DISC. ,CIi.J EXTRAORDINARY .WITNESS OF TILE SPIRÍI'. 2Q I. nishin.g change has been wrought in their souls, and a swift preparation for heaven, beyond what appears in the ordinarywork of the Spirit, by the rational or persua, sive influence of outward ordinances. . .. And since the Spirit of God appears sometimes,, for the honour of his owngrace, to be an extraordinaryen lightener and sanctifier ; why may he not be an extraor- dinary comforter also ?. Vth Consideration. If we can credit the accounts which. have been given by holy men in later ages, and some of which are recorded in the. memoirs of the-ir lives, we must confess that there have been instances and experiences of most sublime and extraordinary consola- tions of the Blessed Spirit bestowed on them ; such as, upon the most rational survey of things according to scripture, we cannot but conclude to have been . truly divine. It would take up many whole pages to cite such in- stances as we find upon record, in the lives of particular persons. Many such may be found in the late Mr. Fle- ming's fulfilling of the scriptures, especially in Scotland. I shall mention one only, and it shall be a most incon- tested example, in our land, in England, even in our own day ; the example ofa person. whose. solid sense, whose deep sagacity, whose sedate judgment, and the superior excellence of his reasoning powers, ;leave rio room to charge himwith vain and delusive raptures of a heated imagination. The name is the late venerable Mr. John Rowe. The name commands respect, and . confirms the narrative. He wrote the following para- graphs-in the blañk.leaf,of his own bible.: " Decenzbcr 6, 1689. After. that I had long, seri- ously, and repeatedly thought with myself; that, besidesa full and undoubted assent to the objects of faith, a vivi= fyingsavoury taste and relish of them was also necessary, that with stronger force, and more powerful energy, they might penetrate into the most inward centre of my heart-, and there beingmost deeply fixed and rooted, govern my life ; and that there could be no other sure ground whereon to conclude and pass a sound judgment, on my good estate godward ; and after I had, in my course of preaching, been largely insisting on 2 Cor, i. 12. This is my rejoicing, the testimony of a good- conscience, &c. u2
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