120 The fzrf Sign PART. III. Again, it plainly appears from what has been dernon$rated, That no Revelation offecret Faéls by immediated Suggeflion, is any thing fpiritual and divine, in that Senfe wherein gracious Effeds and Operations are fo. By fecret Fads I mean Things that have been done, or are come to pats, or (hall hereafter come to pafs, which are fecret in that Senfe that they don't appear to theSenfes,nor are known by anyArgumenta- tion, or any Evidence to Reafon, nor any other \'Vay,but only by that Revelation by immediate Suggeftion of the Ideas of them to thel\'Iind. Thus forInftance, if it fhould be reveal'd to me that the nextYear this Land would bé invaded by a Fleet from France, or that fuch and fuch Perfons would then be converted, or that I myfeif fhould then be con- verted ; not by enabling me to argue out thefe Events from any thing which now appears in Providence ; but immediately fuggefting and bearing in upon my Mind, in an extraordinary Manner, the Ap- prehenfion or Ideas of thefe Fads, with a ftrong Suggeflion or Impref- lion on myMind,that I had noHand in myfelf,that thefeThings would come to pafs : Or if it fhould be revealed to me,that thisDay there is a Battle fought between theArmies of fuch and fuchPowers inEurcpe; or that fuch a Prince in Europe was this Day converted, or is now in a converted State, having been converted formerly, or that one of my Neighbours is converted, or that I my felt am converted ; not by having any other Evidence of any of thefeFalts, from whence I argue them, but an immediate extraordinary Suggeftion or Excitation of thefe Ideas, and a Itrong Imprefizon of 'em upon my Mind : This is a Revelation of fecret Felts by immediate Suggeflion, as much as if theFalts were future ;, for the Fads being pail, prefent, or future alters not the Cafe, as long as they are fecret and hidden from my Senfes and Reafon, and not fpoken of in Scripture, nor known by me any other Way than by immediate Suggeflion. If I have it reveal'd to " tho' there is aWord, which may give a Man a Dependance on " Chrifi, without feeling any Work, nay when he feels none, 64 as abfolute Promifes ; yet no Word giving f4ffurance, but 44 that which is made to fomeWork ; He that believeth,or is poor ii. in. Spirit, &c. 'Till that Work is Peen, has - no Affurance rL from that Promife. " Shepard's Parable of the ten Virgins. Part I. p. 86. 4 If God fhould tell a Saint that he has Grace, he might know. it 66 by believing. theWord of God : But it is not in thisWay that tG godly Men do know that they have Grace ; it is not revealed 44 in the Word, and the Spirit of God doth not teftify it to particular Perfons. " Stoddard's Nature of laving Conver- on, p. 84,o 85. me,
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