PART. III. of gracious 4fe Lions. 123 given his Neighbour's Sins, and given him a Title to Heaven, as swell as any other Fad, without any Communication of his Holinefs : The Excellency and Importance of the Faa, don't at all hinder a natural Man's Mind being fufceptible of an immediate Suggeftion and Impreflion of it. Balaam had as excellent,and important,and glorious FaEts as this, immediately imprefs'd on hisMind,without any gracious influence ; as particularly,the coming ofChrift,and his Petting up his gloriousKingdom,and theBleffednefs of the fpiritual Ifraelin his peculiar Favour and their Happinefs living and dying. Yea ilbimelech King of thePhiliftines,hadGod's fpecialFavour to a particularPerfon, even Abra- ham, revealed to him, Gen. 20.6,7. So it feems that he reveal'd toLa- ban his fpecial Favour to yacob, fee Gen. 3r. 24. and - Pfal. 705. 15. And if a truly good Man fhould have an immediate Revelation or Suggeftion from God, after the like .Manner, concerning his Fa- vour to his Neighbour, or himfelf; it would be no higher Kind of in- fluence ; it would be no more than a common Sort of Influence of God's Spirit ; as the Gift of Prophecy, and all Revelation by imme- diate Suggeftion is ; fee r Gar. 13. 2. And tho' it be true, that it is not poffible that a natural Man Ihould have that individual Suggef- tion from the Spirit of God, that he is converted, becaufe it is not true ; yet that don't arife from the Nature of the Influence, or becaufe that Kind of Influence which fuggefts fuch excellent Faas, is too high for him to be the Subject of; but purely from the Defedt of a Fa& to be revealed. The Influence which immediately fuggefts this. Fa- , when it is true, is of-no different Kind from that which imme- diately fuggefts other true Fads : And fo the Kind and Nature of the Influence, is not above what is common to natural Men, with good Men. But this is a mean ignobleNotion of theWitnefs of theSpirit ofGod given to his dear Children, to fuppofe that there is nothing in the Kind and Nature of that Influence of the Spirit of God, in imparting this high and gloriousBenefits but what is common to naturalMen,or whichMen are capable of,and be in the meanTime altogether unfanc- tified,and theChildren of Hell and that therefore theBenefit orGift it felf has nothing of the holy Nature of the Spirit of God in it, nothing of a vital Communication of that Spirit. ThisNotion greatly debafes that high and molt exalted Kind of Influence and Operation of the Spirit, which there is in the true Witnefs of the Spirit t. That which The late venerable Stoddard in his youngerTime, falling in with the Opinion of fome others, receiv'd this Notion of the Witnefs of the Spirit, by way of immediate Suggeftion ; but in the latter Part of his Life, when he had more thoroughly weighedThingsa and
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