PART II. to diflinguifh Affection. 125 natural Men,while fuch,are fo far from aCapacity of being theSubjeas of, that they can have no Manner of Notion or Idea of it ; agree- able to Rev. 2. 17. To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the hidden Manna ; and I will give him a white Stone, and in theStone a new Name written,which no Man knoweth, Paving he that receiveth it. There is allReafon to fuppofe that what is here fpoken of, is the fame Mark, Evidence, or bleffed Token of fpecial Favour, which is elfewhere called the Seal of the Spirit. What has milled many in their Notion of that Influence of the Spirit of God we are (peaking of, is the Word WITNESS, it's be- ing called the L itnefs of the Spirit. Hence they have taken it, not tobe any Efffe5t orWork of the Spirit upon theHeart,givingEvidence, from whence Men may argue that they are the Children of God ; but an inward immediate Suggeflion, as tho' God inwardly fpoke to the Man, and teflified to him, and told him that he was his Child, by a Kind of a fecret Voice, or Imprefon, : Not obferving the Manner in which the Word Witnefs, or Te/limony is often ufed in the New Teflament ; where filch Terms often fignify, not only a nicer decla- ring and alerting a Thing to be true, but holding forth Evidence from . whence a Thing may be argued and proved to be true. Thus, Heb. 2. 4: God is laid to bear Witnefs, with Signs and Wonders, and diverfe Miracles, and Gifts of the Holy Ghofl. Now thefe Miracles, here fpoken of, are called God's Witnefs, not becaufe they are of the Na- ture of Affertions, but Evidences and Proofs. So Ads 14. 3. Long Time therefore, abode they (peaking boldly in the Lord ; which gave T i- many unto the Word ofhis Grace ; and granted Signs and Wonders to be done by their Hands. And John 6. 36. But I have greater Witnefs than that of John ; for the Works which the Father hath given me to fini7h, the fame Works that I da, bear Witnefs ofme, that the Father bath feet me. Again,Chap. i o.25. The Works that I do in myFather's Name, they bear Witnefs of late. So the Water and the Blood are faid to bear Witnefs, i 7ohn 5. 8. not that they fpake or afferted any thing, but they were Proofs and Evidences. So God's Works of Providence in the Rain and fruitful Seafons, are fpoken of as Wit- neffes of God's Being and Goodnefs, i. e. They were Evidences of thefe Things. And when the Scripture fpeaks of the Seal of the Spi- rit, it is an Expreffion which properly denotes, not an immediate Voice or Suggeflion, but fume Work or Effect of the Spirit, that is left as a divine Mark upon the Soul, to be an Evidence, by which God's Children might be known. The Seals of Princes were the diflinguifhing Marks of Princes : And thus God's Seal is fpoken of as God's Mark, Rev. 7. 3. Hurt not the Earth, neither the Sea, or the Trees, 'till we have fealed the Servants ofour God in their Foreheads ; to- together with Ezek. 9. 4. úet a Mark upon the Forehead, of the Men that
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=