PART III. of gracious 4feElinns. in Scripture that a righteous Man, 'and a-merciful Man are ynonimous Expreffions Ifai. 57. i. ' The Righteous perifheth, and no Man layeth it to Heart ; and the merciful Men are taken away, none con - .idering that the Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come.' Thus we fee how full,clear and abundant, theEvidence from Scrip- ture is, that thofe who are truly gracious, are under the Government of that lamb-like, dove-like Spirit of Jefus Chrift. And that this is effentially & eminently theNature of the favingGrace of theGofpel,and the proper Spirit of true Chriftianity. We may thereforeundoubted- ly determine that all truly chriftian Affe&ions are attended with fuch a Spirit ; and that this is the natural Tendency of the Fear and Hope, the Sorrow and the Joy, the Confidence and the Zeal of true Chrif- tians. None will underftand me that true Chriftians have no Remains of a contrary Spirit, and can never, in any Inftances, be guilty of a Be- haviou..r difagreable to fuch a Spirit. But this I affirm, and (hall af- firm 'till I deny the Bible to be any Thing worth, that every Thing in Chriftians that belongs to true Chriftianity, is of this Tendency, and works this Way ; and that there is no true Chriftian upon Earth, but is fo under the prevailing Power of fuch a Spirit, that he is pro- perly denominated from it, and it is truly and juftly his Charmer And that therefore Minifters, and others have no Warrant from Chrift to encourage Perfons,that are of a contrary Character & Beha- viour, to think they are converted, becaufe they tell a fair Story of Illuminations and Difcoveries. In fo doing they would fet up their own Wifdom againft Chrift's, and judge without, and againft that Rule by which Chrift has declared all Men fhould know his Difciples. Some Perfons place Religion fo much in certain tranfient Illumina- tions and Impreffions ( efpecially if they are in fuch a particular Me- thod and Order ) and fo little in the Spirit and Temper Perfons are of, that they greatly deform Religion, and form Notions of Chrifti- anity quite different from what it is, as delineated in the Scriptures. The Scripture knows of no fuch true Chriftians, as are of a fordid, feIf fh, crofs and contentious Spirit. Nothing can be invented that is a greater Abfurdity, than a morofe, hard, clofe, high- fpirited, fpite- ful true Chriftian. We muff learn the Way of bringing Men to Rules, and not Rules to Men, and fo 'train and ftretch the Rules of God's Word, to take in our felves, and fome of our Neighbours, 'till we make them wholly of none Effect. 'Tis true that Allowances muff be made for Men's natural Tem- per with Regard to thefe Things, as well as ethers. But not fuch Allowances, as to allowMen, that once were Wolves and Serpents, to be now converted, without any remarkable Change in the Spirit of their Mind. The Change made by true Converfion, is wont to be moft remarkable and fenfible, with Refpect to that which before R wag 241
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