s OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS. 55 And it ariseth, 1, from the approach that is made unto God therein. It is in its own nature an access unto God ,on a throne of grace. Eph. ii. 18. Heb. x. 19, 20. And when this access is animated by the actings of grace, the soul hath, a spiritual experience of a nearness in that approach. Now, God is the fountain and centre of all spiritual refreshment, rest and com- placency ; and in such an access unto him, there is a refreshing tasteof them communicated unto the soul : Psal. xxxvi. 7-9. ' How excellent is thy loving 'kind- ness, O God ! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thine house : and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light we shall see light.' God is proposed in the excellency of his loving kindness, which is compre- hensive of his goodness, grace, and mercy. And so is he also as the spring of life and light, all' spiri- tual powers and joys. Those that believe, are better described by their trust under the shadow of his wings. In his worship, the fatness of his house, they make their approaches unto him. And the fruit hereof is, that he makes them to drink of the river of his pleasures, the satisfying refreshing streams of his grace and goodness ; they approach unto him as unto the fountain of life, so as to drink of that fountain, in re- newed communications of life and grace; and in the light of God, the light of his countenance, to see light in satisfying joy. In these things doth consist, and from them doth arise, that spiritual complacency which the souls of believers find in their duties. 2. From the due exercise of faith, love, and delight, the graces wherein the life of the new creature doth
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