154 The Cofpet-Myiery DireE'. xrir. ture, not its degree; not denying any luflings of the fpirit in you, becaufe of the ftrong luflings ofthe flefh againft the fpirit ; or denying that you are fpi- ritual in fogne degree, and babes in Chrift, becaufe you find yourfelves carnal in a more prevailing de- gree, and the old man bigger than the new, Gal. v. ¿7. i Cor. ii. 1. Efpecially you are to examine and prove, whether you be in faith. For, if you make lure of this, you make fare of all the things that per- tain to life and godlinefs ; and, if you doubt of this, you will certainly doubt of the truth of any other qualifications, and will fufpec` them to be merely carnal and counterfeit ; becaufe it is a known truth, that to the unbelieving there is nothing pure, and that all that have not truly received Chritt by faith, are at prefent in an unregenerate Rate, though they feem never fo pure and godly, 2 Cora xiii. s. Tit. i. Is. And let not the iffue of this trial depend at all tipon your knowledge of the time when, or of the fermon, conference, or place of fcripture, by which you were firft converted to the faith; though that is good to,know too, if it may be. And fogne who have formerly lived in grofs ignorance, or in a manifeft oppofition to true faith and holinefs, may know fuck circumftances of their converfion, and may refied upon them comfortably, as the apoftle Paul did, who was turned of a fudden, from his perfecuting rage, to be a difciple and an apoftle of Chrift ; yet others, fincere believers, maybe wholly ignorant of them, as John the Baptift, who was filled with the Holy Ghoft from his mother's womb, Luke i. is. and they that hase been trained up religioufly, and know the holy fcripture from their childhood, as Timothy, 2 Tim. iii. r s. yea, and many that are firft turned from grofs ignorance and profanenefs, to fome external reform- ation, and then, in procefs of time, brought nearer to the kingdom of heaven, by infenfible degrees, be- fore they be really new begottenby the fpirit of faith. There are afro fome, that deceive their fouls, by íma.
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