122 The jîrflt Sign RART LI . fannified Minds may have and will have concerning many at the Day of judgment ; fo God can if he pleafes, extraordinarily and immediately fuggeft this to, and imprefs it upon an unfan&ified Mind now : There is no Principle wanting in an unfannified Mind, to make it capable of fuch a Suggeftion or Impreffion ; nor is there any Thing in them to exclude, or neceffarily to prevent fuch a Suggeftion. And if thefeSuggeftions of fecretFaIs be attendedwithTexts ofScrip- ture, immediately and extrordinarily brought to Mind, about fome other Fans that feem in fome Refpeas fimilar, that don't make the Operation to be of a fpiritual and divine Nature. For that Suggefti- on of Words of Scripture is no more divine; than the Suggeftion of the Fans themfelves ; as has been juft now demonftrated : And two Effens together, which are neither of them fpiritual, can't make up one complex Effe&, that is fpiritual. Hence it follows, from what has been already (hewn, and often re- peated, that thofe Affe&ions which are properly founded on fuch im- mediate Suggeftions, or fuppofed Suggeftions of fecret Fadls, are not gracious Affenions. Not but that it is poffible that fuch Suggeftions may be theOccafion,or accidentalCaufe of graciousAffenions ; for fo may a Miftake and Delufion ; but it is never properly the Foundation of gracious Affe&ions : For gracious Affenions, as has been (hewn, are all the Effens of an Influence and Operation which is fpiritual, fuper- natural, and divine. But there are many Affenions, and high Af- fe&ions, which fame have, that have fuch Kind of Suggeftions or Re- velations for their very Foundation: They look upon thefe as fpiritual Difcoveries ; which is a grofs Delufion ; and this Delufion is truly the Spring whence their Affeaions flow. Here it may be proper to obferve, that 'tis exceeding manifeft from what has been faid, that what many Perfons call the TVitnefs of the Spirit that they are the Children of God, has nothing in it fpiritual and divine ; and confequently that the Affenions built upon it, are vain and delufive. That which many call the Witnefs of the Spirit, is no other than an immediate Suggeftion and Impreffion of that Faa, otherwife fecret, that they are converted, or made the Children of God, and fo that their Sins are pardoned, and that God has given 'em a Title to Heaven. This Kind of Knowledge, viz. Knowing that a certain Perfon is converted, and delivered fromHell, and entitled to Heaven, is no divine Sort of Knowledge in it felf. This Sort of Fast, is not that which requires any higher or more divine Kind of Suggeftion, in order to imprefs it on the Mind, than any other Faa which Balaam had imprefs'd on his Mind. It requires no higher Sort of Idea or Senfation, for a Man to have the Apprehenfion of his own Converfion imprefs'd upon him, than to have the Apprehenfion of his Neighbour's Converfion, in like Manner, imprefs'd : But God, if he pleafed, might imprefs the Knowledge of this Fast, that he had for- given
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=