iS INWARD WITNESS TÓ CHRISTIANITY. 1SERM.Ih I grant that every oneof these instances, and all these parts of eternal life which I have now described, are not to be found equally in all believers ; nor are they. in every believer in á very eminent and evident degree. But ifwe take all of them together, pardon of sin, peace of conscience, the favour of God, and a sense of his love, a pleasurable harmony of all our powers, an aver- sion to all sin, and hatred of every iniquity, a holy con- tempt of this world, in the pleasures, as well as in the pains and sorrows of it; delight in the worship of God, and desire after his enjoyment; zeal and activity in service for God, with a sincere aim for his glory, and a hearty love to fellow-creatures and fellow-Christians : I say, if we join all these together', we shall find that the Christian religion has a witness far superior to all other doctrines that ever pretended to divinity. We shall find that every believer has something of all these qualities wrought in his heart, and it is exemplified in his life. Truly, where none of these are found, that person can- not profess himself a Christian with anyjust ground of hope: Where there is not such a witness as this to the truth of christianity, where there is not 'this eternal life, begun in some sensible measure and manner, that per- son's profession of christianity is but vain; and his prat- tice and his course contradict the words of his lips, when he pronounces himself a believer in the Son of God. I might here take notice, that the three that bear wit- ness on earth to the trutlí of the gospel, viz. the spirit, the water, and the blood, may be expounded agreeably to the foregoingdiscourse. The blood may signify the pacification of a guilty conscience by the atoning blood of Christ. The water, may intend the sanctification and purifying of our natures from sinful appetites and prat-, tices, as by the washing of water : And the spirit may, imply that efficacious influence which a believer receives. from the holy Spirit, both towards the pacification of his conscience, and the purification of his soul. All these witness to the truth of christianity; though others are of opinion, that the Spirit in his Miraculous operations, the water, or purity of the nature and life of Christ,, grid the blood, or his violent death, and the attendants
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