II2 Ve frf Sign PAT III. makes to their Souls, therein giving them Teftimonies, in an extraor- dinary Manner, of his high and peculiar Favour. Again, it is evident from what has been obferved and proved of the Manner in which gracious Operations and Effeas in the Heart are fpiritual, fupernatural and divine, that the immediate fuggeffing of theWords of Scripture to theMind, has nothing in it which is fpiritual. CC Cf CC GG GC CG GG CC Cf Cf KG GC G6 CG CC GG CC CC CG CC GC CG CC <G CC CC CC GG CC 6G CC <S CG GG fafter, than that which was Town in the good and fruitfulSoil. And as the Motions of our Senfe and Fancy and Paffions, while our Souls are in this mortal Condition, funk down deeply into the Body, are many Times more vigorous, and make ftronger Imprefons upon us, than thofe of the higher Powers of the Soul, which are more fubtil, and remote from thefe mixt animal Perceptions : That Devotion which is there feated, may feem to have mote Energy and Life in it, than that which gently, and with a more delicate Kind of Touch,fpreads it f if upon theUnderftanding,and from thence mildly derives it felf thro' our Wills and Affections. But however, the former may be more boifterous for a Time, yet this is ofa more confiffent, fpermatical and thriving Na- ture, For that proceeding indeed from nothing but a feti- fual and flefhly Apprehenfion of God and true Happinefs, is but of a flitting t fading Nature ; and as the fenfible Powers and Faculties grow more languid, or the Sun of divine Light íhines more brightly upon us, thefe earthly Devotions, like our culinary Fires, will abate their Heat and Fervour. But a true celeftial Warmth will never be extinguifh'd, becaufe it is of an immortal Nature ; and being once feated vitally in the Souls of Men, it will regulate and order all theMo- tions of it in a due Manner ; as the natural Heat, radicated in the Hearts of living Creatures, bath the Dominion and Oeconomy of the whole Body under it. True Religion is no Piece of Artifice ; it is no boiling up of our imaginative Powers, nor the glowing Heats of Paffion ; tho' thefe are too often miftaken for it, when in our Jugglings in Religion we caff a Mia before our own Eyes : But it is a new Nature, informing the Souls of Men ; it is a godlike Frame of Spirit, difcovering it felt moft of all in ferene and clear Minds, in deep Humility, Meeknefs, Self-denial, univerfal Love toGod and all true Goodnefs, without Partiality, and without Hy- pocrify, whereby we are taught to know God, and knowing him to love him, and conform our felves as much as may be to all that Perfection which íhines in him I have
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