36 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS. but there is a difference in their use and operation. In some, they excite the inward principle of the mind to act in holy thoughts, according unto its own sancti- fied disposition and prevalent affections : this is their proper end and use. In others they occasionally sug- gest such thoughts unto the minds of men, which spring only from the notions of things proposed unto them. With respect unto this end also, they are of singular use unto the souls of men, howbeit such thoughts do not prove men to be spiritually minded. Where you till and manure your land, if it brings forth plentiful crops of corn, it is an evidence that soil itself is good and fertile; the dressing of it only gives oc- casion and advantage to put forth its own fruit - bearing virtue: but if in the tilling of the land, you lay much dung upon it, and it brings forth here and there an handful where the dung lay, you will say the soil itself is barren ; it brings forth nothing of itself. Ti:ese means that we shall treat of, are as the tilling of a fruitful soil, which help it in bringing forth its fruit, by exciting its own virtue and power. They stir up holy affections unto holy thoughts and desires ; but in others, whose hearts are barren, they only serve, as it were, some of them here and there, to stir up spiri- tual thoughts, which gives no evidence of a gracious heart or spirit. But because this is a matter of great importance, it shall be handled distinctly by itself.
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