Edwards - BX7230 .E4 1746

PART III. ofgracious Alf fell in the Soul, is that the Seal of the Spirit Spirit, in the Scripture. 'Tis very plain, etions. r2t> is called the Rarnefl of the that the Seal of the Spirit is Cc CC CC CC CC " CC CC CC CC will fay, by the Teffimony of the Spirit. And cannot the fame Spirit fhine upon your Graces, and witnefs that you arc fan&ifid, as well i yohn 4. 13, 24. r Cor. 2. 12. Can the Spirit make the one clear to you, and not the other ? Oh Beloved, it is a fad Thing, to hear fuch Queffions and fuch cold Anfwers allo, that San&ification poffibly may be an Evidence. May be i Is it not certain ? Affuredly to deny it, is as bad as to affirm that God's own Promifes of Favour are not true Evidences thereof, and confequently that they are Lies and Untruths ". Mr. Flavel allo much oppofes this Notion of the Witness of the Spirit by immediate Revelation. Sacramental Me- ditations, Med. 4. (peaking of the Sealing of the Spirit, he fays, " In Sealing the .Believer, he doth not make ufe of an audible Voice, nor the Miniftry of Angels, nor immediate and extraordinary Revelations ; but he makes ufe of his own Graces, implanted in our Hearts, and his own Promifes, written in the Scripture : And in this Method, he ufually brings the doubting trembling Heart of a Believer to Reff and Comfort ". Again, Ibid. CC Affurance is produced in our Souls by the reflexive refs of Faith : The Spirit helps us to relied upon what bath been done by him formerly upon our Hearts ; hereby we know that we know him, r John 2. 3. To know that we know, is a reflex A&. Now it is impoflible there fhould be a reflex, before there bath been a dire& Act. No Man can have the Evidence of his Faith, before the Ha- bit is infufed, and the vital A& perform'd. The Objed Matter, to which the Spirit feals, is his own fanaifving Ope- ration ". Afterwards, Ibid. he lays, " Immediate Ways of the Spirit's Sealing are ceafed. NoMan may now expo, by any new Revelation, or Sign from Heaven, by anyVoice, or extraordinary Infpiration, to have his Salvation feal'd ; but muff cxped that Mercy in God's ordinary Way andMe- thod, fearching the Scriptures, examining our own Hearts, and waiting on the Lord in Prayer. The learned Gerfsn gives an Inffance of one that had been long upon the Borders of Defpair, and at laff fweetly afFured and fettled : He an- fwered, Non ex nova aliqua Revelatione ; not by any new Revelation, but by fubjefing my Underífanding to, and comparing my Heart with the written Word. And Mr. Roberts, CC CC CC CC CC CC CC << CC CC CC GC CC CC CC Cc CC CC CC CC C C CC c CC

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