PART I.I. to diflinguifh 4fec ions. 35 without an Effe& upon them. Yea, 'tis queflionable, whether an embòdied Soul ever fo much as thinks one Thought, or has any Exer- .cife at all, but that there is fome correfponding Motion or Alteration of Motion, in fome Degree, of the Fluids, in fome Part of the Body. But univerfal Experience (hews, that the Exercife of the A.ffr dons, have in a fpecial Manner a Tendency, to fome fenfible Effe& upon the Body. And if this be fo, that all Affe&ions have fome Effe& on the Body, we may then well fuppofe, the greater thofe Affe&ions be, and the more vigorous their Exec cite ( other Circumftances being e<ual ) the greater will be the ffe& on the Body. Hence it is not to . be wondered at, that very great and ilrong Exercifes of the Af- focrbons, fhould have great Effe&s on the Body. And therefore, feeing there are very great Afff&ions, both common and fpiritual ; hence it is not to be wondered at, that great Effe&s on the Body, fhouki arife from both thefe Kinds of Affe&ions. And confequently theft Effe&s are no Signs, that the Affections they arife from, are of one Kind or the other. Great EffeEls on the Body certainly are no Pure Evidences that Afièaîions are fpiritual ; for we fee that fuchEffe&s oftentimes arife from great Affe&ions. alaout temporal Things, and when Religion is no Way concerned in `tlietn. And if great All: &ions about fecular Things, arc purely natural, may have thefe Eff61s, I know not by what Rule we fhould determine, that high Affe&ions about religious Things, which arife in like Manner from Nature, can't have the like Effe&. Nor on the other Hand, do I know of any Rule any have to de- termine, that gracious and holy Affe&ions, when raifed as high at any natural Affections, and have equally flrong and vigorous Exer- cifes, can't have a great Effect on the Body. No fuch Rule can be drawn from Reafon: I know of no Reafon, why a being affected with a View ofGod's Glory fhould not caufe the Body to faint, as well as a being oficted with a View of Solomon's Glory: And no loch Rule has as yet been produced from the Scripture : None has ever been found in all the late Controverfies which have been about Things of this Nature. There is a great Power in fpiritual Affec- tions ; we read of the Power which worketh in Chriflians, * and of the Spirit of God being in them, as the Spirit of Power, -j- and of the effectual working of his Power in them t yea of the working of God's mighty Power in them. II But Man's Nature is weak : Flefh and Blood are reprefented in Scripture as exceeding weak ; and par- ticularly with Refpect to it's Unfitnefs for great fpiritual and hea- venlyOperations and Exercifes, Mattb. 26. 41. 1 Cor. 15. 43, & 50. * Eph. 3. 7. t 21rim, a . 7. fi Ibid v. 7. Ibid. v. i9. !f Eph. r . i9. A z The
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=