166 fourth Sign PART III. .head, and the Divinity of Divinity, (if I may fo fpeak) the Good of the infinite Fountain of Good ; without which God himflf (if that were poffible to be) would be an infinite Evil e Without, which, we our felves had better never have been; and without which there had better have been no Being. He therefore in Effect knows nothing, that knows not this : His Knowledge is but the Shadow of Know- ledge, or the Form of Knowledge, as the Apoftle calls it. Well therefore may the Scripture reprefent thofe who are deflitute of that fpiritual Senfe, by which is perceived the Beauty of Holinefs, as to- tally blind', deaf and fenfelefs, yea dead. And well may Regenera- tion, in which this divine Senfe is given to the Soul by its creator, be reprefented as opening the blind Eyes, and raifing the Dead, and bringing a Perfon into a new World. For if what has been 'faid be confider'd,'it will be manifeft, that when a Perfon has this Senfe and Knowledge given him, he will view nothing as he did before ; tho' before he knew all Things after the FleJO, yet henceforth he will know themfo no more ; and he is become a new Creature, óld Things arepail away, behold all Things are become new ; agreeable to 2 Con, 5. r 6, 17. And betides the Things that have been already mentioned, there arifes from this Senfe of fpiritual Beauty, all true experimentallnow- ledge ofReligion; which is of itfelf, as is were a newWorld of Know - ledge. He that feesnot theBeauty ofHalinefs,knows not what one ofthe Graces ofGod's Spirit is ; he is deflitute of any Idea or Conception of ali gracious Exercifes of Soul, and all holy Comforts and Delights, and all Efffc &s of theSaving Influences of the Spirit of God on the i cart : And fo is ignorant of the greateft Works of God, the molt important and glorious Effe&s of his Power upon the Creature And allo is wholly ignorant of the Saints as Saints ;. he knows not what they are : And in Effect is ignorant of the whole fpiritual World. Things being thus, it plainly appears, that God's implanting that fpiritual fupernatural Senfe which has b°en fpoken of, makes a great Change in aMan. And were it not for the very iniperfe& Degree,in which this Sonic is commonly given at firff, or the fnall Degree of this glorious Light that firfl dawns upon ,the Soul ; the Change made by this fpiritual Opening of the Eyes in Converfion, would be much greater, and more remarkable, every Way, than if a Man, who had born Blind, and with only the other four Senfes, fhoúld .conti- mte fo a long Time, and then at once fhould have the Senfe of feeing imparted to him, in the midft of the clear Light of the Sun, difcover- ing a World of vifible Obje&s. For tho' Sight be More noble than any of the other external Senfes ; yet .this .fpiritual Senfe which has been fpoken of, is infinitelymore noble than that, or any other Prin- ciple of Difcerning that a Man naturally has,' and the'Obje& of this Senfe infinitely greater and more important, This
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