion
has been introduced in the place OF that
from above; a spurious, supcrsl'IouS, ny
pocrtical tormalitv has taken the garb oil
pletv. Human oracles are heard IN The
place of the genuine worl of God Those
Scriptures which holy men wrote as they
were moved By the Holy Ghost are set a.
side, and i Their place are substituted the
legends and spcculalions of men. This IS
the way in which papisls have resisted the
Holy Ghcs'. And these two prominent
examples of the Jews and tine papsts are
rcpletc with instruction TO the whole nom-
inal church. The Holy Spirit, we see,
NAV be resisted by deed as we'll as by
word. This divine Agent may be relss-
,cl bv ascrbing to him works and measures
ofhuman origin as welI,as by traducing those
which are truly his. lie may be resisted
by corrupting his truth, or making i, sub.
servicnt to the purposes or error. And IN
seasons when the influences of the SPIRIT
appear to be suspended the inquiry should
become serious and earnest with every
church, every pastor, and every Christian,
whether the Holy Ghost has been suitably
honored in following his directions, in ob.
serving his ordinances and appointments,
in acknowledging his power, and or own
dependence? Whether the Spirit has had
his place in Our feelings, our cxhortatlons,
and our prayers! Wheth,r his operations
have been sought after, for his glory aid
advancement of the kingdom Of grace, or
for human exaltation? It's easy TO accuse
our ncishbor OF lgrieving the Spirit because
he does not concur with our views and
measures; but let us first sec to it, tha; we
are not resisting the Spirit ourselves, by
substituting human inventions for divine
! appointmcnts, and whether the beam in
OR own eve must not be removed, that we
nav see clearly to pull the mote out OF a
brothers. cyc.-Hanlord H'dtchmon.