180 OP SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS. suggestion of Satan, that there is no God, he will be able to say, that he might better tell me that I do not live nor breathe; that I am not fed by my meat, nor warmed by my clothes ; that I know not myself nor any thing else : for I have spiritual sense and experi- ence to the contrary; like him of old, who, when a cunning sophister would prove to him by syllogisms, that there was no such thing as motion, gave no an- swer to his arguments, but rose up and walked. How often, will he say, have I had expérience of the pow- er and presence of God in prayer; as though I had not onlyheard of him by the hearing of the ear, but also seen him by the seeing of the eye ? How often hathhe put forth his power and grace in me by his spirit and his word, with anuncontrollable evidence of being, goodness, love and grace 2 How often hath he' refreshed my conscience with the sense of the pardon of sin, speaking that peace to my soul, which all the world could not communicate to me 2 In how many afflictions, dangers, 'troubles, hath he been a present help and relief 1 What sensible emanations of life and power from him, have I obtained in meditation on his grace and glory 2 He who had been blind, answered the Pharisees to their ensnaring captious questions; be it what it will, one thing I know, that whereas Iwas blind, now I see. Whatever, saith such a soul, be in this temptation of Satan, one thing I know full well, that whereas I was dead, I am alive, whereas I was blind, now I see, and that by an effect of divine power. This shield of faith, managed in the hand of experi- ence, will quench the fiery darts of Satan ; and he will fall under a double defeat. (1.) His temptation will be repelled by the proper way of resistance, whereón
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